Women On 20s: Should Andrew Jackson Be Removed From The $20 Bill?
Andrew Jackson will lose his honored spot on the $20 bill if the Women on 20s movement succeeds. The advocacy group reportedly believes that placing a woman on the $20 bill will spur equal rights gains. The removal of the seventh president of the United States from the bill coincides with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment in 2020.
Women on 20s includes Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, Alice Paul, and Shirley Chisholm. The level of support to remove Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill the advocacy group will receive from other females around the United States remains to be seen.
Although the Women on 20s movement has garnered national headlines this week, few women outside of the group have actually come out to register their angst for not having a “sister” on a dollar bill. Cash is rarely used anymore in our modern society, where online purchases via Paypal abound. Even teenagers are packing debit cards and credit cards in their wallets. When talk turns to dollars in political debates, the face of the individual on the legal tender takes an extreme back seat to the issue of movement away from the gold standard to back up the funds spent by the federal government and earned by citizens.
Here’s an excerpt from the Women on 20s website.
“The year 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment that granted women the right to vote. So it seems fitting to commemorate that milestone by voting to elevate women to a place that until now has been reserved exclusively for the men who shaped American history. That place is on our paper money. And that new portrait can become a symbol of greater changes to come. Let’s make the names of female “disrupters” — the ones who led the way and dared to think differently — as well-known as their male counterparts. In the process, maybe it will get a little easier to see the way to full political, social and economic equality for women. And hopefully it won’t take another century to realize the motto inscribed on our money: E pluribus unum, or ‘Out of many, one.'”
Susan B. Anthony, perhaps the most famous suffragist, became the first woman to have her likeness placed upon money in the United States. President Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 law ordering a change in weight, size, and design of Eisenhower $1 coin because it was being mistaken for a quarter. Congress ultimately replaced the beleaguered silver Susan B. Anthony with a gold-tone dollar featuring famous Shoshone Indian guide Sacagawea in 2007. The Susan B. Anthony coin still remains in circulation.
What do you think about the Women on 20s movement and the removal of Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill?
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