Replacing
President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman can’t
come soon enough for Westchester educator and Black historian Judith Beville.
“She
represents to me an African American woman who dared to be independent,
an African American woman who dared to stand her ground,” she told News
12.
She
says it gives her a tremendous sense of pride knowing that Tubman, who led
hundreds of African Americans from enslavement to freedom, could become
the first Black person on the face of American paper currency.
On
Monday, President Joe Biden’s press secretary Jen Psaki that the
Treasury Department is taking steps to resume efforts to put the 19th-century
abolitionist leader
on the $20 bill. A spokesperson from the U.S. Treasury
Department says they do not yet have a timeline for when the bill will enter
circulation. They say designing and releasing new currency is a lengthy
process.