The four WomenOn20s candidates in the final round have been chosen. Per USAToday:
The people – 256,659, anyway – have spoken, and the group pushing for a woman to appear on U.S. paper currency has announced its final four to replace Andrew Jackson’s face on the $20 bill.
From 15 contenders in a “robust” five-week “primary round” that ended Sunday, voters selected Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Wilma Mankiller, the first female chief of the Cherokee Nation, WomenOn20s said. The competition began with 100 candidates…
More than half of the Internet voters chose Roosevelt, Tubman and Parks as one of their top three, the group said.
Mankiller was added to the final ballot “because of strong sentiment” that a Native American should be a candidate to knock off the seventh U.S. president, a slave-owning military hero of 19th-century America who helped found Tennessee. He signed the notorious Indian Removal Act of 1830, which relocated several tribes to territory that now comprises Oklahoma, where Mankiller was born and lived until her death in 2010. More than 4,000 Cherokees died during the tribe’s forced march by the U.S. Army in what became known as “The Trail of Tears.”
“There are so few reminders in our everyday lives of great women who’ve contributed to the shaping of our nation,” Ades Stone said. “It’s time to correct that and putting a woman on a $20 is like having a little pocket monument.”
The group is aiming to petition the White House to make the change by 2020, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote…
You can vote for your choice here. Any of these four women would be a great first honoree. Popular sentiment, insofar as I can judge, seems to be running in favor of Rosa Parks, possibly because she’s been in the news recently enough that people are more aware of her achievements. I’m still praying for my own favorite, Harriet Tubman, not least because she’s the most likely to make right-wingers scream till they injure themselves. (Unimportant but intriguing detail: until I read the Wikipedia page I did not know that the 20-something Tubman was described as “fine looking” by her former owner in the newspaper ad seeking her forcible return after her first escape.)
***********
Apart from the injustices — small and great — of history, what’s on the agenda for the day?
OzarkHillbilly
Of those 4, I too will hope for Harriet Tubman. (nothing against the other 3)
Keith G
Yes, Harriet Tubman since she had the type of drive and bravery known to so few others.
Still, it seems to be a slim list.
I would like to see Ida B. Wells get such an honor above most others. Then Ida Tarbell and Jane Adams should have their due. Yes I am in the bag for progressive era reformers and muckrakers. Now as much as ever, we desperately need to reignite the spirit that moved these women.
Edit – Another benefit of Tubman is that by placing an escaped slave on our currency, we open up so very many conversations.
Mustang Bobby
I’m a huge fan of Eleanor Roosevelt, but I’ll take any of them over Bloody Andrew.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mustang Bobby: I’m will you on Eleanor, Rosa Parks would be my second choice.
Baud
I vote for Reagan-in-drag. /wingnuts
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: No love for Rudy, Baud? We’ve got pics of him in drag.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
I’m saving Rudy for the new $911 bill.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: True and he’s still with us.
WaterGirl
So this is what the early morning thread looks like… early in the morning.
Tucker woke me up about 30 minutes ago and I shushed him to go back to sleep, but he wasn’t having any of it. Then I could see really rapid flashes of light out the window, faster than I’ve ever seen with a storm, so I got up to check it out. Flashes in the front, too; I thought maybe we were seeing flashing lights on an ambulance or something. Nope.
Maybe 5 minutes later we got a huge hailstorm, sounded like golf ball size but who knows? Poor Tucker hates storms (since the tree crashed on the house) so I’m trying to keep him calm. This is Henry’s first storm and I don’t want him to learn to be afraid, so I’m holding him and bouncing him like I would a crying baby.
Finally it started raining and the dogs started playing, which was a good outlet for Tucker’s nervous energy. So what does it mean when the lighting is just flashing flashing flashing really fast?
BillinGlendaleCA
OT: If anyone wants to run Android Apps on a PC(Windows, OSX, or Linux), you can run them using Chrome with ARC Welder.
BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Tucker? Tucker Carlson?
Scott S.
My preference is Harriet Tubman, too, but I think either Roosevelt or Mankiller is more likely to really freak out the wingnuts…
WaterGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: My dog, Tucker. I don’t think Tucker Carlson would be an animal you would keep in the house. Maybe he would be good as an outside dog?
BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Nah, he’d bark too much and wake the neighbors. Probably poop on their lawn if he found out they’re liberals.
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl:
God’s having a seizure?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Do you have to do anything special to install ARC Welder or is it like adding an extension to Chrome? How well does it work? I have a Windows tablet computer, and the apps that are available suck, so having Android apps might be nice.
WaterGirl
@BillinGlendaleCA: You’re right, animal control would be the best option.
xenos
Wow… tough call to make. Eleanor R is certainly my sentimental favorite, but Tubman stands head and shoulders over nearly every last American in history.
I feel like America has not yet earned the honor of putting her on currency.
dan
Kate Upton.
JPL
@WaterGirl: The early morning thread is the same as others only a little bit slower.
Harriet Tubman would be my choice. If the bill moves forward, it will only receive consideration, if Reagan replaces Abe.
ThresherK
@BillinGlendaleCA: So I’ve heard. Is it something which sounds like a good idea? Or have you seen it work nicely firsthand?
(Signed, the guy who asks “Is this milk any good? I was just going to throw it out.”)
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You can only run one app at a time, currently. You will also need the app APK file on your PC. In Chrome, google “ARC Welder chrome”, install the extension, run it, select the APK, select options(orientation, phone/tablet), enjoy!
Baud
@JPL:
Tis true. We early birds ain’t all that bright.
BillinGlendaleCA
@ThresherK: App performance was pretty snappy, I was rather pleased. I’ve tested it on Windows 8.1, OSX 10.10, and Linux Mint 17.
ETA: I’ve tested 2 apps, Wink(home automation) and IP Camera. Wink works flawlessly, IP Camera crashes after switching cameras a few times.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Speak for yourself. Me, I’m like a ray of sunshine.
ThresherK
@BillinGlendaleCA: Thanks. Must put on my list of things to get to sooner than later.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Speak for ya self, I’m a Night Owl.
Iowa Old Lady
We finally got around to watching Wolf Hall last night. Great show.
BillinGlendaleCA
@ThresherK: I should note, it’s NOT in the Chrome Store, google it to find it.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: @BillinGlendaleCA:
snif I was speaking for myself. snif
WaterGirl
The weather has settled down and so have the dogs, so we are going back to bed. I do love having my little consulting business and no appointments today. :-) Good night, all.
TOP123
I’m a huge fan of the idea of Eleanor Roosevelt on our currency, but Harriet Tubman and Wilma Mankiller seem very appropriate as firsts in light of some of our nation’s original sins, and Rosa Parks certainly fits as they all do with our struggles toward our better angels. Why not more notes up for change? The two I am very attached to are Lincoln and Grant, and think Franklin should stay, too, so how about swapping a few out? Say, for starters, Mankiller on the Twenty instead of Jackson as seems appropriate, then Roosevelt on the Ten, or the Two if we want to keep Hamilton (father of the Treasury and all), and finally, Tubman on the One? (Ka-Boooooom! Head explosions on Fox audible on the moon!)
debbie
@Baud:
Arg, if only my desktop with Photoshop were working. That’s a genius idea1
NotMax
So many deserving names entirely left off the initial list.
Jeannette Rankin, Lucretia Mott, Sally Ride, to name just three.
debbie
@Iowa Old Lady:
I agree. I’m already sorry it’s only six parts.
RSA
My vote would go to Tubman. I haven’t seen any rightwing freak-out over her, though; even Conservapedia is respectful.
ThresherK
@BillinGlendaleCA: Of course it’s not in Chrome Store, too easy.
PurpleGirl
For watchers of Outlander on Starz: This Saturday starts the next series of episodes. 9 p.m. edt. (Remember Starz is a prime group of channels that cable charges you for.)
NotMax
@NotMax
Come to think of it, a dual portrait featuring women of achievement from differing periods of history but from the same field would be neat.
Harriet Quimby paired with Sally Ride, for example.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Who? Me, myself, and I? You did say, “We early birds ain’t all that bright.” ;-)
Patricia Kayden
Ms. Mankiller has such an interesting name. It’s too bad that all four women couldn’t be on the $20 bill. Why not make batches of bills using all of them?
If forced to make a choice, I’d have to go with Rosa Parks since she’s always been a personal hero, with Tubman a close second.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Good one! Somehow that bill would have to be racist and annoying as well as completely useless.
TOP123
@Patricia Kayden: in light of the fact that white men have had a pretty good run of it on our currency for a while, we could turn this around: Founders share a bill (say, Washington, Franklin, and Hamilton on the Ten), Saviors of the Union share the Five (Lincoln, Grant, maybe add Thomas and Sherman and Sheridan and Farragut for good times), and women get all the rest, individually?
JPL
@debbie: I agree.
The character who played Rafe, also played in Love Actually and hasn’t aged at all. How can that be? Thomas Brodie-Sangster is twenty four now and he was probably eleven or twelve when Love Actually was made.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
“We” refers to the average, which my presence brings down in my hypothetical.
OzarkHillbilly
@TOP123:You forgot Frederick Douglass for the 5. Oooopps, my bad…
MomSense
@PurpleGirl:
The first one was last Saturday. I think you can catch it on demand or streaming.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: So you aren’t schizophrenic? Boy, I could have sworn… ;-) As far as bringing the avg down, you can always blame me.
Cervantes
@TOP123:
That’s my vote.
I’d vote for that, too — in a heartbeat.
Cervantes
@Baud:
!
Tommy
Until my brother who is nine years younger than myself I was the only person born male in my family for four generations. Why I have a III at the end of my name. Thing I don’t like that much. Just ponder that for a few seconds …..
TOP123
@OzarkHillbilly: no, you’re right
Phylllis
Stan Freberg has died :-(.
TOP123
@OzarkHillbilly: though I wouldn’t put him in a “class already well honored on US currency” category…
Kropadope
Harriet Tubman for president!!!
A clear vision for 2020
NotMax
@Phylllis
Many tributes on this thread from yesterday.
debbie
@JPL:
He’s definitely baby-faced.
Aside from Damien Lewis and Jonathan Pryce, I wasn’t familiar with any of the actors, but boy are they great! They all seem to have done a lot of stage work, which I think benefits the program. Especially Mark Rylance. I love how he stills himself and quietly absorbs the angers directed at him. Just what Cromwell would have done.
Belafon
I realize he’s not a woman, but I thought the alternate universe in Fringe was pretty cool: They had MLK Jr on the $20. When they saw one of our $20s, they were like “Who’s Jackson?”
I’ll take any of them, but Tubman would be a good start.
FlipYrWhig
@TOP123: I like the idea of breaking it down by eras and/or fields. Of course then we’d probably get stuck with some kind of “famous church leaders” bill that had Billy Graham on it, and a “famous corporate magnates” one that had railroad barons on it.
Redshift
All of them, Charlie.
SuperHrefna
Harriet Tubman is my choice too, though I agree with xenos that America hasn’t earned the honor of putting her on the currency.
Punchy
61 comments in and not a single person has cracked the “Is currency with a broad on it only worth 71% of its stated value?” joke? No “would the bill turn red during a certain time of the month?” wisecrack? Not a soul deadpanning how easy this bill will be to wind up lost and unable to find its way to its destination?
Peale
Honestly, I think think the portrait should rotate each year. It should be the reward for winning the Geography Bee.
Southern Beale
Look what’s for sale at the Rand Paul store
NSA Spy Cam Blocker! Keeps the government from spying on you! For $15. Alternately, if you’re that paranoid, you can put a piece of electrical tape over your camera. But it doesn’t have a handy-dandy “Rand” logo to give you that extra, Libertarian feel-good jolt.
Omnes Omnibus
@Southern Beale: The grift is strong in this one.
J
Great choices (though Wilma Mankiller is new to me). I’d add Dorothy Day.
SFAW
What a buncha libtards. Tubman? Roosevelt? Mankiller? Commies, all of ’em.
Real ‘Muricans want Sarah Palin or Ann Coulter (although, I guess, technically, Coulter might not qualify) or Andrea Tantaros (to cater to the “Crazy/stupid/evil – pick three” crowd), or even Pammy Geller.
I don’t know why Cole lets you treasonous bastards even comment.
Mike E
@Baud:
Even better, struck on a platinum coin, clad in WTC silver (for a limited time, natch).
SFAW
@Punchy:
The SFAW-ette does not have that problem, she’s had a great sense of direction since age 2 or three.
Mrs. SFAW, on the other hand … well, let’s put it this way: the comment most frequently heard from her GPS speech function is “No, I said a LEFT turn.”
Paul in KY
Being a yellow dog Democrat, I voted for Mrs. Roosevelt. No bad candidates here, IMO.
Gene108
@JPL:
Reagan would replace Grant. Abe, like the first George Dub, is too universally regarded for their contributions to moving this country forward.
Grant on the other hand was Sherman’s boss, after all, and with out Grant’s brilliance as a general *, the South may have not faced defeat, if not won outright.
* While Lee was being a thorn in the side of The Army of the Potomac, Grant was smoothly eviscerating the South’s forces in the West.
Paul in KY
@WaterGirl: A terminator robot is entering our time.
MBunge
Eleanor Roosevelt, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks and Wilma Mankiller
“One of these things is not like the others,
one of these things does not belong.”
Gene108
I am disappointed Francis Perkins did not make the cut. Her contributions in laying the foundations for the post-WW2 middle class are too often a foot note in history, as well as being he first female Cabinet Secretary.
Pee Cee
Hall and Oates would certainly approve.
SFAW
@Gene108:
I think the current term is “Administrative Assistant.”
Amir Khalid
@Tommy:
I find myself struggling to understand your family tree. Did you not have a father? A grandfather? A great-grandfather?
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: I was going to try & explain it. But, now that I think of it, I really can’t. Only makes sense if you think of only 1 side of your family tree as your ‘family’.
Tommy, please elucidate.
PurpleGirl
MomSense — Thank you. I looked at the web site and found it very confusing as to when the new series was starting. I can watch the episode on-line.
Pee Cee
@Amir Khalid:
Obviously, Tommy is Jesus.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid: @Paul in KY:
Somehow, I have a feeling this will not end well.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Asexual reproduction.
SFAW
@Pee Cee:
Unlikely, unless God had a grandfather, and all those generations had sex-reassignment operations. Well, assuming God looks like Michelangelo’s version, that is.
CaseyL
Another vote for Tubman, here.
Too many candidates would make for a very fractured ballot; four is a good number.
walden
I met Wilma Mankiller before she was elected to lead the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma. She was a politician – and if I recall, not particularly more or less effective than others who held her office. In effect she occupied a role similar to that of a state governor; was re-elected; but was the first woman to hold that office. It’s hard to see her on a national currency. But maybe that’s only because I met her on her way up.
WaterGirl
@debbie: Paging Betty Cracker and her mad skills. Paging Betty Cracker. Rudy in drag on a 911.00 bill. Priceless.
Pee Cee
@SFAW:
The Lord works in mysterious ways.
PurpleGirl
@SFAW: Nope, not secretary in the sense you are thinking. The title is indeed Secretary of the (whatever department). They are not administrative assistants as is currently used for people who work for someone else, doing their paperwork and keeping track of them.
Paul in KY
@SFAW: I expect Tommy to keep it to under 4 paragraphs.
Jeffro
Everything you need to know about New! Rand Paul! Gear! that’s now available…
http://wonkette.com/582074/lets-all-poke-through-rand-pauls-online-garage-sale-and-then-not-buy-anything
SFAW
@PurpleGirl:
New around here?
Yes, I know that’s not how the term “Secretary” was/is used. It was, as they say in the common parlance, something called a “joke.”
ellie
Any one of these women is a great choice. I hope I live long enough to see a Native American as president.
SFAW
@Paul in KY:
And I expect the Knicks to win the NBA Championship this year.
MomSense
I guess my currency wishlist would start with getting rid of slave owners and holders including Hamilton who was an abolitionist but married into a slave owning family. As I think about it, Grant did too. So I would say lose Washington, Hamilton, Grant, Jackson, and Jefferson.
I think Abe deserves his face on currency but how long do we need to keep Franklin? I think it’s time to replace Franklin with someone more current.
And since men have had more than their share of time on our currency, let’s replace all but Abe with women. This is my dream currency team: Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Wilma Mankiller on the $20, Frances Perkins, and Rosa Parks. I also really like Rachel Carson because we could certainly use more conversation and thought about climate change and our environment. I also really like Eleanor Roosevelt but I think Frances Perkins accomplished more to alleviate poverty and create a social safety net. We could definitely use a renaissance of the movement for workers’ rights and a fairer economy.
Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim
@Phylllis: Stan Freberg for the $2 bill!
SFAW
@MomSense:
And Lincoln’s third-cousin-once-removed lived next to someone who had known a slaveholder. Which is my not-very-endearing way of saying I think you’re going a little overboard on the single-issue-disqualifier thing.
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: I’m a lifelong Knicks fan, and even *I* don’t expect that.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Nor do I, which was kind of the point.
Now, if they dumped ‘Melo, that would be a step in the right direction
Cheap Jim, formerly Cheap Jim
@SFAW: Not to mention Lincoln’s in-laws.
Gin & Tonic
In my house, the “Today” show is on as background noise in the morning (I know, I know, but it stays on because the local news from 6:30-7:00 is good, and the remote is far away at that point.) Anyway, unfortunately the water running in the kitchen sink wasn’t loud enough to drown out Rand Paul’s appearance, when he interrupted, talked over and mansplained to Savannah Guthrie how to conduct an interview. NYMag’s take, and a link to the vid, here. It was breathtaking.
I’m not sure how a woman can view that and even think about voting for that bro. Felix Salmon is using the hashtag #doomedcandidate.
Gin & Tonic
@SFAW: If they dumped Dolan, that would be a step in the right direction.
Steeplejack
@PurpleGirl:
Gee, your snark-o-meter is so out of whack you might want to consider replacing it.
the Conster
@Gin & Tonic:
Plus, he has a whiny voice only a douchebro could love.
JaneE
I would vote for Wilma Mankiller, if only to call attention to the on-going problem of how the US and state governments are handling Native Americans. Plus the name would really chap the right-wingers and gamegaters. But she is probably the least well known of the four. Which may be another reason to choose her.
Llelldorin
Also with Harriet Tubman on this. While I take xenos’s point, we’ve always been better at aspiration than execution, and I’d like to live in a country that’s trying to live up to a currency with Harriet Tubman on it.
NCSteve
I’m really disappointed that Barbara Jordan, a woman who should and would have been president in a just and sane world, didn’t make the cut.
Denali
I vote for Susan B. Anthony – the woman who fought to give women a voice.
J
@Gene108: Agree strongly (but it’s Frances not Francis Perkins).
MomSense
@SFAW:
If you read about why he chose his wife and how he reconciled rhe slave owning part, in my opinion it isn’t overboard.
Slavery is more than a single issue. The tremendous wealth generated by that vile institution has never benefitted the people who created that wealth with their labor. And given the generations who have continued to endure economic and social injustice, including the present generation, I think we need to do a hell of a lot more than get those slave owning and benefitting men off our currency.
chopper
@Amir Khalid:
It’s turtles all the way back.
SFAW
@Gin & Tonic:
Yeah, but given the Knicks’ recent overall performance, they’d probably replace him with one of the Donalds – either Trump or Tokowitz.
SFAW
@MomSense:
And Hugo Black was in the KKK.
Look, I normally appreciate your comments, but when you have to go to something as obscure as to how he picked his wife, it’s pretty much of a stretch, as in: looking for something/anything to hang him with.
And Washington, Jefferson, and Grant being slave owners should not negate their positive impact on this country. Grant may have saved the Union (certainly arguable), and did not, as I recall, side with the South. Unlike certain other traitors, including one whose birthday is still honored in the Traitor States.
Quaker in a Basement
Eleanor? I love ya, but I’m with Anne on this one. I want a wallet full of Tubmans.
Quaker in a Basement
@Baud: Baud, you mean Thatcher?
Steve
I chose my wife for the 20, god knows she’s spent enough of them
Tree With Water
If American women have a sense of humor, they’ll select Lizzie Borden..
SFAW
@Steve:
But think of all the money she saved while doing it