About ten months ago, Secretary of the Treasury, Jacob J. Lew, announced that there would be a new design on the 10$ bill, replacing Alexander Hamilton with a woman from American history. With the recent success of the "hip-hopera" rap musical Hamilton, and the subsequent growing fans of the Founding Father, there was an outcry, begging to keep Hamilton on the currency. He will remain and instead Harriet Tubman has been chosen to replace Andrew Jackson on the 20$ bill. However, Andrew Jackson will not go far. He will occupy the back of the 20$ with other smaller images.
On the back of the 10$ bill, other women in history, abolitionists and suffragists, will be displayed, like Sojourner Truth and Susan B. Anthony. On the 5$ bill, the Lincoln Memorial on the back will be changed to the Lincoln Memorial set for Marian Anderson's performance there, as well as Eleanor Roosevelt, who arranged the concert, and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who's "I Have a Dream" speech took place on those steps.
The ten dollar bill was pushed to have Harriet Tubman because it is the next bill in line for redesigning according to counterfeiting threats, but the push-back from Hamilton fans and the controversial history of Jackson, got Tubman on the front of the twenty. The designs will be finalized in 2020 to commemorate the 100th year anniversary of Women's Suffrage, however the 10 dollar bill will be reprinted first and the twenty and five will come later in the decade. Lew hopes that all of the new currency will be in circulation by 2030. Although his term is coming to a close, he does not believe that the next Secretary would change or take back the design plans.
Harriet Tubman, in 19 trips back to the south, freed over 300 slaves. Andrew Jackson owned almost 300 slaves throughout his life. They will be sharing the new bill.
