U.S. Paper Money To Feature African Americans and Women
Details of the new designs for 3 of our U.S. currency bills were announced April 20, 2016 by Treasure Secretary Jack Lew. The strong message that was communicated to me from this announcement is that the new designs for the $5, $10 and $20 bills will now include prominent women and African Americans.
Never before have faces of African Americans been featured on U.S. paper currency. The signatures of four African American men and one African American woman appeared on U.S. paper money when these individuals served as Registers of the Treasure and as the Treasurer respectively.
First Lady Martha Washington is the only woman that has appeared on a U.S. currency note to date. Her portrait appeared on paper money in the 1800’s. She was featured on the front of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1886 and 1891 as well as being featured on the back of the $1 Silver Certificate of 1896.
The New $20
On the new $20 a portrait of Harriet Tubman will be featured on the front with President Andrew Jackson and the White House being featured on the back. Harriet Tubman, an anti-slavery activist and humanitarian will be the first African American to be honored by having a portrait on the front of any U.S. currency bill.
The New $10
The back of the new $10 will feature an image from the historic march for the Women’s Suffrage movement that began in the US in 1848. Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul are leaders from that movement that will be honored by gracing the back of the new $10. A portrait of Alexander Hamilton, U.S. Founding Father will remain on the front of this bill.
The New $5
The new $5 will be updated on the reverse side to honor democracy leaders and historic events that took place at the Lincoln Memorial that helped to shape our history. We will see portraits of world-renowned opera singer Marian Anderson, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr on the back of the new $5 bills as they each are remembered for historic events at this monument.
The Treasury announced in June 2015 that the new $10 note would feature a woman. Secretary Lew started a public campaign to gather nominations and ideas from the public for this historic change in our currency designs. The resulting redesign of multiple bills to feature women on each updated design is a result of this input.
This change won't happen right away. The distribution of the newly designed $5, $10 and $20 notes is scheduled for the year 2020 in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment which granted women the right to vote.
Don’t worry about your current bills being worthless when these new ones appear. All U.S. notes that are put into circulation by the Federal Reserve will always be honored at face value.
A special Money reVerse thank you to U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and his team for taking the effort required to honor well deserving African Americans and women on our paper currency!
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Proverbs 3:27 NKJV
