What woman would you want to see on the $20 bill?
Room for Debate asks a panel this very question in “Putting a Woman on the $20 Bill.”
Gloria Steinem, a feminist activist, organizer, writer and lecturer, nominates Sojourner Truth:
I’m not sure Sojourner Truth would want to be on the $20 bill, but I would like her to be better known — by any means necessary.
Born into slavery, she still was free in her mind and she worked for universal freedom. Torn from home, children and the man she loved, she still honored the bonds of love, loyalty and friendship with others. Long after she finally had her own freedom and a secure home, she traveled to speak and organize for universal adult suffrage, regardless of sex or race.
By opposing cynical — and successful — efforts to divide a suffrage movement that had been a radical and potentially majority alliance, she taught us that racism and sexism can only be uprooted together.
In this time of racist violence, including in our own streets, and sexist violence that has created a world in which there are now more males than females, we need that radical alliance. Her strength and her vision can inspire us right now.
Linda Chavez, the president of the Becoming American Institute, suggests Emma Lazarus:
Emma Lazarus is my nominee to be the first woman on U.S. currency. Lazarus’ words, inscribed on the base of the Statue of Liberty, have come to symbolize America as a nation of immigrants. She was no immigrant herself, having been born into a prominent New York family whose Sephardic Jewish ancestors traced their roots back to colonial times. Nonetheless, she managed to capture the unique aspects of American immigration. What other country in the world has welcomed so many people from across the globe and given them the opportunity to rise as high as their talents and hard work would take them? Most important, the United States confers on immigrants an equal claim to consider themselves Americans as those born here.
Students: Read the entire essay, then tell us …
— Do you support the campaign to put a woman on the $20 bill? Why?
— What woman would you want to see on the bill? Why?
— Who else would you like to see on United States paper money?