Future of Harriet Tubman $20 Bill threatened by Trump Administration

Future of Harriet Tubman $20 Bill threatened by Trump Administration

In yet another about-face under Trump, the treasury secretary says he’s uncommitted to honoring the slavery abolitionist.

Written By Nigel Roberts

      It was just a matter of time. President Trump’s obsession with undoing progress achieved under President Obama turned to the plan to add some color to U.S. currency.

The Washington Post reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday (Aug. 31. 2017) said he will not commit to Obama’s plan of putting an image of slavery abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

Under the Obama proposal, Tubman would replace President Andrew Jackson’s image, which would move to the back of the bill. It would make Tubman, who led numerous slaves to freedom, the first African American on U.S. currency.

However, Mnuchin said in a CNBC interview that he’s not “focused” on that right now, ad-ding ”the issues of why we change it will be primarily related to what we need to do for security purposes.”

It’s no surprise that Trump is leaning (likely already decided) toward keeping Jackson as the only portrait on the bill.

The seventh president became wealthy from his slaves and was behind the forced relocation of Native Americans in what’s become known as the Trail of Tear. Trump told NBC News in April that he’s a great admirer of Jackson and believes the plan to replace him with Tubman is about political correctness.

What’s next? There’s also a plan to add images of memorable moments at the Lincoln Memorial to the $5 bill, the International Business Times reported. They would include civil right leader Martin Luther King Jr., African American opera singer Marian Anderson and former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.