US banknotes will get lots of new faces
Just coming back from a vacation in the USA I was once again confronted with perhaps the most well known banknotes in the world but also some of the most boring in terms of design in my opinion. But it seems that is about to change in a big way!
The US Department of the Treasury has announced its plans for one of the biggest design changes to the US banknotes in decades. The 5-, 10- and 20-dollar notes will get new faces on them, with 8 of them being women. The theme for the new generation of banknotes will be Democracy.
"The new $5 will honor historic events that occurred at the Lincoln Memorial in service of our democracy, and will feature Martin Luther King, Jr., Marian Anderson, and Eleanor Roosevelt. The front of the new $5 will retain the portrait of President Lincoln.
The new $10 will celebrate the history of the women’s suffrage movement, and feature images of Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul, alongside the Treasury building. The front of the new $10 will retain the portrait of Alexander Hamilton.
The front of the new $20 will feature the portrait of Harriet Tubman, whose life was dedicated to fighting for liberty. The reverse of the new $20 will depict the White House and an image of President Andrew Jackson."
It seems that the Treasury tries to make up for decades of white male domination on their banknotes in one move. It will be interesting to see how the new banknotes will cope with so many faces on some of them but it sure sounds promising! In this letter Secretary Lew explains the choices for the new faces.
The new banknotes are expected for 2020, the centennial of the 19th Amendment which gave women the right to vote.
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