Harriet Tubman

For John, BLUF:  Our money is a good canvas upon which to paint our history.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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From The Washington Post and Reporters Ana Swanson and Abby Ohlheiser, we have the 20 April announcement from the Department of the Treasury, "Harriet Tubman to appear on $20 bill, while Alexander Hamilton remains on $10 bill".

Here is the lede plus one.

Black abolitionist leader Harriet Tubman will appear on the front of the $20 bill, relocating the slaveholding former president Andrew Jackson to its rear, and founding father Alexander Hamilton will remain on the face of the $10 bill.

The changes were announced Wednesday by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as part of a historic overhaul of U.S. currency aimed at addressing America’s legacy of slavery and gender inequality.  They came after a viral online campaign to feature a woman on the currency and, later, a push to preserve Hamilton’s place by historians and fans of the hit Broadway musical bearing his name.

I like the change.  Not everyone does.  That said, I liked the suggestion by TV Host Greta van Susteren.  Her suggestion was for the Treasury Department to issue a new $25 bill, which Ms van Susteren says we could use, and put Ms Tubman on that new bill.  Think of it as a quarter C-Note.

As for Sending President Andrew Jackson to the back of the Double Sawbuck, I think that is just dumb.  If we are removing him, we should totally remove him, or go with the solution above.

In the mean time, in another part of The Washington Post Mr Dan Lamothe tells us "Harriet Tubman was more than an Underground Railroad icon.  She was a Civil War spy."

Again, the lede plus one.

Midway through the Civil War, Harriet Tubman made a gutsy decision:  She'd serve the Union Army on a raid up South Carolina's Combahee River, providing intelligence to commanders in person that she had gathered about the location of Confederate mines and other threats.

The June 2, 1863, military operation is an often overlooked detail about the life of Tubman, an abolitionist who is best known for her role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad that freed tens of thousands of slaves from America's South during the 1800s.  But with the Treasury Department set to announce Wednesday that Tubman will replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill, it's noteworthy that her legacy extends beyond her extensive contributions to the abolition movement and into her work as a Union spy who oversaw a Special Operations unit of sorts, according to numerous accounts, including one by the U.S. Army.

Can I, at this point, say "You go girl"?

And I like the idea that we replaced a Democrat with a Republican on the Twenty.  A gun totting Republican.

Regards  —  Cliff