[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 78 (Wednesday, May 20, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H3393-H3394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         WOMEN ON 20s CAMPAIGN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, the voting was going on for months 
spearheaded by the Women on 20s campaign. A nominee was announced last 
week. Women on 20s is a campaign that has been agitating to have a 
woman's portrait, the portrait of a great American woman, placed on the 
$20 bill by at least 2020, the 100th anniversary of the U.S. 
recognizing a woman's right to vote.
  The Women on 20s campaign narrowed down their nominees for this honor 
to four women: Wilma Mankiller, a trailblazer and first woman chief of 
the Cherokees; Rosa Parks, credited with starting the Montgomery bus 
boycott by not relinquishing her seat and sparking the modern civil 
rights movement in 1955; Harriet Tubman, an abolitionist born a slave 
who became one of the most noted conductors on the Underground 
Railroad; and Eleanor Roosevelt, who redefined the role of First Lady 
while being a noted civil rights and human rights activist in her own 
right.
  More than 600,000 votes were cast in an online poll, and the winner 
announced with great fanfare last week is Harriet Tubman. I am 
overjoyed that this great American leader was selected.
  As the author of Put a Woman On the Twenty Act of 2015, H.R. 1910, I 
think matching a specific person with a specific biography will sharpen 
the focus of this remarkable grassroots effort to put a woman's face on 
our currency. My legislation does not limit the idea of putting a woman 
on our money to Harriet Tubman or any particular nominee. It instructs 
the Secretary of the Treasury to convene the citizen panel that will 
make recommendations and get it done.
  From my perspective, as we see women breaking barriers at every level 
of our society and as we see people of color breaking barriers at every 
level of our society, our money ought to more accurately reflect who we 
are as a nation in the 21st century.
  I am not saying that Andrew Jackson or any of the men we honor on our 
money are not worthy. Many of our Founding Fathers made important 
contributions to this country which we continue to enjoy today in the 
United States and throughout the world by the spread of democracy.
  It is also true that part of our history includes the practices and 
decisions we certainly are not proud of as a nation. Let's be straight: 
President Jackson was, for many, a war hero, a great defender of the 
young American Republic and, really, the first President and founder of 
the Democratic Party. He oversaw our Nation as it expanded west. It is 
the expansion of this Nation, the manifest destiny that pushed settlers 
west, that pushed the institution of slavery west, and that pushed the 
extermination and forced migration of Native peoples west.
  That is precisely the nexus of Andrew Jackson and Harriet Tubman and 
illustrates why putting a new face on our money makes so much sense. 
The forced removal of Native peoples from their lands so that we could 
expand the practice of slavery is at the heart of Andrew Jackson's 
legacy. The landgrab and the Trail of Tears of the Cherokee people is 
key to contextualizing President Jackson.
  It was when Harriet Tubman was about 6 years old that Jackson became 
President. She was born a slave in Maryland and eventually walked to 
freedom in Pennsylvania. She went back again and again, at least 19 
times, telling more than 300 former slaves how to follow the Big Dipper 
constellation that pointed to the North Star and the way to freedom to 
the north.
  She was an agitator. She was a subversive. She used the tools of 
social change to improve America. She fought for the little guy against 
the strong guy. She was willing to put herself at great risk to ensure 
justice for others. She was a woman, and she was Black. In other words, 
she is an ideal American.
  The other women honored as nominees by the Women on 20s campaign were 
also great Americans. They were also subversive troublemakers, 
agitators, and, therefore, exactly the kind of people I think we need 
on our currency. But Harriet Tubman, because she is a woman, because 
she is a woman of color, because she fought for

[[Page H3394]]

freedom and for a better America in the face of this Nation's greatest 
and, for many like me, still unresolved sin of slavery and racism, 
because she turned the tide of history for the better, she is very, 
very worthy of this great honor.
  In a few years, maybe in a few months, we will all wonder why it took 
so long to put an American woman on our $20 bill. Well, it shouldn't 
take so long. Members of this body, Mr. Speaker, have the ability to do 
something about it and speed this process along.
  Cosponsor the Put a Woman on the Twenty Act of 2015. It is H.R. 1910. 
Join me in calling on the Secretary of the Treasury to do this, whether 
it is Harriet Tubman or anyone else that a fair and open process 
arrives at. Let us stand as a Congress to put a great American woman on 
our money.

                          ____________________