# What famous woman would you like to see on the $20 bill? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776 "2015-03-23T15:12:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/141 "2015-03-26T09:31:10Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Rosa Parks was not just some random person who happened to be arrested on a bus. She was an active member of the civil rights movement prior to her arrest. > I don’t know why you insist on calling Rosa Parks’ arrest an accident of history. She took a stand against oppression, do you think the protester who faced down Chinese tanks at Tianeman Square was just walking across the street when he happened to be photographed? I’ve noticed that a lot of dopers casually dismiss the accomplishments of women, as if being a black woman in the south in the fifties meant Rosa had it easy; she accomplished a lot through bravery and determination despite being a woman in an oppressive society, not because she was a woman. What? You dont think other people over the years had not also been arrested for not moving to the back of the bus? Truth is she was a kind of set up. She was a woman, which automatically made people feel sorry for her, she was a churchgoer, was a respected member of society, and just all around a great symbol of a person deserving respect and not being arrested for simply being tired. The NAACP was waiting for just the right person to be a symbol and Rosa Parks was that person. BTW, this is something brought up in the movie “Barber Shop”. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/142 "2015-03-26T10:20:00Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Rosa Parks was just an accident in history > [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Truth is she was a kind of set up. Make up your mind. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/143 "2015-03-26T14:30:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Hyapatia Lee is not dead. > [Hyapatia Lee - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyapatia_Lee) I didn’t say she was dead, just her career. Unless you got some tape I don’t know about. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/144 "2015-03-26T16:52:16Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I’d love it if we moved away from putting presidents on the money. . Like Franklin and Hamilton, eh?😛 ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/145 "2015-03-26T18:55:57Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Like Franklin and Hamilton, eh?😛 yeah…like them. and Salmon Chase. shut up. I’m getting old, ok? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/146 "2015-03-26T20:07:01Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > yeah…like them. and Salmon Chase. shut up. I’m getting old, ok? 🙂 I’ll give you old Salmon P Chase as\* nobody\* knows who he is.😃 and why pick _William McKinley_ for the $500? 😕 U.S. Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln; and as the sixth Chief Justice of the United States.[3] ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/147 "2015-03-26T22:03:49Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#): > > I’d love it if we moved away from putting presidents on the money. Milennia of tradition be damned, it irks me that our politicians are so intertwined with our currency. So yeah, I’d be cool with Susan B. Anthony or Rosa Parks. > > However, Ayn Rand would be far more appropriate if we wanted to be honest. Hamilton and Franklin weren’t presidents. But, for my vote, Marilyn Monroe. tl;dr Ninja’d on hamilton and franklin. ---
**Author:** ![tuesdayweld](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@tuesdayweld](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tuesdayweld)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/148 "2015-03-26T22:08:30Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Hynde is from Akron, Ohio. But her city is now gone. You beat me to the correction and I’m glad you did: that was damn funny. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/149 "2015-03-27T14:31:43Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Why should the purpose of who is on the money be to encourage women? Why can’t it be to honor the people who accomplished great things for our nation. If we have to wait until a women deserves that honor, isn’t that a better message to send than you don’t have to be have great accomplishments if your the right sex?.. I think the issue is that you don’t recognize great accomplishments unless it comes from a man, not that American women haven’t made great accomplishments. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/150 "2015-03-29T05:10:59Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Yeah – that one. And while she herself is not dead, like Hyapatia Lee, her career hasn’t been all that alive lately. 😉 Wendy O. Williams \*is \*dead…am I missing some fine joke, or something? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/151 "2015-03-29T14:50:19Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > Wendy O. Williams \*is \*dead…am I missing some fine joke, or something? Yes – it’s rabbit season. No – it’s duck season. Yes – its rabbit season. 😉 In other words, there is a very small germ of a joke there that goes back about 7 years. For someone just entering it now I would need to actually diagram it like we did sentences bad in the olden days. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/152 "2015-03-29T17:35:10Z")
I vote for the [Farrah Fawcett swimsuit shot.](http://img003.lazygirls.info/people/farrah_fawcett/farrah_fawcett_poster_ZPJpGaF.sized.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2015, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/153 "2015-03-29T23:14:51Z")
Susanna Hoffs. And for the security device, they can make the image do that “eye thing” when you move the bill. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/154 "2015-03-30T05:40:33Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Again, Jackson was not responsible for the Trail of Tears, that was Martin Van Buren. I never even connected Jackson with the Trail of Tears itself, just the horrible way he treated American Indians. [This](http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/indian-killer-andrew-jackson-deserves-top-spot-list-worst-us-presidents-98997) is the sort of stuff I’m used to reading about him. But now I see that the Trail of Tears is just a natural result of the Indian Removal Act. As you point out, Van Buren was enforcing something already created. So you’ve actually convinced me that Jackson was responsible, and not just a horrible racist. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/155 "2015-03-30T10:28:28Z")
[Helen Keller](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller) [Mary Lyon](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lyon) [Frances Willard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Willard_%28suffragist%29) [Carrie Nation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrie_Nation) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/156 "2015-03-30T17:55:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I never even connected Jackson with the Trail of Tears itself, just the horrible way he treated American Indians. [This](http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/02/20/indian-killer-andrew-jackson-deserves-top-spot-list-worst-us-presidents-98997) is the sort of stuff I’m used to reading about him. > > But now I see that the Trail of Tears is just a natural result of the Indian Removal Act. As you point out, Van Buren was enforcing something already created. That’s a pretty biased cite, and The Creek WAR started with a massacre of about 500 settlers including women and children. Jackson got his name from the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , where about 800 Creek _Red Stick warriors_ were killed. Nothing about killing women and children. In fact during one of his battles with the Seminole: \*Close to 40 Red Sticks were killed, and about 100 women and children were captured. \* I read nothing there in wiki that indicated Jackson was anything worse tahn a normal Officer taking part in a brutal war, one marked with atrocities on both sides. In fact his conduct seemed above that of other men, altho by no means “with kid gloves”. Note Jackson wanted the Removal to be voluntary and orderly- and if fact other Removals were pretty much so. What caused the huge number of deaths on trail was incompetence, political malfeasance and a couple of really bad officers- all of which can be laid at the feet of Van Buren . Van Buren was know for massive corruption, and that corruption and incompetence did most of the deadly work. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/157 "2015-04-01T22:59:03Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Yes – it’s rabbit season. No – it’s duck season. Yes – its rabbit season. 😉 > > In other words, there is a very small germ of a joke there that goes back about 7 years. For someone just entering it now I would need to actually diagram it like we did sentences bad in the olden days. Gotcha. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2015, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/158 "2015-05-05T04:25:37Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > I recommended Nellie Bly, a self-made woman and entrepreneur. Google has a doodle of her today. She gets my vote. She was one of the first investigative journalists, spending 10 days undercover in a mental institution. She was an adventurer: inspired by the Jules Verne tale, she traveled around the world in 72 days as a reporter. She was an industrialist, President of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Co., which made milk cans and boilers. She was an inventor and patent holder. She reflects many of the best aspects of the American character and was a master of her awesome. Finally, she is a trope; generations of plucky and fictionalized women reporters owe much to her example. > **[Nellie Bly](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Bly)** > > Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman (born Elizabeth Jane Cochran; May 5, 1864 – January 27, 1922), better known by her pen name Nellie Bly, was an American journalist who was widely known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days in emulation of Jules Verne's fictional character Phileas Fogg and an exposé in which she worked undercover to report on a mental institution from within. She pioneered her field and launched a new kind of investigative journalism. > Elizabeth Jane Cochran was born... > **[Nellie Bly's 151st Birthday Doodle - Google Doodles](https://doodles.google/doodle/nellie-blys-151st-birthday/)** > > Learn more about the creation of Nellie Bly's 151st Birthday Doodle and discover the story behind the unique artwork. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/159 "2015-05-06T20:56:41Z")
Did I miss Herbert Hoover? ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776/160 "2015-05-06T21:23:14Z")
Personally, I am obligated to vote for my cousin Elizabeth Cady Stanton (there is an ordinal number and a “removed” count in there), but quite frankly, I am not sure why we should have to choose. Why not issue 20 different twenties? Or two hundred? They do it with coins, they could work out a satisfactory security scheme that would allow bills to have different portraits. Or we could dispense with bills smaller that $100 altogether and just use coins (no ten, just one, five and twenty). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-famous-woman-would-you-like-to-see-on-the-20-bill/715776.md?page=9)