Andrew Jackson Ain’t Long for the $20 Bill…

but he will likely be on there longer than Cecil Rhodes’ statue will continue to be on display at the University of South Africa in Capetown. There have been several movements to remove former President Andrew Jackson from the $20 bill and everyone has different opinions on who should replace him.

There is a petition on Change.org to replace Jackson with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Herbert Dyer, Jr. backs up the petition on AllVoices, explaining why Dr. King is the best choice in his view and why Andrew Jackson has to go.

IndianCountryToday has a list of 10 Native Americans, including Sequoyah, Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph, any of whom they would rather see on the $20 than Andrew Jackson.

Women On 20s is a group that has come up with 15 or 16 female nominees that include Shirley Chisholm, Margaret Sanger, Patsy Minsk, Eleanor Roosevelt and Harriet Tubman. Their goal is to accomplish replacing Jackson by 2020, the 100 year anniversary of women receiving the right to vote.

At the same time, in South Africa, Capetown University students intend to get rid of Cecil Rhodes’ statue on their campus and they intend to do it a lot faster than Jackson will be removed from the $20.

Kgotsi Chikane, a leader of “the Rhodes Must Fall” movement gave an interview to an NPR blog, Goats and Soda (Stories of Life in a Changing World), explaining why the bronze figure of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes must be removed from campus.

“This is someone we know was involved in mass genocide, and who oppressed and enslaved black people across Southern Africa,” Chikane said, “The fact that his statue can stand there proudly, in such a prominent position, and that people can walk past it every day without questioning it, that is a problem of racism. If we can see that the statue is a problem, we can start looking more deeply at the norms and values of institutionalized racism that don’t physically manifest themselves, that are harder to see.”

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2 Responses

  1. VJ says:

    @Cece – Looks like they are kicking Old Hickory off the $20 bill after all, but not until 2030, according to this article

  2. Eric S says:

    It seems perhaps the best known woman there may be Eleanor Roosevelt. How likely is it that she will be on there, while her four-time elected POTUS husband is relegated to the mighty dime? Or while her two-term POTUS and Nobel Peace Prize winning Uncle adorns nothing?
    Alas, I believe the two woman had their shots (yes, on coins), but fared no better than Jefferson.