Womans Portrait Will Appear On 10 Bill In 2020

WASHINGTON -- While the number of vending machines, jukeboxes and arcade games accepting cashless payments continues to grow, cash is expected to remain a key payment media for operators. Now the Treasury has announced that a portrait of a woman, to be determined soon, will grace the $10 bill.

According to the June 17 announcement, the faces of Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks are among the top contenders. Not since the 19th century, when Martha Washington's portrait was briefly featured on the $1 silver certificate, has there been a woman on U.S. paper currency.

The redesigned bill will be unveiled in 2020 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote. It will also introduce new security features.

The Treasury Department is enlisting the public to weigh in on which woman's portrait should adorn the new $10 bill and what it should look like. Its only parameters are that the woman be deceased and embody "Democracy," which will be the theme of banknote's new look.

The only portrait required by law is that of George Washington on the $1 bill.

The Treasury Department could face backlash for replacing the face of the $10 bill, Alexander Hamilton, the country's first secretary of the treasury, who advocated for a national currency. But officials said some bills might still feature Hamilton, possibly in combination with the chosen woman.

Nearly two billion $10 bills are in circulation, but the $20 bill remains the most widely circulated banknote in the U.S., with eight billion in circulation.

The U.S. Mint brought women's faces to U.S. currency with Susan B. Anthony and Sacagawea on the $1 coin, but both found lack of popular acceptance over dollar bills. The Susan B. Anthony dollar was minted from 1979 to 1981 and the Sacagawea "golden dollar" has been in circulation since 2000.

In April, Congressman Luis V. Gutiérrez (D-IL) introduced the Put a Woman on the Twenty Act, a bill calling to replace Andrew Jackson's image on the $20 banknote with a woman's portrait. | READ MORE