New Face of US$20 bill: One-time slave & African American Harriet Tubman

FILES) This file photo taken on April 29, 2015 shows an image provided by the "Women On 20's" organization festuring abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the US twenty dollar bill. Celebrated former US slave Harriet Tubman will replace President Andrew Jackson on the $20 banknote, the first time an African-American has been featured on US money, a Treasury official said April 20, 2016. The decision came after the Treasury came under pressure to put a woman on a different banknote soon to be revised, the $10 bill that features the first Treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton. / AFP PHOTO / Women On 20's / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / "WOMEN ON 20'S" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

The one-time slave turned abolitionist Harriet Tubman was named Wednesday as the new face of the $20 banknote, the first time an African American has featured on US currency.

A sweeping redesign of the US bills to be unveiled in four years will also protect Alexander Hamilton’s central place on the $10 note, once thought threatened until Broadway’s hit hip-hop musical “Hamilton” made the 18th century US finance chief a modern-day star.

Hamilton’s latter-day successor, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, announced the changes slated for the $5, $10, and $20 notes after more than a year of lobbying and polling, with heavy pressure for a female figure to take place on a US banknote.

An open poll of more than 600,000 people had strongly favored Tubman, a hero to African Americans for her escape from slavery in Maryland in 1849 to help run the legendary Underground Railroad that helped thousands of slaves flee to freedom in the 19th century.

The announcement brought widespread cheers. “A woman, a leader, and a freedom fighter. I can’t think of a better choice for the $20 bill than Harriet Tubman,” tweeted Hillary Clinton, the Democrat seeking to become the country’s first female president.

Clinton’s rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, echoed: “I cannot think of an American hero more deserving of this honor than Harriet Tubman.”

 Source: AFP