Whose mug would you like to see on the $20 bill? Voters in an online poll picked abolitionist Harriet Tubman to replace Andrew Jackson as the face of the paper currency.
The Women on 20s campaign “aims to compel historic change by convincing President Obama that now is the time to put a woman’s face on our paper currency.” Its digital poll — whose winner was announced Wednesday — asked which woman should make the cut.
The first round included historic figures like former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm, abolitionist Sojourner Truth, Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger and “Feminine Mystique” author Betty Friedan. Voters narrowed the choices down to four finalists: Tubman, former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks, and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation.
WATCH: Which woman would you put on a $20?
Known as the conductor of the Underground Railroad, Tubman is said to have freed over 300 slaves, including her own parents. During the Civil War, she served as a spy for the Union and later recruited a team of former slaves to serve as spies in South Carolina. According to Smithsonian Magazine, Tubman became the first woman to lead a military expedition when she helped a colonel execute a night raid that freed more than 750 slaves from captivity along the Combahee River.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest called Tubman a “wonderful choice” for the bill, but didn’t say whether President Obama would back the effort.
Bridget Todd