10 Women to Consider for the $20 Bill
6. Harriet Tubman
Born a slave, Harriet Tubman fled North to freedom, later making 19 trips back to the South as an Underground Railroad conductor, leading some 300 slaves to freedom. A nurse during the Civil War, she served the Union army as a scout and spy. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement after the war.
Considered by many the “Moses” of her time, Harriet Tubman became one of the country’s leading abolitionists before the Civil War. She returned to the South a number of times to rescue her family and others from bondage. Later, with her intimate knowledge of the geography and transportation systems of the South, she became a valuable asset to the Union army as a spy and scout. In 1863, she led an armed raid that freed 700 slaves in South Carolina, giving her the distinction of being the first woman ever to lead a military expedition. Her gigantic accomplishments were attributed to extraordinary courage, shrewdness and determination.
