Steven Mnuchin says Harriet Tubman won't be on the $20 bill next year after all
Harriet Tubman's image will not be coming to a $20 dollar bill near you in 2020, as promised.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin revealed on on Wednesday that the bill's design was being delayed until 2028 to prevent counterfeiting issues, which he says is his primary duty at present. While he will focus on the security feature redesign of the bill, the imagery will likely be handled by a successor. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) grilled Mnuchin during his testimony on the international financial system before the House Financial Services Committee.
Mnuchin said he agreed with Pressley that America's diversity should be celebrated more frequently in the country's "imagery," but not necessarily currency, arguing that he cannot separate his professional duties from his personal opinions when it comes to this particular matter.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Mnuchin's boss, President Trump, said before he was elected to the office in 2016 that putting Tubman's image on the $20 dollar bill was "pure political correctness" and suggested instead her likeness be used for the rare $2 bill instead. It's worth noting that if Tubman does eventually make it on to the $20 dollar bill, she would be replacing one of Trump's favorite commanders-in-chief, former President Andrew Jackson, who is known for forcibly relocating Native Americans during his tenure.
Tubman, an African-American abolitionist and political activist who helped numerous enslaved people escape along the underground railway, was chosen for the bill by the Treasury Department under the Obama administration in 2016 after a lengthy process, which considered public opinion. Its release was scheduled to coincide with the centennial of the 19th amendment, which granted women the right to vote.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
'Voters know Biden and Trump all too well'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
Is the Gaza war tearing U.S. campuses apart?
Today's Big Question Protests at Columbia University, other institutions, pit free speech against student safety
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published