America’s currency is a statement about who we are as a nation. Our modern money honors our history and celebrates our values. Building on tremendous feedback from Americans across our country about the theme of democracy, the Treasury Department will create new design concepts for the $20, $10, and $5 dollar notes.
The New $20 Note
The front of the new $20 will feature the portrait of Harriet Tubman, whose life was dedicated to fighting for liberty. The reverse of the new $20 will display The White House and an image of President Andrew Jackson.
The Story of the New $20 – Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery. After she escaped, she became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, helping slaves escape to freedom.
During the Civil War, she was active in the Union cause, serving as a nurse, a cook, and a scout, gathering intelligence.
Looking back on her life, Harriet Tubman said, “I would fight for liberty so long as my strength lasted.” After the war, she supported the cause of women’s suffrage and was active in suffragist organizations. She died in 1913 and was buried with military honors.
The New $10 Note
The reverse of the $10 will honor the heroes of the women’s suffrage movement and depict the March of 1913, a march for women’s suffrage from the U.S. Capitol to the steps of the Treasury Department.
The Story of the New $10 – Women’s Suffrage
Treasury’s relationship with the suffrage movement dates to the Women’s Suffrage Parade of 1913 when thousands marched down Pennsylvania Avenue from the U.S. Capitol to the Treasury Department in Washington, DC. On the steps of the Treasury Building, the marchers demanded an amendment to the Constitution enfranchising women. The new $10 will honor the 1913 march and the leaders of the suffrage movement—Susan B. Anthony, Alice Paul, Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott—who were instrumental in the passage of the 19th Amendment.
The front of the $10 will continue to feature Alexander Hamilton, our nation’s first Treasury Secretary and the architect of our economic system.
The New $5 Note
The reverse of the new $5 will highlight the historic events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial and will include images of Marian Anderson, Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. The front of the new $5 will retain President Lincoln’s portrait.
The Story of the New $5 – Historic Events at the Lincoln Memorial
In the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln called for a “new birth of freedom,” urging Americans to do their part to complete, the “unfinished work” ahead.
The Lincoln Memorial has long served as a place where people gathered to complete that unfinished work.
In 1939—at a time when concert halls were still segregated—world renowned Opera singer Marian Anderson helped advance civil rights when, with the support of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, she performed at the Lincoln Memorial in front of 75,000 people.
And in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech at the same monument in front of hundreds of thousands.