In case you haven't heard, there is currently a campaign underway to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. It's been noted that not one piece of paper currency in this country has a woman on it, and a $20 bill seems like a good place to start, considering it turns out Andrew Jackson wasn't such a nice guy. (Trail of tears and all…)
So this is your chance to vote for the woman you would like on the $20 bill. Initial voting has narrowed it down to Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, and also, Wilma Mankiller.
While I think it would be completely awesome for a person named Wilma Mankiller to be on the $20 bill, I'm not sure if this is a great idea. I'm not sure if we know enough about this woman to know if she is worthy of this honor. We may put her on the $20 bill and then later something will come out about her life. Possibly something about killing people. Possibly men.
My vote would be for Harriet Tubman, who risked her life repeatedly to help bring slaves to freedom. I mean, that's pretty awesome. Not that Roosevelt wasn't an important woman, but it sort of bugs me that we're going to put yet another privileged white person on money. Worse, a woman who we probably would never have heard of if not for her husband. I'm getting a little tired of women who only become president because her husband was president.
As for Rosa Parks, if we're putting people on money for refusing to get up out of their seat because they're "too tired", I think we could definitely consider either my daughters for the honor. (I'm kidding, obviously.)
Anyway, everyone should vote. Even though this will definitely never happen.
Harriet Tubman! Because in my practice, she's an example of how a person with epilepsy can do great things. And in her case, it was before effective medication treatment.
ReplyDeleteI never knew that!
Delete"Worse, a woman who we probably would never have heard of if not for her husband. I'm getting a little tired of women who only become president because her husband was president."
ReplyDeleteActually Eleanor Roosevelt never became president. You must be thinking of someone else.....
I must be..
DeleteDid you see the little girl on the Today Show yesterday that started this whole thing? If not, I'm sure if you go to their website you can see the clip with Al Roker interviewing her @ the White House Egg Roll. It's pretty amazing! I'm thinking Rosa Parks.
ReplyDeleteKeep Andy on the $20 bill; he's a hero to some. There's a cool statue of him in New Orleans because he saved the city from the British during the War of 1812.
ReplyDeleteHe's a hero to some who also contributed to the genocide of Native Americans.
DeletePretty much anyone who emigrated from Europe to North America during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries either directly or indirectly contributed to the genocide of Native Americans. Andrew Jackson was a product of his time and over two centuries ago Native Americans were thought of by most people (at best) as uncivilized, backwards simple folk or (at worst) inhuman savages. Jackson's attitude towards native Americans was pretty much the same held by his peers. It's unfair to judge him by modern, more enlightened standards.
DeleteI would suggest QEII so as to sync appropriately with the Canadian $20 bill.
ReplyDeleteHarriet Tubman all the way!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of Wilma Mankiller replacing Jackson. She was the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation (the Trail of Tears victims) and a really amazing woman. Of course, maybe only those of us from Oklahoma know just how cool she was (I recently learned that there are a lot of people who have never heard of the Choctaw Nation, much less the Chickasaw or Muscogee Nations)
ReplyDelete