I’d like my own picture on there. Then when my kids borrow a twenty, at least they might remember where it came from.
I was going to criticize the Marilyn Monroe cracks, but then I remembered that we lucky ladies have had the benefit of Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill for our lifetimes. The sight of that hottie makes me want to swoon every time I get change for a twenty. Only fair that the dudes should get some of that action.
Not.
Marie Sklodowska Curie and her daughter Irene Curie are both famous Nobel prize winning scientists, but they are not American.
If anyone is interested in history of black women in chemistry in the US, here is a book on the subject:
http://www.amazon.com/African-American-Women-Chemists-Jeannette/dp/019974288X
Clara Barton certainly was an enormously influential individual in the field of medicine.
Clara Barton was also connected to other pioneering female figures in American medicine. If you haven’t read this book, you’ve missed something fascinating:
^ There is also a wonderful documentary based on the diary. I think it was PBS that produced it? Highly recommend!
60 ^Personalized bills would be good, and should be feasible.
Maybe they’ll start selling “forever” dollars, just like those stamps
Margaret Sanger, for her efforts with women’s rights, sex ed movement, etc
My vote is for Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Susan B Anthony. I really hope this happens.P PS Thanks to notelling who posted that interesting link to the New Yorker article.
My votes:
Harriet Tubman
Eleanor Roosevelt
Clara Barton
Emily Dickinson
I would vehemently veto Margaret Sanger.
Hmmm. I’d have to think about some criteria. I’d want somebody whose influence came from her own efforts, and were not derivative, so I don’t think I’d pick Eleanor Roosevelt, great as she was. I also don’t think I’d pick somebody because she was the first woman to do something men had already done. I’m similarly ambivalent about women whose primary claim to fame was championing women’s issues. This causes me to focus on Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, and Rosa Parks. Clara Barton really built something, but I’d also like the person chosen to be somebody so famous and well-known to the ordinary American that it would counteract the idea that the person is being chosen just because she’s a woman. Between Harriett Tubman and Rosa Parks, it’s hard to choose. I guess I will say Harriett Tubman, just because so many heroes of the civil rights era have already been recognized in serious ways, especially Martin Luther King, Jr.
I think it’s a pretty good idea. I recently read a biography of Andrew Jackson–ugh!!!
Personally I think calling Eleanor’s accomplishments a derivative of her husband seriously misrepresents history. Jmo
Eleanor Roosevelt had some very impressive achievements, but she would not have been able to do them if her husband had not been elected President. That’s what I mean by derivative. She may well have had an entirely different set of achievements if she had never married him, of course.
This, I do not understand. I think it is virtually essential that the person have been involved with women’s suffrage. The rest of your criteria I agree with.
Well, there’s an inherent problem–because women’s roles were so circumscribed, it’s hard to find women in history who were able to exert the kind of broad leadership and influence that a President was able to do. So do we try to find somebody who was a major influence in a more limited area (like Clara Barton, for example, or Susan B. Anthony), or do we try to find somebody with broader leadership. I’m not really sure Harriett Tubman really qualifies for that criteria, either, but I like her because she was something of a lone wolf, and is really the only really famous person involved in the Underground Railroad.
I just read about Harriet Tubman, and apparently she became involved in the women’s suffrage movement later in life, so choosing her would tick that box as well.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Please review post #2. No overly winded responses about why someone should/should not be included, please.
Sacajawea, for obvious reasons. The Hon. Barbara Jordan, who eloquently helped this nation get through the Watergate crisis. Dolley Madison. Mercy Warren, Abigail Adams, Harriet Tubman.