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A Woman Will Be Featured On The New $10 Bill. Here Are Five Amazing Options.

CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associate Press/Shutterstock
CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associate Press/Shutterstock

The Department Of Treasury will announced tonight that a new $10 bill will issued by 2020 and it will feature a woman. (Alexander Hamilton will still appear somewhere on the note.) Over 627 million $10 notes are printed each year. This would be the first time a woman has been featured on paper U.S. currency.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew will announce which woman will be featured later this year. There are many women who would make fine choices. Here are five that deserve strong consideration:

1. Frances Perkins

Perkins was the first woman member of a presidential cabinet after she was tapped by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 to be Secretary of Labor. Her crowning achievement was bringing Social Security into reality. After witnessing the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire of 1911 that killed 146 workers, she became a life-long proponent of workers’ rights. She also was breadwinner for her family after her husband was afflicted with a mental disorder, an unusual path for a woman at the time.

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2. Jeannette Rankin

CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associated Press/Shutterstock
CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associated Press/Shutterstock

Rankin was the first woman ever elected to Congress in 1916. Representing Montana, Rankin was a tireless advocate for peace and anti-war causes and voted with forty-nine other House colleagues against the U.S. entering World War I. She was also the first woman to organize a major campaign for a seat in the Senate, although she was defeated.

3. Shirley Chisholm

CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associated Press/Shutterstock
CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associated Press/Shutterstock

Chisholm was the first black woman elected to Congress, in 1969. She served out seven terms there, representing New York’s 12th district — the area of Brooklyn known as Bedford-Stuyvesant. In keeping with her district, Chisholm was a vocal advocate for America’s inner cities, and for child care. A staunch feminist, Chisholm hired a staff of young women, half of whom were black, to fill major positions in her office on Capitol Hill. She was also the first black woman to run for president. There is an amazing portrait of Chisholm hanging in the US Capitol.

4. Sandra Day O’Connor

CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associated Press/Shutterstock
CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Associated Press/Shutterstock

O’Connor made history as the first female justice on the Supreme Court, where she worked to represent the views of women among her eight male colleagues. Though she was known to be fairly conservative, her landmark decision in Casey v. Planned Parenthood upheld abortion rights, protected under Roe v. Wade, for generations of women. As a woman, O’Connor struggled to find a job as a lawyer. But by the time she retired from the bench, she’d paved a career path for generations of women.

5. Edith Wharton

CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Shutterstock
CREDIT: Andrew Breiner/Shutterstock

Wharton was the first American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize, receiving it for her novel The Age of Innocence in 1921. She published more than 40 books over her career, including Ethan Fromme and The House of Mirth. Putting her on currency would be fitting as her novels were often biting criticisms of America’s class structures and the materialism of the rich.

This post was adapted from a previous ThinkProgress post.