Twenty Dollars and Change

Twenty Dollars and Changeplaces Harriet Tubman's life and legacy in a long tradition ofresistance, illuminating the ongoing struggle to realize a democracy inwhich her emancipatory vision prevails. America is in thethroes of a historic reckoning with racism, with the battle for controlover official narratives at ground zero. Across the country,politicians, city councils, and school boards are engaged in a highlypolarized debate about whose accomplishments should be recognized, andwhose point of view should be included in the telling of America'shistory. In Twenty Dollars and Change, historian Clarence Lusane, author of the acclaimed The Black History of the White House,writes from a basic premise: Racist historical narratives and pervasivesocial inequities are inextricably linked--changing one can transformthe other. Taking up the debate over the future of the twenty-dollarbill, Lusane uses the question of Harriet Tubman vs. Andrew Jackson as alens through which to view the current state of our nation's ongoingreckoning with the legacies of slavery and foundational white supremacy.He places the struggle to confront unjust social conditions in directconnection with the push to transform our public symbols, making itplain that any choice of whose life deserves to be remembered andhonored is a direct reflection of whose basic rights are deemed worthyof protection, and whose are not. "Engaging and insightful, Twenty Dollars and Change illuminates the grassroots effort to have our national currency reflect the diversity of America and all of its citizens--those ordinary and extraordinary people who have stood up and demanded freedom, equality and justice. A must read!"--Kate Clifford Larson, author of Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero