Commending the Treasury Department of the United States for their announced plan to feature prominent Americans on future currency notes, including Harriet Tubman, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Marian Anderson, designed with tactile features directed to those with a visual impairment.

WHEREAS, In 1973, Congress passed the Rehabilitation Act, requiring the federal government to ensure that the programs and activities it funds are accessible to people with disabilities, which prompted the American Council of the Blind to advocate for change to the nation’s currency, ultimately leading to a successful lawsuit won in 2008; and

WHEREAS, The new bill design includes a raised feature and high contrast numbers, and the Treasury Department plans to offer free currency readers for the visually impaired; and

WHEREAS, Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced a final plan to include on future $5, $10, and $20 notes Americans who played an important role in our history, including Harriet Tubman, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Marian Anderson; and

WHEREAS, The new $20 will feature on its front the likeness of Harriet Tubman, who was born into slavery, escaped to freedom, became a famous conductor on the Underground Railroad after returning to help her family escape, and became a spy for the Union during the Civil War; and

WHEREAS, The new $10 will celebrate the history of the women’s suffrage movement with reverse side images of Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul; and

WHEREAS, The new $5 will honor historic events that occurred in service of our democracy at the Lincoln Memorial, which is and will continue to be featured on the reverse, with images of Martin Luther King, Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, and lifelong-Philadelphian Marian Anderson; and

WHEREAS, America’s currency is a statement about who we are as a nation, honoring our history and celebrating our values; and

WHEREAS, Building on tremendous feedback from citizens across the country about the theme of democracy, future bills will better reflect those values by featuring these Americans and providing access to people with visual impairments; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA,

Commending the Treasury Department of the United States for their announced plan to feature prominent Americans on future currency notes, including Harriet Tubman, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Eleanor Roosevelt, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Marian Anderson designed with tactile features directed to those with a visual impairment.

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