History of Diversity on U.S. Money

While Harriet Tubman still awaits her opportunity to grace the $20 bill, another lady of color made headlines for appearing on the new $100 coin. To celebrate its 225th anniversary, the United States Mint unveiled a new image of Lady Liberty as a black woman on its commemorative coin — a first in a series of 24-karat gold coins designed to reflect the cultural and ethnic diversity of the United States.

Learn below of these real-life women on U.S. currency — one of whom is Native-American:

In 1886,  Martha Washington became the first woman to appear on U.S. currency. The face of George Washington’s wife was featured on the $1 silver certificate. Silver certificates were money issued between 1878 and 1964 in the US as part of the circulation of paper currency.

Famous suffragette Susan B. Anthony made her debut on the U.S. dollar coin in 1978.  She was the first non-fictitious woman to be featured on an American coin. This was only made possible after several women’s rights groups spoke out in support of having an actual woman on the coin instead of Lady Liberty.

Since 2000 Sacagawea has been the face of the only gold-colored coin in circulation. There are no known images of Lewis and Clark’s Native American guide, so the U.S. Treasury had artists make several representations of her before settling on the one we know today. These coins are especially popular in countries that accept American currency.