In what looks like a trifecta of historic firsts, Harriet Tubman will be designated by the U.S. Treasury as the honoree of the soon-to-be-redesigned $20 bill.
Tubman would be the first African-American and first individual born into slavery to grace American paper currency and will replace President Andrew Jackson, who owned slaves.
And, aside from Martha Washington’s appearance in the late 1800s on the $1 silver certificate, no woman has otherwise appeared on the face of U.S. paper currency.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew made the decision to honor Tubman on Wednesday.
Tubman, an integral member of the Underground Railroad, conducted runaway slaves to freedom in the North in the 1850s. During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union war effort, participating in the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina which liberated hundreds of slaves.
Reaction to the announcement on Twitter seems largely, with some users cracking wise with historically-themed jokes.
“It’ll be weird buying a subway pass with a Harriet Tubman $20. You know, because it’s an underground railroad,” one wag tweeted.
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