Harriet Tubman $20 Bill Stamp Growing in Popularity

SALISBURY, Md. - A familiar face is appearing on $20 bills, and it isn't President Andrew Jackson. 

Earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said the Trump administration would no longer be considering changing the design of the bill. Now, a way to alter the bill is growing in popularity. 

"I think it should have been done already," Elizabeth Ellerbe of Salisbury said.

Stamps like the Harriet Tubman Stamp are changing the face of the $20 bill to reflect abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

"I think it's funny. I didn't know they were doing that. It's a good way to get a female on the bill," Roseanne Farlow of Pittsville said.

There are several different kinds of stamps with Tubman's face on them. Alex Green, co-owner of Harriet Tubman Tours in Cambridge, said putting Tubman on the 20 is the right thing to do and until that happens, a stamp helps honor Tubman's legacy.

"It's your money so you earned it, so you can make the choice of putting it on there if you want," Green said. "But I say that if you have the information and the knowledge of this great woman and you know what she did, it's really cool to be able to have that honor to be able to give her that forerunner and give people the chance to do it."

Altering the face of the bills is legal as long as the bill is still readable. But, some say the bills should only be changed by going through regular procedures.

"Do it the right way," Joseph Messick of Laurel, Del., said. "And the right way is leave it like it is. If they want to change or put a different face on it to honor someone else, that's OK too, but as long as the people agree to it."

Mnuchin said earlier this year that changing how the bill looks most likely won't come up again until 2026, and the new $20 bill wouldn't be printed until 2028. 

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