This is huge: A woman will appear on the $10 bill

American money will finally be joining the modern times. Starting in 2020, a woman will be featured on the $10 bill. While the bill will still have some image of Alexander Hamilton, an as-yet-to-be-decided female pioneer will be featured alongside the country’s first Secretary of the Treasury.

As the New York Times notes, we have had two women—social reformer Susan B. Anthony and Lewis and Clark expedition guide Sacagawea—on coins. However, let’s be honest. . . how often do you see these coins? They proved to be unpopular, and the production of them was soon stopped, leaving our currency to be pretty much 100% male.

That’s why there’s been a massive online petition going on for the past several months called Women on 20s, which aimed to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with a woman who made history. The organization, which has been supported by various major celebrities including Ellen Degeneres and Susan Sarandon, held a massive online vote for 15 women. About a month ago, Harriet Tubman was determined to be the top choice.

So will Tubman be on the $10 bill? It’s too early to say. According to the New York Times, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew will be choosing by the end of the year—and the only criterion is that the woman must be deceased, as well as “a champion for our inclusive democracy,” according to Lew. So yes, that would include Tubman as a possibility. It would be nice if Lew listened to the American people by choosing the woman who was voted in, but we’ll have to see. In the meantime, officials will be conducting round-table discussions and town-hall meetings to gauge the public’s opinion.

“We have only made changes to the faces on our currency a few times since bills were first put into circulation,” Lew said, according to The Telegraph, “and I’m proud that the new 10 will be the first bill in more than a century to feature the portrait of a woman.”

The woman behind Women On 20s also weighed in on the news. “It’s been our goal from the beginning to see the face of a woman on our paper currency,” Susan Ades Stone, the group’s executive director, told The Washington Post. “So naturally I’m excited to hear that our mission will be accomplished. . . I can’t claim that we gave them the idea. I do believe that their decision to go to the public for input is the result of the public response to our campaign.”

In the meantime, the Treasury is encouraging those interested to spread the word using the hashtag #TheNew10. “America’s currency makes a statement about who we are and what we stand for as a nation,” Lew said.

(Image via Shutterstock, via Women on 20s)

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