how do you even put people on money?
May 1, 2015 9:30 PM Subscribe
One of These 4 Radical, Badass Women Could Be on the $20 Bill
The second video on the official website is AWESOME.
The second video on the official website is AWESOME.
I couldn't find a list-by-gender, but here's a somewhat outdated list of people on banknotes worldwide.
posted by aniola at 9:39 PM on May 1, 2015
posted by aniola at 9:39 PM on May 1, 2015
Queen Elizabeth is on all kinds of bills, from many nations.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:40 PM on May 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 9:40 PM on May 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
From aniola's link, I'm intrigued to see that I can collect James Watt, Lord Kelvin, and Carl Friedrich Gauss.
Back to Badass Women, Greta Garbo is available, too.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:54 PM on May 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
Back to Badass Women, Greta Garbo is available, too.
posted by StickyCarpet at 9:54 PM on May 1, 2015 [1 favorite]
That last link I gave is not really that great, but the collection of banknotes is pretty cool.
posted by aniola at 9:58 PM on May 1, 2015
posted by aniola at 9:58 PM on May 1, 2015
Jackson's chief crimes include slavery, genocide, killing, and . . . cheese-sharing? I have been *drastically* misinterpreting those West Wing episodes.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:58 PM on May 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:58 PM on May 1, 2015 [3 favorites]
I cannot overstate how much it would thrill me to see Andrew Jackson's stupid genocidal face replaced with Wilma Mankiller, first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.
posted by dialetheia at 10:13 PM on May 1, 2015 [32 favorites]
posted by dialetheia at 10:13 PM on May 1, 2015 [32 favorites]
It should be Harriet Tubman.
posted by John Cohen at 10:21 PM on May 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by John Cohen at 10:21 PM on May 1, 2015 [4 favorites]
This list of kickass women who should definitely be on our currency really makes me want to add a musical tag to the end: "and then there's Maude."
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 PM on May 1, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by zachlipton at 10:52 PM on May 1, 2015 [11 favorites]
I really hope this gets traction, because man is American currency design ossified. Banknotes are better than coins, where everything's specified to an inch of its life, but Treasury doesn't want to upset anyone by changing them too much.
posted by Small Dollar at 10:59 PM on May 1, 2015
posted by Small Dollar at 10:59 PM on May 1, 2015
Why pick a winner? Use all of them!
posted by oceanjesse at 12:25 AM on May 2, 2015
posted by oceanjesse at 12:25 AM on May 2, 2015
We'll never be able to redesign the $1bill or significantly improve our coinage unless we can break the power of Big Vending. I only wish I were joking.
posted by Justinian at 12:34 AM on May 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Justinian at 12:34 AM on May 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
I cannot overstate how much it would thrill me to see Andrew Jackson's stupid genocidal face replaced with Wilma Mankiller, first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.
You'd be doing him a favor. He was fanatically opposed to a national bank. Printing his face on Federal Reserve notes is actually a subtle insult to his memory.
He would have found it perfectly fitting for his two greatest enemies, Indians and a monopolistic banking scheme, to be united in one symbol.
posted by clarknova at 3:32 AM on May 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
You'd be doing him a favor. He was fanatically opposed to a national bank. Printing his face on Federal Reserve notes is actually a subtle insult to his memory.
He would have found it perfectly fitting for his two greatest enemies, Indians and a monopolistic banking scheme, to be united in one symbol.
posted by clarknova at 3:32 AM on May 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Eleonore Roosevelt. Obviously.
posted by persona au gratin at 3:40 AM on May 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by persona au gratin at 3:40 AM on May 2, 2015 [6 favorites]
I always figured the Banking Gangsters (Banksters) put Andrew Jackson on their piece of paper that replaced a Gold Double Eagle as the ultimate stab in the back to his memory. Thanks to them, it now takes about 57 of those same damned slips of paper to equal a single Double Eagle.
As for his saving of the Cherokee (or not)... it's not as simple as it seems on the surface.
I think Andrew should be moved up to a new $10,000 bill, redeemable for a coin with a gold content of 1 troy ounce.
I think Josephine Baker would be a good replacement for Old Hickory on the $20 bill.
posted by MikeWarot at 4:40 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
As for his saving of the Cherokee (or not)... it's not as simple as it seems on the surface.
I think Andrew should be moved up to a new $10,000 bill, redeemable for a coin with a gold content of 1 troy ounce.
I think Josephine Baker would be a good replacement for Old Hickory on the $20 bill.
posted by MikeWarot at 4:40 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Once Mankiller is on the 20s, the misandrist bloodletting shall begin in earnest. Beware, my brothers, beware the harvest moon!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:18 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:18 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
In Nod To Zionist Control, Woman On New $20 Bill To Be Golda Meir
^ Satire.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:19 AM on May 2, 2015
^ Satire.
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:19 AM on May 2, 2015
I always figured the Banking Gangsters (Banksters) put Andrew Jackson on their piece of paper that replaced a Gold Double Eagle as the ultimate stab in the back to his memory.
Maybe we can use the same logic to reverse-psychology Emma Goldman onto the $20.
posted by dis_integration at 5:25 AM on May 2, 2015 [9 favorites]
Maybe we can use the same logic to reverse-psychology Emma Goldman onto the $20.
posted by dis_integration at 5:25 AM on May 2, 2015 [9 favorites]
Tubman is probably the most appropriate candidate, considering her military career before and during the civil war, and her political life after.
I'd like to see a bill or coin given to Grace Hopper, tho... Other countries honor their famous scientists and inventors on their currency, why not us?
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:26 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
I'd like to see a bill or coin given to Grace Hopper, tho... Other countries honor their famous scientists and inventors on their currency, why not us?
posted by Slap*Happy at 5:26 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
We'll never be able to redesign the $1bill or significantly improve our coinage unless we can break the power of Big Vending. I only wish I were joking.
Surprisingly, I have seen only a couple of vending machines that can accept credit/debit cards -- I would have thought that wireless connections were cheap enough now that they would be ubiquitous. Several times I have wanted to get a soda but didn't have cash. Switching machines to accept cards might reduce the voice of the vending industry on this issue.
Of the four listed, I see only Harriet Tubman as a likely candidate, because there just isn't much controversial at this point about "helped free slaves." I'd love to see newer and more interesting currency designs here, and I would hope that part of that would be diversifying the faces on the bills (or going another direction and featuring important landscapes and architecture).
posted by Dip Flash at 5:32 AM on May 2, 2015
Surprisingly, I have seen only a couple of vending machines that can accept credit/debit cards -- I would have thought that wireless connections were cheap enough now that they would be ubiquitous. Several times I have wanted to get a soda but didn't have cash. Switching machines to accept cards might reduce the voice of the vending industry on this issue.
Of the four listed, I see only Harriet Tubman as a likely candidate, because there just isn't much controversial at this point about "helped free slaves." I'd love to see newer and more interesting currency designs here, and I would hope that part of that would be diversifying the faces on the bills (or going another direction and featuring important landscapes and architecture).
posted by Dip Flash at 5:32 AM on May 2, 2015
Jackson should mandatorily appear on toilet paper.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:40 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:40 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Dip Flash, but then the merchant services industry would take their cut. Since you need to pay a human to refill the machine anyway, doing an all-cash business nets the vending machine owner more.
posted by rikschell at 6:03 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rikschell at 6:03 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm all for Tubman on the $20! But I think that the traditional photograph of her as the dry Elder Statesman is not really the best message given her story. I remember in gradeschool that my impression of her was "old woman who lived through slavery and maybe escaped through the woods, and had narcolepsy so she fell asleep during interviews a lot?"
I now have a better image of her that I love. It's the cover made by Leo and Duane Dillon for the most recent printing of Ann Petry's book on Tubman. I showed it to a rather prominent artist friend of mine (who wishes to remain anonymous in order to not step in front of an important effort, and also because it's a quick photoshop mash-up), who whipped up this mock-up of a $20 with the younger action-hero Harriet Tubman.
How can you not love that bill? It's Harriet Tubman reaching down, a laser glint in her eye and a brow set with determination, crying out "Come with me if you want to live!" We have no fate but what we make!
It could be the first US note with a firearm on the obverse, maybe (I haven't looked thoroughly enough into historic bills). You could get the NRA on board with this, or at least show them up again as hypocrites if they don't get on board!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 6:34 AM on May 2, 2015 [29 favorites]
I now have a better image of her that I love. It's the cover made by Leo and Duane Dillon for the most recent printing of Ann Petry's book on Tubman. I showed it to a rather prominent artist friend of mine (who wishes to remain anonymous in order to not step in front of an important effort, and also because it's a quick photoshop mash-up), who whipped up this mock-up of a $20 with the younger action-hero Harriet Tubman.
How can you not love that bill? It's Harriet Tubman reaching down, a laser glint in her eye and a brow set with determination, crying out "Come with me if you want to live!" We have no fate but what we make!
It could be the first US note with a firearm on the obverse, maybe (I haven't looked thoroughly enough into historic bills). You could get the NRA on board with this, or at least show them up again as hypocrites if they don't get on board!
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 6:34 AM on May 2, 2015 [29 favorites]
If Patti Smith doesn't deserve to be on the $20 bill then I don't know who does.
She...is cash of the nation
She...is currency
She...is a denomination
She...is legal tender for thee
posted by otherchaz at 6:53 AM on May 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
She...is cash of the nation
She...is currency
She...is a denomination
She...is legal tender for thee
posted by otherchaz at 6:53 AM on May 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Greta Garbo is available
"I vant to be a one."
posted by yoink at 6:55 AM on May 2, 2015 [11 favorites]
"I vant to be a one."
posted by yoink at 6:55 AM on May 2, 2015 [11 favorites]
If Patti Smith doesn't deserve to be on then $20 bill then I don't know who does.
...I'm shopping barefoot
heading for a bin
some sweet product draws me in
makes consume like an American
(ecstatic rant)
posted by otherchaz at 7:07 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
...I'm shopping barefoot
heading for a bin
some sweet product draws me in
makes consume like an American
(ecstatic rant)
posted by otherchaz at 7:07 AM on May 2, 2015 [3 favorites]
Roosevelt is a non-starter, since too many conservatives still really hate her and her husband for, you know, making the country actually work.
Tubman is the logical choice, since she is safely in the rosy mists of grade-school history.
Parks would stand a chance if no one looked to closely at her life and all the politics and organization and stuff she did. Refusing to stand up, the only think she is allowed to be remembered for, is only the tip of the iceberg. Otherwise, the rosy mists could carry her through, even though she's a little too recent for people to be comfortable with on US money.
Mankiller is not famous enough, and putting Native Americans on money has been kind of fraught (we know the name of the bison on the buffalo head nickle but not the name of the man on the other side). However, getting to call $20s "Mankillers" would be pretty awesome.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:15 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Tubman is the logical choice, since she is safely in the rosy mists of grade-school history.
Parks would stand a chance if no one looked to closely at her life and all the politics and organization and stuff she did. Refusing to stand up, the only think she is allowed to be remembered for, is only the tip of the iceberg. Otherwise, the rosy mists could carry her through, even though she's a little too recent for people to be comfortable with on US money.
Mankiller is not famous enough, and putting Native Americans on money has been kind of fraught (we know the name of the bison on the buffalo head nickle but not the name of the man on the other side). However, getting to call $20s "Mankillers" would be pretty awesome.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:15 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
It would not be a good precedent for the first woman on widely used US currency to be a First Lady.
posted by John Cohen at 7:31 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by John Cohen at 7:31 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
"More recently, the Omnibus Appropriations Act (2009) has stated that none of the funds set aside for either the Treasury or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing may be used to redesign the $1 bill.[47] This is because any change would affect vending machines and the risk of counterfeiting is low for this small bill.[48]"
Well, then, if we can't redesign them, we'll just have to stop printing them!
posted by gimonca at 7:33 AM on May 2, 2015
Well, then, if we can't redesign them, we'll just have to stop printing them!
posted by gimonca at 7:33 AM on May 2, 2015
My choice would be Georgia O'Keefe, partly because then the bill designer would have an excuse to show some beautiful artwork on the reverse side.
posted by gimonca at 7:36 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 7:36 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Another great choice: Maya Angelou.
posted by gimonca at 7:50 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gimonca at 7:50 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
It would not be a good precedent for the first woman on widely used US currency to be a First Lady.
Martha Washington was on silver certificates back in the day, how widely used they were at the time, I don't know.
The persons with portraits on Federal Reserve Notes have not changed since 1928. That's a lot of inertia to fight against.
Regarding Native Americans on currency, the last time a person who was not Abraham Lincoln was on any sort of $5 bill was 1899. But, if you're going to do it, you'll want to do it right:
Perhaps one of the only American Indians depicted on U.S. paper money, the picture caused ill will as the Series 1899 $5 Silver Certificate pictured Running Antelope as a chief wearing a Pawnee head dress as the original Sioux head dress was too tall for the engraving.
posted by gimonca at 8:29 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Martha Washington was on silver certificates back in the day, how widely used they were at the time, I don't know.
#/media/File:US-$1-SC-1886-Fr-217.jpg){kind=link}
The persons with portraits on Federal Reserve Notes have not changed since 1928. That's a lot of inertia to fight against.
Regarding Native Americans on currency, the last time a person who was not Abraham Lincoln was on any sort of $5 bill was 1899. But, if you're going to do it, you'll want to do it right:
#/media/File:US-$5-SC-1899-Fr.271.jpg){kind=link}
Perhaps one of the only American Indians depicted on U.S. paper money, the picture caused ill will as the Series 1899 $5 Silver Certificate pictured Running Antelope as a chief wearing a Pawnee head dress as the original Sioux head dress was too tall for the engraving.
posted by gimonca at 8:29 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Sojourner Truth.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:30 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 8:30 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Every time this conversation comes up I scream from the rooftops:
Ida B. Wells
If I had my way elementary school kids would all be doing reports on her every year. She's my hero American that not enough people know about, and that's a shame. She's be wonderful on any bill.
posted by cccorlew at 8:34 AM on May 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Ida B. Wells
If I had my way elementary school kids would all be doing reports on her every year. She's my hero American that not enough people know about, and that's a shame. She's be wonderful on any bill.
posted by cccorlew at 8:34 AM on May 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'd go for Tubman (seriously how is there not a major movie biopic of her yet? Prime material! Oscar gold!) except I don't think there's a firm consensus that Slavery Was A Bad thing so Eleanor Roosevelt is a nice compromise cause she loved hot dogs.
posted by The Whelk at 8:37 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 8:37 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
The choice of Rosa Parks, worthy though she may be, would be a bit of a thumb in the eye to Claudette Colvin -- still very much alive -- whose vital contributions to the bus boycott from its very beginning to its very end were largely forgotten in favour of the sanitized Rosa Parks legend.
posted by Sys Rq at 8:41 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 8:41 AM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Sojourner Truth, if you can stomach the medicine. I'd say Emma Goldman, but I don't think anyone could handle it.
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:49 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 8:49 AM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
It's been interesting to me in conversations about this how "obvious" everyone (including me!) thinks their own favorite is, and I've seen it reasonably evenly split among the four. Which I think means the four final candidates are really good choices. I hope something comes of the campaign.
posted by jaguar at 9:02 AM on May 2, 2015
posted by jaguar at 9:02 AM on May 2, 2015
The most boring part of US paper money, to me, is that there's no culture on the bills, only government. Politicians on the front, government buildings on the back. Other countries are much more willing to include arts, entertainment, folk history, and nature. (Hell, this is literally the story behind my MeFi username.)
So, in addition to the other reasons it's a good idea, adding women to the bills would be a big step towards making our money less stodgy. And not just on the front, but on the back as well. Like, I had no idea that Harriet Tubman was also a war hero. Even if the badass Tubman that rum-soaked space hobo's friend drew up is too bold for the front of the bill, the back could still illustrate her bravery in the Combahee River expedition.
posted by Banknote of the year at 11:09 AM on May 2, 2015
So, in addition to the other reasons it's a good idea, adding women to the bills would be a big step towards making our money less stodgy. And not just on the front, but on the back as well. Like, I had no idea that Harriet Tubman was also a war hero. Even if the badass Tubman that rum-soaked space hobo's friend drew up is too bold for the front of the bill, the back could still illustrate her bravery in the Combahee River expedition.
posted by Banknote of the year at 11:09 AM on May 2, 2015
@GenjiandProust, technically Roosevelt didn't fix the economy: the 2nd world war did. If it weren't for the war, to which the Roosevelts were adamantly opposed, it would not have gotten fixed. I know several liberals who agree with me there. History is objective, not subjective, so it doesn't matter on which side you reside.
In my view, there's nothing wrong with having women, minorities, etc., on the dollars. However, there should be scrutiny as to which persons are on it, by their achievements, not simply out of pity/sympathy or "reparations."
posted by Grease at 11:16 AM on May 2, 2015
In my view, there's nothing wrong with having women, minorities, etc., on the dollars. However, there should be scrutiny as to which persons are on it, by their achievements, not simply out of pity/sympathy or "reparations."
posted by Grease at 11:16 AM on May 2, 2015
Why stop at the $20?
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:20 AM on May 2, 2015
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:20 AM on May 2, 2015
OHenryPacey, because while there are dollar bills up to $100, and in the past, up to $100,000, none of these are prevalent. Even when they are, most businesses prefer $20s and below. $50s still float around, and sometimes $100s, but hardly anything higher than that, and even then, anything over $20 is not all too truly "common," for it to matter in the eyes of practicality.
posted by Grease at 11:23 AM on May 2, 2015
posted by Grease at 11:23 AM on May 2, 2015
what i meant was, why not women on all of the denominations ? just, you know, because....
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:26 AM on May 2, 2015
posted by OHenryPacey at 11:26 AM on May 2, 2015
"@GenjiandProust, technically Roosevelt didn't fix the economy: the 2nd world war did. If it weren't for the war, to which the Roosevelts were adamantly opposed, it would not have gotten fixed. I know several liberals who agree with me there. History is objective, not subjective, so it doesn't matter on which side you reside."
Ah, I'll put you on that very short list of conservatives who believe that government stimulative fiscal policy is an effective response to economic contraction. Good to know! And it's objective history, as you point out. Kind of amazing how the majority of conservatives argue the opposite.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:35 AM on May 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
Ah, I'll put you on that very short list of conservatives who believe that government stimulative fiscal policy is an effective response to economic contraction. Good to know! And it's objective history, as you point out. Kind of amazing how the majority of conservatives argue the opposite.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 11:35 AM on May 2, 2015 [5 favorites]
technically Roosevelt didn't fix the economy: the 2nd world war did. If it weren't for the war, to which the Roosevelts were adamantly opposed, it would not have gotten fixed
Then judging by the charts, it's interesting to note that WWII began in 1933! No wait, it didn't.
Do conservatives bother to google anything?
posted by Slap*Happy at 1:53 PM on May 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Then judging by the charts, it's interesting to note that WWII began in 1933! No wait, it didn't.
Do conservatives bother to google anything?
posted by Slap*Happy at 1:53 PM on May 2, 2015 [4 favorites]
Anyone who thinks that a woman will end up on money before Reagan is delusional and living in a complete and total fantasy world.
posted by holybagel at 2:54 PM on May 2, 2015
posted by holybagel at 2:54 PM on May 2, 2015
We'll never be able to redesign the $1bill or significantly improve our coinage unless we can break the power of Big Vending. I only wish I were joking.
Most - possibly all - vending machines in my region are controlled by a single company owned by the mob. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case everywhere.
It makes sense. A cash-only industry with no receipts, electronic records, or paper trail is the perfect money laundering business.
posted by rocket88 at 3:03 PM on May 2, 2015
Most - possibly all - vending machines in my region are controlled by a single company owned by the mob. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case everywhere.
It makes sense. A cash-only industry with no receipts, electronic records, or paper trail is the perfect money laundering business.
posted by rocket88 at 3:03 PM on May 2, 2015
To expand on my previous comment - Harriet Tubman's involvement in the Underground Railroad is distinguished and heroic military action in the service of The United States of America. She freed lots of Americans from slavery.
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:19 PM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Slap*Happy at 6:19 PM on May 2, 2015 [2 favorites]
Anyone who thinks that a woman will end up on money before Reagan is delusional and living in a complete and total fantasy world.
There have already been multiple women on US currency, whereas Reagan won't be on the dollar coin until next year.
posted by Small Dollar at 7:19 PM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
There have already been multiple women on US currency, whereas Reagan won't be on the dollar coin until next year.
posted by Small Dollar at 7:19 PM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
It would not be a good precedent for the first woman on widely used US currency to be a First Lady.
Martha Washington was on silver certificates back in the day, how widely used they were at the time, I don't know.
I know women have been on US currency before. Martha Washington appeared on some silver certificates in the late 19th Century. There was also the Susan B. Anthony dollar, and a few others. I qualified my statement with "widely used" based on the Women on 20s FAQ.
posted by John Cohen at 7:31 PM on May 2, 2015
Martha Washington was on silver certificates back in the day, how widely used they were at the time, I don't know.
I know women have been on US currency before. Martha Washington appeared on some silver certificates in the late 19th Century. There was also the Susan B. Anthony dollar, and a few others. I qualified my statement with "widely used" based on the Women on 20s FAQ.
posted by John Cohen at 7:31 PM on May 2, 2015
technically Roosevelt didn't fix the economy: the 2nd world war did. If it weren't for the war, to which the Roosevelts were adamantly opposed, it would not have gotten fixed
Then judging by the charts, it's interesting to note that WWII began in 1933! No wait, it didn't.
Do conservatives bother to google anything?
That argument is made by Paul Krugman, who's not exactly a "conservative."
posted by John Cohen at 7:32 PM on May 2, 2015
Then judging by the charts, it's interesting to note that WWII began in 1933! No wait, it didn't.
Do conservatives bother to google anything?
That argument is made by Paul Krugman, who's not exactly a "conservative."
posted by John Cohen at 7:32 PM on May 2, 2015
The choice of Rosa Parks, worthy though she may be, would be a bit of a thumb in the eye to Claudette Colvin -- still very much alive
Then Claudette Colvin can't be on US currency. As the FAQ on the Women on 20s website says, the only people who can legally be on US currency are those who have been dead for at least 2 years.
posted by John Cohen at 7:33 PM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Then Claudette Colvin can't be on US currency. As the FAQ on the Women on 20s website says, the only people who can legally be on US currency are those who have been dead for at least 2 years.
posted by John Cohen at 7:33 PM on May 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
In 1933, we were still active in the world theater. We had our part in the preliminary stages of the war, with Britain.
We've even lent several pieces to Britain.
read here: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2011-12-16/how-did-world-war-ii-end-the-great-depression-echoes
"The Depression ended not simply because the military needed more materiel, but because the government used wartime demand to transform what America made. Financing all those investments helped lead the country out of the Depression and established a new and important sector for the economy. Aerospace and its related industries became a key component of the postwar boom."
Maybe the problem is you read too much google, and not enough history books.
posted by Grease at 10:52 PM on May 2, 2015
We've even lent several pieces to Britain.
read here: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2011-12-16/how-did-world-war-ii-end-the-great-depression-echoes
"The Depression ended not simply because the military needed more materiel, but because the government used wartime demand to transform what America made. Financing all those investments helped lead the country out of the Depression and established a new and important sector for the economy. Aerospace and its related industries became a key component of the postwar boom."
Maybe the problem is you read too much google, and not enough history books.
posted by Grease at 10:52 PM on May 2, 2015
And yet, if you looked at those pesky charts, you'd see what happened when Roosevelt backed off his social spending policies in 1937 under Republican pressure.
No one really falls for it when the conservatives go after FDR. The only conclusion we're allowed to draw is that any warm body in the White House would suffice, so vote Republican.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:18 AM on May 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
No one really falls for it when the conservatives go after FDR. The only conclusion we're allowed to draw is that any warm body in the White House would suffice, so vote Republican.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:18 AM on May 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments deleted. Grease, moderator here. You're coming on pretty strong here, in pursuit of a claim that's a derail from a thread about putting women on the $20. So let's leave that derail. Thanks.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:29 AM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:29 AM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I know Rosa Parks has that grade-school mythology glow and is beloved by all the white people, but if we're picking influential female members of the Civil Rights movement we should look at Fannie Lou Hamer.
posted by Anonymous at 7:58 AM on May 3, 2015
posted by Anonymous at 7:58 AM on May 3, 2015
Abagail Adams
Ida b
Eleanor
Betty Ford
Barbara Jordan
Condi rice.
My vote is for Abagail, her letter to John asking for the convention to expand woman's rights is oft overlooked and a humanistic treasure.
Roosevelt and Neutrality
need to read up.
posted by clavdivs at 8:46 AM on May 3, 2015
Ida b
Eleanor
Betty Ford
Barbara Jordan
Condi rice.
My vote is for Abagail, her letter to John asking for the convention to expand woman's rights is oft overlooked and a humanistic treasure.
Roosevelt and Neutrality
need to read up.
posted by clavdivs at 8:46 AM on May 3, 2015
My vote goes to Marianne Moore because Marianne Moore is awesome.
posted by Gymnopedist at 8:59 AM on May 3, 2015
posted by Gymnopedist at 8:59 AM on May 3, 2015
Let's put Squeaky Fromme on the one-dollar bill...
posted by AJaffe at 6:18 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by AJaffe at 6:18 PM on May 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Small Dollar: "I really hope this gets traction, because man is American currency design ossified. Banknotes are better than coins, where everything's specified to an inch of its life, but Treasury doesn't want to upset anyone by changing them too much."
Exactly! We used to get coinage changes every 10 years or so. Like a lot of things related to government, currency seems to have become rather sclerotic.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:42 PM on May 5, 2015
Exactly! We used to get coinage changes every 10 years or so. Like a lot of things related to government, currency seems to have become rather sclerotic.
posted by Chrysostom at 3:42 PM on May 5, 2015
@clavdivs, true, he was elected on the isolationist sentiment, but we were involved [indirectly] from early on, and he admitted privately that he knew war was inevitable.
anyway to continue on with the thread (and leave the derail), I'd nominate Sarah Palin for the $20 bill.
Or Bachmann, Fiorina, etc. Condi Rice, I don't mind being on there.
posted by Grease at 9:47 AM on May 7, 2015
anyway to continue on with the thread (and leave the derail), I'd nominate Sarah Palin for the $20 bill.
Or Bachmann, Fiorina, etc. Condi Rice, I don't mind being on there.
posted by Grease at 9:47 AM on May 7, 2015
Why? Aren't they all failures? Fiorina and Rice especially - yow. One drove a number of iconic tech companies into the ground before failing as a politician, and the other failed completely to keep 9/11 from happening as National Security Advisor, and then pushed hard to invade Iraq.
Palin couldn't even see her first term as Governor through. Bachman had a nice little tenure as an utterly ineffective and uninfluential member of congress, before failing as a presidential candidate.
Why you think any of these women are even in the same solar system as someone like Tubman is a mystery.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:21 AM on May 7, 2015
Palin couldn't even see her first term as Governor through. Bachman had a nice little tenure as an utterly ineffective and uninfluential member of congress, before failing as a presidential candidate.
Why you think any of these women are even in the same solar system as someone like Tubman is a mystery.
posted by Slap*Happy at 11:21 AM on May 7, 2015
I think he was making a joke: they could only appear on US currency if they were dead.
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:50 PM on May 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Joe in Australia at 4:50 PM on May 7, 2015 [1 favorite]
rum-soaked space hobo: I'm all for Tubman on the $20! But I think that the traditional photograph of her as the dry Elder Statesman is not really the best message given her story.
What‽ I love that portrait of middle-aged Harriet Tubman glaring into the camera lens. That is the face of a woman who gave absolutely no fucks whatsoever.
She was perhaps 63 years old when that picture was taken. 63 hard years; when Tubman was born, the life expectancy for a woman of color in the U.S. was about 30. 63 years of being born into slavery, escaping, returning over a dozen times to rescue (always successfully! Not once did she fail!) her family and friends (becoming literally a living mythological figure in the process). 63 years during which she—a Black woman born into one of history's worst times and places to be a Black woman—led a successful armed raid during the Civil War, freeing over 700 slaves.
And then, after the Civil War was won and slavery was abolished, she went on to become a campaigner for women's suffrage. She worked alongside the likes of Susan B. Anthony, today one of the few women to already have been featured on U.S. currency. That's what she would've been doing in 1885, when that portrait was taken. Tubman was one of the most powerful forces for good to exist in her world, doing more to improve the human condition than almost anyone who has ever lived, and all at an absolutely unimaginable risk to her own life and safety.
She did all that starting from literally nothing. From less than nothing! When she was born society considered her property, chattel, a non-human animal. As a child she was once literally described as "not worth sixpence," was routinely beaten, and at one point had her skull broken with a lead weight for refusing to help restrain a fellow slave—causing her to suffer from seizures for the rest of her life. She ended up one of the greatest heroes of hers or any age, a justifiably immortal figure of history.
That portrait is powerful as hell. She has eyes like gimlets, eyes that bore down into you and say, "I have done more in my life than you could possibly dream of." Everything about her expression and posture says to me, "If you think I am nothing more than a respectable, middle-aged, colored woman, then come on—try me."
In fact, I would even prefer to see this portrait of elderly, 89-year-old Harriet Tubman. Now there is a woman who has truly seen the world, and found it wanting, and fucking done something about it. Rosy mists of grade-school history my balls. Harriet Tubman was a stone badass.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:21 PM on May 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
What‽ I love that portrait of middle-aged Harriet Tubman glaring into the camera lens. That is the face of a woman who gave absolutely no fucks whatsoever.
She was perhaps 63 years old when that picture was taken. 63 hard years; when Tubman was born, the life expectancy for a woman of color in the U.S. was about 30. 63 years of being born into slavery, escaping, returning over a dozen times to rescue (always successfully! Not once did she fail!) her family and friends (becoming literally a living mythological figure in the process). 63 years during which she—a Black woman born into one of history's worst times and places to be a Black woman—led a successful armed raid during the Civil War, freeing over 700 slaves.
And then, after the Civil War was won and slavery was abolished, she went on to become a campaigner for women's suffrage. She worked alongside the likes of Susan B. Anthony, today one of the few women to already have been featured on U.S. currency. That's what she would've been doing in 1885, when that portrait was taken. Tubman was one of the most powerful forces for good to exist in her world, doing more to improve the human condition than almost anyone who has ever lived, and all at an absolutely unimaginable risk to her own life and safety.
She did all that starting from literally nothing. From less than nothing! When she was born society considered her property, chattel, a non-human animal. As a child she was once literally described as "not worth sixpence," was routinely beaten, and at one point had her skull broken with a lead weight for refusing to help restrain a fellow slave—causing her to suffer from seizures for the rest of her life. She ended up one of the greatest heroes of hers or any age, a justifiably immortal figure of history.
That portrait is powerful as hell. She has eyes like gimlets, eyes that bore down into you and say, "I have done more in my life than you could possibly dream of." Everything about her expression and posture says to me, "If you think I am nothing more than a respectable, middle-aged, colored woman, then come on—try me."
In fact, I would even prefer to see this portrait of elderly, 89-year-old Harriet Tubman. Now there is a woman who has truly seen the world, and found it wanting, and fucking done something about it. Rosy mists of grade-school history my balls. Harriet Tubman was a stone badass.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 4:21 PM on May 8, 2015 [4 favorites]
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