Harriet Tubman Mural Goes Viral, Artist Designs Stamp for $20 Bill

By Katherine Lewin

(EMPIRE NEWS NETWORK—ENN)— The mural first went viral when 3-year-old “Lovie” Hope Duncan was photographed by her grandmother extending her own brown left hand to touch the brown painted hand of Harriet Tubman.

The mural of Tubman is 14 feet high and 24 feet wide, showing her in a reddish-colored braided headwrap, layered clothing, an outstretched right hand and a brave, encouraging look on her face. The mural is located on the side of the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center in Cambridge.

Tubman was a 19th-century abolitionist that courageously helped around 300 slaves to freedom starting when she was in her late 20s.

The striking mural, painted by FSU graduate Michael Rosato, was revealed in the same week as the White House decided that Tubman’s image, which was much anticipated, would not replace Andrew Jackson’s on the $20 bill. Jackson was a slave master and all-around racist. Tubman won’t be on the $20 bill until at least 2028.

“A sweet mural of hero/activist #HarrietTubman. She was a slave & she helped free slaves. Today Trump canceled Obama’s plan to put Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill in 2020. He claims it’s delayed for 8 more years. What he can’t stop is us posting her photo everywhere in response!”

On top of the mural, an artist has made a rubber stamp that anyone can order to replace Jackson’s face on the $20 bill as an act of “civil disobedience”. And they’re beautiful.

The artist of the stamp is 33-year-old Dano Wall. It had already sold out by May 24 and Wall’s goal is to put 5,000 stamps into circulation. The Tubman Stamp’s website also provides instructions on how to make your own stamp. The website says the stamp is legal and mentions The Stampede, an effort to stamp bills with messages “to protest big money in politics.”