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View all search resultsOprah rejoices as Harriet Tubman selected to be on $20 bill
"I love it," Oprah Winfrey shouted, pumping her fist in the air. There was no mistaking her feelings about Harriet Tubman being selected as the next face of the $20 dollar bill.
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In this image made from a video, Oprah Winfrey attends “Greenleaf” premiere at Tribeca Film Festival, Wednesday, April 20, 2016, in New York. Winfrey said that she was ecstatic that Harriet Tubman’s portrait would replace Andrew Johnson on the $20 bill. Tubman will become the first African-American on U.S. paper money and the first woman to be depicted on currency in 100 years. (AP/-)
"I love it," Oprah Winfrey shouted, pumping her fist in the air.
There was no mistaking her feelings about Harriet Tubman being selected as the next face of the $20 dollar bill.
"That was my first choice. My second choice was Sojourner Truth," Winfrey told The Associated Press Wednesday on the red carpet for her new series, "Greenleaf." Like Tubman, Truth also was an abolitionist during the 19th century.
This image provided by the Library of Congress shows Harriet Tubman, between 1860 and 1875. (Library of Congress via AP/H.B. Lindsley)
"I'm not going to cry here for AP, but I think that's the best choice. That is the choice for America," Winfrey said.
Tubman, an anti-slavery activist will be the first African-American to appear on an American banknote and the first woman to appear on one in a century. Her portrait will replace former President Andrew Jackson, who will be moved to the back of the redesigned $20 bill.
Born a slave, Tubman went on to lead the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses where slaves were helped to escape to free states.
"Now people that didn't even know who she was are going to know who she is," Winfrey said.
This April 17, 2015, file photo provided by the U.S. Treasury shows the front of the U.S. $20 bill, featuring a likeness of Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States. (U.S. Treasury via AP/-)
Winfrey sees Tubman's presence on the bill as historically significant, but also realizes it may carry less impact in a decade or so.
"I think in 10 years we won't be using currency anymore... everybody will be using their phones or their device, but I think it's fantastic. That was my first choice," Winfrey reiterated.
The media mogul made the comments promoting her latest OWN network show at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Winfrey serves as executive producer and also appears in the series about a journalist who returns home to her estranged family in the South.
