Harriet Tubman

19 Stories

Famed Abolitionist Is Now Gen. Harriet Tubman

She was posthumously awarded rank in Veterans Day ceremony

(Newser) - Revered abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who was the first woman to oversee an American military action during a time of war, was posthumously awarded the rank of general on Monday. Dozens gathered on Veterans Day at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Maryland's Dorcester County for a formal...

Builder Finds Out Why Not to Name Homes After Anne Frank

Or Harriet Tubman, per resurfaced listings that are taking some heat

(Newser) - It's admittedly a challenging job to write compelling real estate copy, in the hopes of inspiring potential customers to buy. One New Mexico homebuilder, however, may have gone a little overboard in its descriptions of two home designs that have "baffled" those who've seen them, per the...

Harriet Tubman's Long-Lost Maryland Home Is Found

Likely site of her father's home discovered in Maryland

(Newser) - In a marshy woodland in Maryland, a teenage Harriet Tubman learned the skills that would carry herself, her family, and countless others out of slave states along the Underground Railroad. And now, we know exactly where that was. Archaeologists have located the likely site of the home Tubman's father...

Biden Restarts Plan to Get Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill

Biden administration wants to speed up change, flipping Andrew Jackson to the back

(Newser) - The stalled effort to honor abolitionist Harriet Tubman by putting her likeness on the $20 bill is being started up again by the Biden administration. She would be the first Black person on US currency. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the nation's currency should "...

Studio Exec Wanted Julia Roberts to Play Harriet Tubman

'That was so long ago. No one will know that' Tubman was black, exec said in 1994

(Newser) - Audiences adore Harriet , the film released this month chronicling Harriet Tubman's real-life efforts to save herself and hundreds of other slaves in the mid-19th century. But "it took 25 years before Hollywood was ready" for her story, screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard writes at the Los Angeles Times , noting...

The Harriet Tubman $20 Bill Isn't Coming in 2020 After All

We won't know if she'll for sure be on it until 2026

(Newser) - The 108th anniversary doesn't have quite the same ring to it, but that's apparently how it's going to be. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday announced that the redesigned $20 bill—which former Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in 2016 decided would feature Harriet Tubman—will not be...

Is Harriet Tubman's Spot on $20 Bill in Danger?

Treasury secretary seems to imply it may not be happening

(Newser) - Harriet Tubman's spot on the $20 bill may be in danger. The Treasury secretary under President Obama announced that slave-owning Andrew Jackson, the current occupant of the bill, would be replaced with Tubman by 2020 (though Jackson would remain on the back of the bill). But asked about the...

Someone Just Paid $162K for This 'Remarkable' Tubman Pic

Most photos of the anti-slavery crusader show her as an elderly woman—not this one

(Newser) - A rare photograph of 19th-century abolitionist and Underground Railroad hero Harriet Tubman has been sold at a New York City auction for $162,500. Swann Galleries says the circa late-1860s image sold Thursday for a hammer price of $130,000, plus a $32,500 auctioneer fee, the AP reports. The...

New Photo of Young Harriet Tubman Surfaces

'This is the vibrant young Tubman just coming off her work during the Civil War'

(Newser) - It's an American hero like you've never seen her before. A newly surfaced photo of Harriet Tubman shows the famous abolitionist not as the older woman seen in familiar images, but much closer in age to the woman who led enslaved families to freedom on the Underground Railroad...

Iowa Rep Tries to Keep Harriet Tubman Off $20, Fails

Steve King called move to swap in Tubman for Andrew Jackson 'racist,' 'sexist'

(Newser) - It was announced in April that abolitionist Harriet Tubman would be replacing Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, but at least one Iowa lawmaker says it's "racist" and "sexist" to even consider adding a woman of color to US currency. "It's not about Harriet Tubman,...

Trump: Tubman 'More Appropriate' on the $2 Bill

Calls the new $20 bill 'pure political correctness'

(Newser) - We all know Donald Trump isn't a fan of political correctness. That's why he's also not a fan of Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the new $20 bill. "I don't like seeing it. Yes, I think it's pure political correctness," Trump tells...

A Wave of Women Joining Tubman on US Currency

Martin Luther King Jr. will be joining them in 2020

(Newser) - After more than a century without any women on American paper money, there will soon be at least eight to choose from. The Treasury unveiled its plans for the new $20, $10, and $5 bills Wednesday, revealing that in addition to Harriet Tubman replacing Andrew Jackson on the front of...

Harriet Tubman to Replace Jackson on $20 Bill

Meanwhile, Alexander Hamilton is sticking around on the 10-spot

(Newser) - Earlier rumors had it that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew was soon to announce a major change to the new $10 bill—specifically, that a woman would replace Alexander Hamilton as the main mug. Instead, sources tell Politico , Lew is expected to announce Wednesday that abolitionist Harriet Tubman is going...

A Woman Is Going on the $10 Bill

Government will announce her name later this year

(Newser) - We don't know who it will be, but a woman will replace Alexander Hamilton as the main image on the $10 bill. Treasury chief Jack Lew says he will announce the woman's name by the end of this year, and the new bills will be out in 2020,...

Poll: Harriet Tubman Should Be on the $20

She beats out Eleanor Roosevelt and other luminaries in bid to get Jackson replaced

(Newser) - Nothing is officially settled in the debate over a replacement face for the $20 bill . But a poll that received more than 600,000 votes shows Harriet Tubman as the clear preference to take Andrew Jackson's spot, USA Today reports. The Women on 20s campaign had four finalists in...

US Creates 5 New National Monuments

GOP not happy about Antiquities Act move

(Newser) - President Obama has used his executive authority to create five new national monuments despite Republican opposition, the Washington Post reports. The five sites now off-limits to development "honor the pioneering heroes, spectacular landscapes, and rich history that have shaped our extraordinary country," the president said. The chair of...

Black Spies Helped Union Cause in Civil War

Historians say they deserve greater recognition

(Newser) - With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War upon us, experts on African-American history are hoping that a group of under-appreciated spies will finally get proper recognition for years of dangerous service, reports the AP . Some of the most useful intelligence-gatherers during the Civil War were black men and women...

Top 25 Black Leaders: Obama Second Only to MLK
Top 25 Black Leaders:
Obama Second Only to MLK
survey says
Jan 17, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Top 25 Black Leaders: Obama Second Only to MLK

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, he gets top honors

(Newser) - On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, it’s fitting to announce that the civil rights leader himself was voted the most influential black American leader. TheGrio asked 25 academics, artists, and activists to rank a list of 170 black leaders, and the website calculated the top 25:
  1. Martin Luther King,
...

HS Kids Take Color-Blind View of History

Women, blacks dominate students' list of famous Americans

(Newser) - Martin Luther King Jr. is the most famous American in history, according to 2,000 high school students asked to name the top 10, reports USA Today. In a dramatic break from the "dead white male" paradigm, African Americans, women, and Arfican-American women dominated the list, with Rosa Parks...

19 Stories
Most Read on Newser