Who Deserves the $10 Bill: Part 1

Toward the end of the September 16 GOP presidential debate, Republican candidates were asked a simple question:

“What woman would you like to see on the $10 bill?”¹

Referring to the Treasury’s plan to put a female face on non-commemorative U.S. currency, the question was an easy chance for a party headlined by Donald Trump—who has been accused of making sexist remarks— to gain favor with women. After all, women have made up the majority of voters in the past nine presidential elections.

Essentially, moderator Jake Tapper threw the party a 70 mph fastball right down the middle—and the majority of the candidates didn't even offer up a real swing.

Of the eleven candidates asked that question, three chose family members,² two listed non-Americans,³ and one—Carly Fiorina—refused to answer. Not exactly a great showing from a party already struggling with female voters.⁴

The American women actually chosen? Rosa Parks (three times), Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, and Abigail Adams. Much has been said about the GOP’s failure to name more than four deserving American women, but those four are at least reasonable options.

Ted Cruz also deserves credit for arguing that instead of joining first Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton on the $10 bill, the chosen woman should land on the $20 bill as the replacement for Andrew Jackson, who dismantled the United States Bank and enforced the Indian Removal Act (colloquially known as The Trail of Tears).

Still, though, the question remains: Which woman should be placed on the $10 bill?

To find out, we must first look at the criteria established for the preexisting faces gracing US money: According to the Department of the Treasury, “the portraits on our currency notes are of deceased persons whose places in history the American people know well.”

So, to appear on US currency, one must be:

1. Dead
2. Well-known to Americans

By those standards, Al Capone and Charles Manson could have their mugshots adorning our money, and even Michael Jackson fits the bill (pun intended).

Since we clearly need to be a bit more specific, the following qualifications must be met in order for a candidate to be considered as our next monetary star:

1. Dead
2. Woman
3. American

It’s easy to see if those qualifications are met—cryonics, gender assignment, and Donald Trump’s denial notwithstanding. But the Treasury also announced they are looking for a woman “who was a champion for our inclusive democracy,” so candidates will be judged in the following four categories:

1. Popularity Index: name recognition
2. Symbolic Value Index: status as an icon or symbol for a movement or cause
3. Achievement Index: overall contribution to "our inclusive democracy”
4. Irreplaceability Index: unlikeliness that another person could have made that same societal contribution

In each of these categories, candidates will be rated on a scale from 1-10, and the scores from all four categories will then be added together to declare a winner.

A celebrity like Oprah would have a popularity index of 10, whereas Douglas J. Pattison would receive a score of 1. Who is Pattison? He’s the CFO of Oprah’s company, Harpo Productions, but I didn’t know that until I Googled “Who runs Oprah’s company?” Point proven.

Jackie Robinson would have a symbolic value index of 10 because he is the leading icon of the movement to integrate professional sports. William Edward White would have a symbolic value index of 1—despite actually being the first black man to play major league baseball—because he is not widely recognized as a symbol of the movement.

Apple cofounder Steve Jobs would have an achievement index of 10, while Kim Kardashian would have a score closer to negative 13 because her biggest contributions to society have been the “duckface" and a baby whose name belongs on a compass.

Finally, Martin Luther King, Jr. would have an irreplaceability index of 10 because it is highly unlikely that someone else could have come along with the same set of traits required to successfully lead the Civil Rights Movement.⁵ However, my great-uncle—who was honored for his bravery in World War II—would score low in irreplaceability because there were, presumably, thousands of others who also would have jumped on that bomb if given the chance. Both of these men were heroic, but there is a much lower chance that another individual could have taken Dr. King’s place than that of my great-uncle. Dr. King, therefore, is more irreplaceable.

It’s important to note that “irreplaceability” is not synonymous with “significance.”

(In her hit song “Irreplaceable,” Beyonce sings, “I can have another you by tomorrow, so don't you ever for a second get to thinking [that] you're irreplaceable.” Though I’m not saying an award-winning soldier is an everyday commodity, this song captures the basic idea of him being more easily replaced than a once-in-a-generation leader like Dr. King.)

Okay, without further ado, let's begin with the first of the four women listed by the GOP candidates:

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Rosa Parks

Basic Bio:
Rosa Parks (1913-2005) was an African-American woman whose refusal to give up her seat ignited the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and brought her prominence as a civil rights activist.

Popularity Index: 10/10
Parks is the only woman on this list who can realistically be labeled a household name. After her arrest, she became one of the most recognizable figures of the 20th century.


Symbolic Value Index: 10/10
Thanks to her leading role in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Parks has become a symbol of peaceful protests and, after Dr. King, she is perhaps the most iconic figure of the Civil Rights Movement. She represents not only the struggle of black women in America, but also their significant role in ending the racist idea of “separate but equal.”

In 1999, the U.S. Congress honored Parks as the “first lady of civil rights” and the “mother of the freedom movement.”

No woman on this list possesses more symbolic value than Parks.

Achievement Index: 6/10
In a 2012 CNN article, historian Danielle McGuire argues that “it’s time to free Rosa Parks from the bus.” McGuire explains that before Parks’ arrest, the civil rights icon served as secretary of the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. In that role, she investigated the gang rape of a black woman named Recy Taylor and organized a committee in the victim’s honor, which the Chicago Defender called “the strongest campaign for equal justice to be seen in a decade.”

After her arrest, Parks continued to fight for the rights of the black community: She supported the Selma march, was active in the struggle to end housing segregation, co-founded the Rosa L. Park Scholarship Foundation and the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

But this is where it gets tricky: We’ve just established that Parks is a) the most well-known figure on this list, and b) a leading member of the Civil Rights Movement. But it’s difficult to siphon out her achievements from those of the movement in general; essentially, despite her long list of honors and awards, it’s nearly impossible to determine what percent of the movement’s success actually belongs to her.

Irreplaceability Index: 4/10
On the night of Parks’ arrest, the Women’s Political Council circulated a letter throughout the local black community, writing that “the next time it may be you, or your daughter, or your mother.”

The letter continued, “We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial.” This was the start of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, of which Parks was more an instrument than an organizer.

Parks was not the only, or even the first, woman to boldly refuse to give up her seat; there were, unfortunately, many prior cases of black women (such as Mary Louise Smith) being arrested and/or beaten for simply remaining seated. In their book This Day in Civil Rights History, authors Randall Williams and Ben Beard write that “. . . African American riders were often involved in incidents on the buses. For various reasons, none before Parks became the rallying point for the mass boycott of buses.”⁶

Among those “various reasons” is the fact that the NAACP saw Parks as the ideal candidate⁷ on which to center the movement: She was a married, employed, well-educated,⁸ and respected member of the organization. Dr. King described her as "one of the finest citizens of Montgomery—not one of the finest Negro citizens—but one of the finest citizens of Montgomery.”

Parks showed extreme discipline, resilience, and courage, but so had many other black women before and after.Although she was seen as the best choice, it is difficult to imagine that—had she not remained seated that day—another woman would not have stepped in to take her place.


Final score: 30/40

Check Part 2 and Part 3 to check out the grades for Susan B. Anthony and Clara Barton, respectively.

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1 To hear the candidates’ full answers, check out the GOP debate transcript.^↩
2 Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, and Donald Trump chose their wife, mother, and daughter, respectively, in apparent efforts to win over the GOP faction that’s hoping for the Nicholas Sparks version of a president. (Trump also chose Rosa Parks, since she and Ivanka Trump are apparently of similar cultural significance.)^↩
3 Jeb Bush chose former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, while John Kasich chose Mother Theresa, who was born in Albania.^↩
4 However, Fiorina’s non-answer was the perfect response: “I think, honestly, it's a gesture,” she said. “I don't think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognize that women are not a special interest group. Women are the majority of this nation.”^↩
5 Speaking of Dr. King: As one of the most influential people in U.S. history, why is he not already depicted on our currency? It’s pretty difficult to think of a more deserving candidate.^↩
6 Click here to check out more of This Day in Civil Rights History.^↩
7 According to the New York Times,“ They had begun to build a case around a 15-year-old girl's arrest for refusing to give up her seat, and Mrs. Parks had been among those raising money for the girl's defense. But when they learned that the girl was pregnant, they decided that she was an unsuitable symbol for their cause.”^↩
8 Parks earned her high school diploma at a time when 93% of African-Americans hadn’t.^↩