Why Harriet Tubman Belongs on the $20 Bill
The question of who represents the United States via their face on the nation’s paper currency came to head under the white supremacist leadership of former President Donald Trump. After it was decided that the great abolitionist and freedom fighter Harriet Tubman would grace the $20 bill, Trump delayed the process. It has now been taken up by the Biden administration. In a new book detailing the context of race and democracy that frames the reasons why Tubman and not, say, Andrew Jackson belongs on the bill, author Clarence Lusane takes us on a critically important historical tour.
Dr. Clarence Lusane is the former chair of Howard University’s Department of Political Science and the current director of its International Affairs program. He is an author, activist, scholar, lecturer, and journalist. For more than 40 years, he has written about and been active in national and international human rights, anti-racism politics, diaspora engagements, U.S. foreign policy, democracy building, and social justice issues. He spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on Rising Up With Sonali about his new book, Twenty Dollars and Change: Harriet Tubman and the Ongoing Fight for Racial Justice and Democracy.
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