Twenty dollars and change : Harriet Tubman and the ongoing fight for racial justice and democracy

Twenty Dollars and Change places Harriet Tubman's life and legacy in a long tradition of resistance, illuminating the ongoing struggle to realize a democracy in which her emancipatory vision prevails. America is in the throes of a historic reckoning with racism, with the battle for control over official narratives at ground zero. Across the country, politicians, city councils, and school boards are engaged in a highly polarized debate about whose accomplishments should be recognized, and whose point of view should be included in the telling of America's history. In Twenty Dollars and Change, historian Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed The B lack History of the White House, writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasive social inequities are inextricably linked—changing one can transform the other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as a lens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoing reckoning with the legacies of slavery and foundational white supremacy. He places the struggle to confront unjust social conditions in direct connection with the push to transform our public symbols, making it plain that any choice of whose life deserves to be remembered and honored is a direct reflection of whose basic rights are deemed worthy of protection, and whose are not. "Engaging and insightful, Twenty Dollars and Change illuminates the grassroots effort to have our national currency reflect the diversity of America and all of its citizens—those ordinary and extraordinary people who have stood up and demanded freedom, equality and justice. A must read!"— Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero "What the fight over whose image should appear on the $20 bill reveals about America's reckoning with racism, past and present. Black Movements Matter. So do the symbols that represent them. In a positive step toward greater diversity in official symbolism, on April 20, 2016, then Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced that the image of Harriet Tubman would replace that of Andrew Jackson on the face of the US twenty-dollar bill. Reflecting on the year-long public response regarding which American should replace Jackson on the twenty, Lew stated, "Our currency will now tell more of our story and reflect the contributions of women as well as men to our great democracy." Several years later, however, the decision to enshrine Harriet Tubman on US currency was obfuscated and quietly put on the shelf by the Trump administration. When Biden won the White House, it was again announced that Tubman would replace Jackson. In $20 and Change, African American scholar Clarence Lusane offers a searing examination of what the fight to replace Andrew Jackson's face with Harriet Tubman's on the front of twenty-dollar bill reveals about race, class, and social justice in America today. Weaving together history and political analysis, Lusane gives voice to the millions of Americans who mobilized for the Tubman twenty becoming a part of the long legacy of people of color and women challenging symbols of patriarchy, racism, and white supremacy. He also discusses the movement that emerged in outrage over the killing of George Floyd, arrested for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Lusane argues that while Andrew Jackson's image represents a flawed vision of democracy that tolerates white supremacy, Harriett Tubman's represents the demand for gender equity, racial justice, and the struggle of working people for social inclusion and economic fairness--radical democracy. With insight and urgency, Lusane explains why such a democracy matters, and how national symbols in support of social justice serve to unify and strengthen us as a people"-- Provided by publisher Twenty Dollars and Change places Harriet Tubman's life and legacy in a long tradition of resistance, illuminating the ongoing struggle to realize a democracy in which her emancipatory vision prevails. America is in the throes of a historic reckoning with racism, with the battle for control over official narratives at ground zero. Across the country, politicians, city councils, and school boards are engaged in a highly polarized debate about whose accomplishments should be recognized, and whose point of view should be included in the telling of America's history. In Twenty Dollars and Change , political scientist Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed The Black History of the White House , writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasive social inequities are inextricably linked--changing one can transform the other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as a lens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoing reckoning with the legacies of slavery and foundational white supremacy. He places the struggle to confront unjust social conditions in direct connection with the push to transform our public symbols, making it plain that any choice of whose life deserves to be remembered and honored is a direct reflection of whose basic rights are deemed worthy of protection, and whose are not. "Engaging and insightful, Twenty Dollars and Change illuminates the grassroots effort to have our national currency reflect the diversity of America and all of its citizens--those ordinary and extraordinary people who have stood up and demanded freedom, equality and justice. A must read!"-- Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero America is in the throes of a historic reckoning with racism, and official narratives are up for revision as we struggle to bring our democracy forward. Re-evaluating who should be honored as a national hero is a key front in the fight for racial justice. Whose lives and contributions should be officially celebrated in our monuments, statues, street names, and the portraits on the money we exchange with one another every day? For some, it's Andrew Jackson-a slaveholder who led military campaigns against Native Americans to expand US territory-who deserves to appear on the front of our most commonly used paper currency, the twenty-dollar bill. For others, it's Harriet Tubman-the abolitionist and Civil War veteran who repeatedly risked her life to free others from slavery-who better deserves the spot as an example of what America is and can be. The debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill exemplifies the country's struggle to come to terms with historic realities of white supremacy and abolitionism, and the ways in which those legacies are still active and influential today. Jackson represents a flawed political vision rooted in racial and economic domination, while Harriet Tubman's life story represents the struggle for liberation and justice for all-demands that protest movements have advanced with renewed urgency since the murder of George Floyd and the social inequities highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic. In Twenty Dollars and Change, African American scholar Clarence Lusane takes stock of the millions of Americans who have mobilized for and against honoring Tubman by enshrining her image on money, and places that debate within the ongoing struggle to realize a democracy in which her emancipatory, inclusive vision prevails. **Twenty Dollars and Change places Harriet Tubman's life and legacy in a long tradition of resistance, illuminating the ongoing struggle to realize a democracy in which her emancipatory vision prevails.** In Twenty Dollars and Change, historian Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed __The B__lack History of the White House, writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasive social inequities are inextricably linked—changing one can transform the other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as a lens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoing reckoning with the legacies of slavery and foundational white supremacy. He places the struggle to confront unjust social conditions in direct connection with the push to transform our public symbols, making it plain that any choice of whose life deserves to be remembered and honored is a direct reflection of whose basic rights are deemed worthy of protection, and whose are not. "In Twenty Dollars and Change, political scientist Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed The Black History of the White House, writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasive social inequities are inextricably linked -- changing one can transform the other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollar bill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as a lens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoing reckoning with the legacies of slavery and foundational white supremacy. He places the struggle to confront unjust social conditions in direct connection with the push to transform our public symbols, making it plain that any choice of whose life deserves to be remembered and honored is a direct reflection of whose basic rights are deemed worthy of protection, and whose are not."-- Provided by publisher