Dreams of Alabama-native Helen Keller gracing the new $10 bill come to an end
Just weeks after it began the campaign to make Alabama-native Helen Keller the face of the new $10 bill in place of Alexander Hamilton has come to an end. POLITICO is reporting Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew will announce plans Wednesday that Hamilton will remain on the $10 bill following an unexpected public show of support. Wednesday’s abrupt about-face comes as a disappointment to many. “While we are very disappointed that Helen Keller, ‘America’s Ambassador to the World,’ was not chosen for either of these bills, we remain committed to the legacy, and work of Helen Keller,” Keller J. Thompson, great grand-niece of Helen Keller and VP of Education at the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education told Alabama Today. “We believe that few people have ever changed the world as she has, and we certainly remain hopefully that she will be chosen for future currency changes that may take place.” In 2015, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced plans to place a woman’s face on the redesigned $10 bill and opened the suggestion process to the public through its website. Instead of changing the face of the $10 bill, Treasury will instead put abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, replacing President Andrew Jackson. “We congratulate Harriet Tubman for her work,bravery and dedication during a very trying time of our nation’s history,” Thompson said of Wednesday’s news. “We hope this exercise will continue to educate America and the world on some of the great women in our history. I am fairly certain that Helen Keller and Harriet Tubman never had the opportunity to meet on another but I think if that had, that would have truly been able to identify with each other, and the obstacles that they overcame in their respective lives.” Earlier this month, state and local officials rallied in Tuscumbia at Ivy Green, the north Alabama home of the late Keller for a press event intended to inform the public of the campaign and to garner public support for a Helen Keller bill.
Campaign launched to put Alabama native Helen Keller on new $10 bill
A campaign for making Alabama-native Helen Keller the face of the new $10 bill has officially begun. State and local officials rallied in Tuscumbia at Ivy Green, the north Alabama home of the late Helen Keller, for a press event Wednesday sponsored by the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education. The event aimed to inform the public of the campaign and to garner public support for a Helen Keller bill. In 2015, the U.S. Department of Treasury announced plans to place a woman’s face on the redesigned bill and opened the suggestion process to the public through its website, www.thenew10.treasury.gov. “The Treasury wants the selected woman to illustrate ‘America’s values,’ and ‘inclusive democracy’ internationally, since the dollar is also the world’s currency,” explained Laura Beckwith, Executive Director of the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education. “Eleanor Roosevelt called Helen Keller, ‘America’s goodwill ambassador to the world’ and her legacy remains beloved today, as her story is still taught to literate people worldwide.” Keller was born June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia. In 1882, at 19 months old, she contracted a severe illness that left her deaf, blind and mute. Keller overcame the adversity of her physical limitations to become one of the 20th century’s leading humanitarians, as well as a world-famous speaker and author. “If Helen Keller was selected to grace the face of ‘TheNewTen,’ it would lead to worldwide appreciation of why she was selected by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important people of the twentieth century,” Beckwith continued. “”TheNew10′ will also be the first U.S. paper currency with a tactile feature distinguishable by visually impaired persons, making the choice of Helen Keller even more compelling.” The Alabama Legislature is also behind the Keller-bill initiative. In 2015, following Treasury’s announcement of a redesigned bill, the Legislature passed a resolution supporting Keller as the state’s official choice for the new $10 bill. The Resolution includes references to Keller’s numerous accolades including the Presidential Medal of Freedom and her accomplishment as an author of 13 books. The Treasury Department plans to release the next version of the $10 bill into circulation in 2020.
