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This is Harriet Tubman, Who Will Appear on the $20 Bill. Accept No Substitutes. This is Harriet Tubman, Who Will Appear on the $20 Bill. Accept No Substitutes.
(about 2 hours later)
This is supposed to be Harriet Tubman’s moment: The Treasury Department announced last month that Tubman, a former slave who escaped to freedom and helped others to do so as well, would be on the front of the $20 bill, bumping the slave-owning Andrew Jackson to the back of the bill.This is supposed to be Harriet Tubman’s moment: The Treasury Department announced last month that Tubman, a former slave who escaped to freedom and helped others to do so as well, would be on the front of the $20 bill, bumping the slave-owning Andrew Jackson to the back of the bill.
The process is slow, though, and Tubman’s picture will not be on the money for four more years. Meanwhile, there has been some Internet confusion about Tubman’s image. One photo of a glamorous young African-American woman in a long dress, identified as Harriet Tubman, went viral in recent weeks — although the woman pictured was identified at Snopes.com as Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies.The process is slow, though, and Tubman’s picture will not be on the money for four more years. Meanwhile, there has been some Internet confusion about Tubman’s image. One photo of a glamorous young African-American woman in a long dress, identified as Harriet Tubman, went viral in recent weeks — although the woman pictured was identified at Snopes.com as Lady Sarah Forbes Bonetta Davies.
And on Facebook, Common Sense Conservative posted another photo, in which a woman holding a rifle is identified as Harriet Tubman. But, Snopes found, that woman is actually Mary Fields, or “Stagecoach Mary” the first African-American woman employed as a mail carrier by the United States Post Office.And on Facebook, Common Sense Conservative posted another photo, in which a woman holding a rifle is identified as Harriet Tubman. But, Snopes found, that woman is actually Mary Fields, or “Stagecoach Mary” the first African-American woman employed as a mail carrier by the United States Post Office.
“It’s sort of puzzling, and kind of fascinating that someone as crucial and important as that would get lost and mixed up, just as she was having her coming-out party for the 21st century,” said Ric Burns, the documentarian who collaborated with his brother, Ken, on the PBS “Civil War” series.“It’s sort of puzzling, and kind of fascinating that someone as crucial and important as that would get lost and mixed up, just as she was having her coming-out party for the 21st century,” said Ric Burns, the documentarian who collaborated with his brother, Ken, on the PBS “Civil War” series.
While more exalted Civil War figures, like Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, are featured in historic portraits, not many people have a clear idea of what Harriet Tubman looked like.While more exalted Civil War figures, like Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln, are featured in historic portraits, not many people have a clear idea of what Harriet Tubman looked like.
“It just speaks to how little we know about African-American women of that era, how little visual imagery there is,” said Stephanie McCurry, a history professor at Columbia University. “Photography was very much a studio operation at that time.”“It just speaks to how little we know about African-American women of that era, how little visual imagery there is,” said Stephanie McCurry, a history professor at Columbia University. “Photography was very much a studio operation at that time.”
Then, too, said Jone Johnson Lewis, a writer on women’s history, the photo mix-ups may reflect both a paucity of photographs and an American predilection for glamorized celebrity.Then, too, said Jone Johnson Lewis, a writer on women’s history, the photo mix-ups may reflect both a paucity of photographs and an American predilection for glamorized celebrity.
“There aren’t that many photographs of Harriet Tubman, because she didn’t live a particularly public life, and she didn’t pose for images to support and promote herself, the way Sojourner Truth did,” she said. “People now expect celebrities to look a certain kind of way, but Harriet Tubman was not a glamorous person. She was a tough old woman who looked like she’d lived a hard life, and was disabled from a young age by her beatings.”“There aren’t that many photographs of Harriet Tubman, because she didn’t live a particularly public life, and she didn’t pose for images to support and promote herself, the way Sojourner Truth did,” she said. “People now expect celebrities to look a certain kind of way, but Harriet Tubman was not a glamorous person. She was a tough old woman who looked like she’d lived a hard life, and was disabled from a young age by her beatings.”
The image that will appear on the currency will be created by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, based on historic images, with several security measures built into the design, according to a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, who added that there has not been a final decision on which photograph or drawing will be the model for the image.The image that will appear on the currency will be created by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, based on historic images, with several security measures built into the design, according to a spokeswoman for the Treasury Department, who added that there has not been a final decision on which photograph or drawing will be the model for the image.
In recent decades, Tubman and her role on the Underground Railroad has been less of a presence in academe than in children’s books and songs: Schoolchildren across the country read simple books about her escape from slavery, and her rescue of other slaves, traveling at night through a network of secret routes and safe houses: Many also learn the song “Come on Up,” with the chorus: “She said her name was Harriet Tubman/ And she drove for the Underground Railroad.”In recent decades, Tubman and her role on the Underground Railroad has been less of a presence in academe than in children’s books and songs: Schoolchildren across the country read simple books about her escape from slavery, and her rescue of other slaves, traveling at night through a network of secret routes and safe houses: Many also learn the song “Come on Up,” with the chorus: “She said her name was Harriet Tubman/ And she drove for the Underground Railroad.”
But Catherine Clinton, a history professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the author of a biography of Tubman, said the abolitionist’s long career and her work for women’s suffrage has been largely overlooked in academe. But Catherine Clinton, a history professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the author of a biography of Tubman, said the abolitionist’s long career and work for women’s suffrage have been largely overlooked in academe.
“She had amazing exploits, as a scout, a spy and a nurse of the Union Army,” Dr. Clinton said. “What made her so successful behind enemy lines was her invisibility.”“She had amazing exploits, as a scout, a spy and a nurse of the Union Army,” Dr. Clinton said. “What made her so successful behind enemy lines was her invisibility.”
At a summit meeting that included Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and representatives of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Clinton said, there had been discussion of the aesthetics of putting a woman on the currency, and whether Americans would accept it. She said she herself had strong feelings about not using one of the images showing Tubman in the turban that she wore when she was trying to blend in, but rather in the prim white lace collar she favored most of the time.At a summit meeting that included Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and representatives of the Smithsonian Institution, Dr. Clinton said, there had been discussion of the aesthetics of putting a woman on the currency, and whether Americans would accept it. She said she herself had strong feelings about not using one of the images showing Tubman in the turban that she wore when she was trying to blend in, but rather in the prim white lace collar she favored most of the time.
“Harriet Tubman could be a cover girl for American history,” she said. “I’m glad the invisible woman is becoming visible now.”“Harriet Tubman could be a cover girl for American history,” she said. “I’m glad the invisible woman is becoming visible now.”