Saturday, June 27, 2015

Minting Money – And Books!


The Treasury Department recently announced it was going to remove the image of Alexander Hamilton, the founder of The New York Post and the nation’s first treasurer, from the $10 bill and replace him with an unnamed woman in 2020 – a century after women gained the right to vote.

A logical choice would be Sandra Day O’Connor, the first female US Supreme Court Justice, or maybe a woman suffragist such as Harriet Tubman would do the trick.  As a black female, she would fulfill two firsts.  Rosa Parks would also kill two birds with one stone.

I’d love to see an author on our money.  The currency of the United States is ideas and content, so why not a writer?  Our money is not reserved just for politicians or political figures.  Let’s put a female author on the ten.

It has to be someone who made a significant contribution to America, who is dead, and whose books are still read today.  Oprah, EL James or JK Rowling wouldn’t qualify.  But there is no shortage of great writes who would met the actual specifications of the US Treasury.

To qualify, according to the government, one has to be dead, be familiar to the general public, and have made a contribution to American democracy.  So far, only white men seem to have filled the bill, so to speak.  On coins, Susan B. Anthony graces the failed $1 coin.  An identity-less Lady Liberty also graced silver dollar coins.  Another failed dollar coin was of an Indian, Sacagawea.  Helen Keller also made it onto a coin, the back of the quarter for Alabama in 2003.  That’s it.

Let’s explore great American female writers such as these:

·         Maya Angelou
·         Harper Lee (if she passes soon)
·         Edith Wharton
·         Emily Dickinson
·         Joyce Carol Oates (if she passes soon)
·         Laura Ingalls Wilder
·         Flanner O’Conner
·         Eudora Welty
·         Dorothy Parker
·         Sylvia Plath
·         Pearl S. Buck

If there isn’t a condition that one must be born in America, consider Ayn Rand.

Certainly, a qualified female writer should be given great consideration.  We don’t need to look beyond those who used their gifts and talents to make the world a better place, who employed the power of written words.

We don’t do enough to honor our writers and great thinkers.  Today’s society is absorbed in itself, using social media to promote, well, itself.  The generation of “me” media has taken over.  If it’s not ourselves that we’re absorbed in, we’re enamored in celebrities from theater and TV, sports heroes, and musical artists.

Writers deserve a seat at the able when it comes to money.  Ironically, most writers struggle to make money, so it would be a bit odd for one to adorn what few can attain.  Still, as a status symbol, writers deserve top billing on the 10-spot.  Perhaps if a writer made it onto our money we can elevate publishing to a new level.

I’m not sure why people need to be on money.  Maybe it should be great monuments, documents or animals that are featured on money.  Or, we can feature a library, indie bookstore, or a famous book cover on our money.

Books and authors are worth our praise, attention, and literally, our money.

Did You See These Posts?

March In A Parade For Authors: Our True Heroes

When Books Can Talk To Us At Book Expo America

Drink Up At The Book Pub Crawl And Get Drunk On Books

Book Marketing Advice You Fin On A T-Shirt



Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015


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