The Matilda Joslyn Gage Center hosts “Celebrate the Tubman $20” on Aug. 26, the anniversary of woman suffrage. Barbara Howard, founder of “Women on 20s,” who led the campaign to get a woman on the $20 bill, will be a featured speaker, along with Michele Jones Galvin, a descendant of Harriet Tubman and author of “Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People.” Tubman has been chosen by the U.S. Treasury to appear on the new $20. Also speaking will be Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, executive director of the Gage Foundation.
The event will take place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Matilda Joslyn Gage Center for Social Justice Dialogue, 210 East Genesee St. in Fayetteville. Refreshments will be served. Seating is limited and reservations are required. Advance tickets are $20 (one Tubman) or $25 at door (if available).
The program is a benefit for the Gage Girl Ambassadors for Human Rights program, and the Girl Ambassadors are hosting. RSVP to [email protected] or 637-9511. To sure seating, checks should be mailed to the Gage Center, 210 East Genesee St., Fayetteville, NY 13066.
Howard founded the “Women On 20s” campaign, which was the unspoken force behind the Treasury Department’s decision to launch its #TheNew10 campaign in 2015. Howard led a continued popular social media campaign to get the Treasury to change the $20 instead, seeking a more fitting honor to women and commemorate their inclusion in the democracy. Due to the “unanticipated input” the Treasury received, they answered the call of the campaign with three denominations to honor women; what Barbara refers to as the “Trifecta”. While continuing to advocate until the “Tubmans” are in people’s hands, the campaign is also pressing the Treasury to recognize the story of Native Americans on currency.
Galvin and her mother, Joyce Stokes Jones, spent the last dozen years collaborating on “Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People.” Galvin will be signing copies of the book.
