Front Page Talking Points

FOR THE WEEK OF APR 25, 2016

Harriet Tubman will be the new face of $20 bills as paper money gets more diverse

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1.gifFind an example of diversity in any section of the paper. Discuss why it matters,

2.gifNow look for a living woman in the news. What does she say or do?

3.gifRead about money, economics or a federal government action and list two key facts.

Three pieces of U.S. currency are getting historic makeovers. Harriet Tubman, a 19th century ex-slave who crusaded to abolish slavery, will replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of $20 bills. He moves to the flip side sometime next decade, along with a White House image. Two other redesigned bills also gain a female presence. "We really did listen" to Americans supporting that addition, says Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Women "for too long have been absent from our currency," he adds.

A montage of five American suffrage movement leaders will be on the back of $10 bills by the year 2020, along with a scene representing a 1913 march from the U.S. Capitol to the steps of the Treasury by women seeking the right to vote. The new faces shown will be those of Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul. (Their decades-long campaign succeeded in 1920, when 36 states ratified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution.) Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary and the architect of our economic system, stays on the $10 front.

The final remake is of $5 bills, which keep President Abraham Lincoln on the front and add backside images of singer Marian Anderson, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. – who each made a historic appearance at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. All three new-style bills also will have additional anti-counterfeiting protections and textured symbols to let blind and visually impaired people identify each denomination.

Hillary Clinton says: "A woman, a leader and a freedom fighter. I can't think of a better choice for the $20 bill than Harriet Tubman." – Tweet

Historian says: "This is the first time that Americans have had a big national conversation about what our banknotes looks like. The fact that women’s history is being included and honored on American banknotes is a huge shift, a huge moment." -- Ellen Feingold, curator at the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Hariet Tubman said: "I would fight for liberty so long as my strength lasted."

Front Page Talking Points is written by Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2024

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Common Core State Standard
SL.CCS.1/2/3/4 Grades 6-12: An essay of a current news event is provided for discussion to encourage participation, but also inspire the use of evidence to support logical claims using the main ideas of the article. Students must analyze background information provided about a current event within the news, draw out the main ideas and key details, and review different opinions on the issue. Then, students should present their own claims using facts and analysis for support.