Americans have spoken — they want Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
Tubman, who famously helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom on the Underground Railroad, received 33.6 percent of the 352,431 votes cast in the final round of 10-week poll conducted by the nonprofit group Women On 20s. The organization wants to replace President Andrew Jackson with a woman on a $20 bill.
“Our paper bills are like pocket monuments to great figures in our history,” Women On 20s Executive Director Susan Ades Stone said in a statement. “Our work won’t be done until we’re holding a Harriet $20 bill in our hands in time for the centennial of women’s suffrage in 2020.”
Second place went to Eleanor Roosevelt, followed by Rosa Parks and Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Wilma Mankiller. Over 600,000 people submitted votes in the contest overall.
“Men and women really built this country and it’s just that the women have been in the background,” Stone said. “This is a chance to bring women into the foreground and recognize them for what they’ve accomplished and to show young people that if you make sacrifices and dedicate yourself to something, you will be recognized for it the same that a man would be.”