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Do Not Disrespect Harriet Tubman By Putting Her on That $20 Bill

The freedom fighter deserves better

Demetria Wambia
Momentum
3 min readFeb 8, 2021

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Harriet Tubman. Photo: MPI/Getty Images

I changed my mind. When I first heard about the possibility of Harriet Tubman’s face gracing the $20 bill, I was all for it.

Look at the money in Jamaica, Ghana, and other countries. Their bills are filled with positive images of Black excellence and Black everyday life. Money in the United States is boring, green, and features super racist, dead, old, White men. There are a couple exceptions with Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony on dollar coins, but for folding money, White racist dudes rule the roost in America.

There were rumblings of our freedom-fighting heroine Harriet Tubman being on the $20 bill during the Obama administration, but that all came to an abrupt halt once Donald Trump was officially sworn in (with a much smaller inauguration crowd than Obama) as the 45th president in 2017.

Then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Tubman $20 bill would not come to fruition until around 2030. This was not a surprising announcement from Mnuchin. He and his wife Louise Linton had been posing in dumb ass pictures for the ‘Gram with a sheet of dollar bills and there were questions about costly plane trips on the taxpayer’s dime. Honoring a revolutionary Black woman did not seem to be at the top of…

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Momentum
Momentum

Published in Momentum

Momentum is a blog that captures and reflects the moment we find ourselves in, one where rampant anti-Black racism is leading to violence, trauma, protest, reflection, sorrow, and more. Momentum doesn’t look away when the news cycle shifts.

Demetria Wambia
Demetria Wambia

Written by Demetria Wambia

NYC-based Writer and Editor | National Writers Union Member | Girls Write Now Mentor Alum

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