CHURCH STAMPING ALL $20 BILLS WITH TUBMAN FACE

Three years ago, the Treasury Department announced that it would put Harriet Tubman's face on the front of the $20 bill by 2020. A portrait of the abolitionist, championed by activists, would replace that of President Andrew Jackson, who would be moved to the back of the bill.

Then, two weeks ago, the government walked back its plan. The image's redesign likely would not come up until 2028, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared.

But that didn't end the matter at Hope Central Church in Boston. "The U.S. Treasury said they will not," Pastor Laura Ruth Jarrett told her congregation in the city's diverse Jamaica Plain neighborhood this week. "And we say we will."

Since May 2, the church, affiliated with the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ, has been stamping all $20 bills from its offering plates with Tubman's face. It is, Jarrett said, a "worthy replacement."

"I'm taking such pleasure in this. Mr. Trail of Tears, gone!" laughed Ann Potter, who counts offerings for HCC, as she covered the former president's face on bill after bill. "Andrew Jackson is not my favorite president."

Congregant Marylou Steeden said she has noticed the number of $20 bills in the church's Sunday plate increase since the church began stamping them. On Sunday (June 2), after their Ascension Day service, they collected eight $20 bills.

"Everyone who does this just gets giddy about it," Steeden said. "It just feels so good, like a little rebellion."

The stamps were originally created by Brooklyn, N.Y., designer Dano Wall two years ago as part of an effort to ignite conversation about the delayed plan to replace Jackson's image.

Hope Central Church congregant Greg Buckland, who teaches at a community makerspace known as a Fab Lab in the nearby Dorchester neighborhood, printed out the 3D design for the church, a process that involves about $2 worth of 3D printer filament and $2 worth of rubber, he said.

Another local minister has already reached out to ask Buckland to produce another stamp for his congregation. The project makes for a great pairing between congregations and local makerspaces, he said.

Hope Central Church is considering becoming a stamping station for anyone seeking to stamp their dollar bills with Tubman's image.

To read the complete article, see:
Boston church stamps Harriet Tubman on all its $20 bills (https://religionnews.com/2019/06/03/andrew-jackson-staying-on-the-20-bill-not-at-this-church/)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
STAMPING TUBMAN'S FACE OVER ANDREW JACKSON'S (https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n21a28.html)

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