Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill
A lot of people will be annoyed by this. Me… meh. One thing I do appreciate is that a politician is being replaced by a non-politician.
In my view, the faces on our money should be chosen from two groups:
1: The Founding Fathers
2: American citizens who have made important and valuable and historic contributions. *Actual* contributions. This would almost by default exclude politicians, celebrities and the like.
So, who might be in group 2? A whole lot of people. The Wright brothers. Einstein. Von Braun. Robert Goddard. Mark Twain. Norman Borlaug. Edison. Ford. Kelly Johnson. Patton. John Moses Browning. Crew of Apollo 11. Martin Luther King. Alexander Graham Bell. George Washington Carver. Ted Taylor. William Sherman. Eugene Stoner. Poe. Oppenheimer. Tesla. Noah Webster. Asimov. Heinlein. Milton Friedman. Carl Sagan.
Possibly noticeable here is a dearth of women. It’s not “discrimination” in the negative sense, but the fact that there do not seem to have been as many famous women contributors as men. Apply what excuse you will for that… anything from “women have been socially suppressed when most of the Big Important Stuff was happening” to whatever you like. But the fact remains that there just don’t seem to be as many famous women to rank next to Edison or Einstein. Still, a list of women might include:
Sally Ride, Stephanie Kwolek, McNulty/Jennings/Snyder/Wescoff/Bilas/Lichterman, Grace Hopper, Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Annie Oakley, Clara Barton, Nelly Bly.
Go ahead and make yer own suggestions.