Max Hensley writes:

A leaked facsimile of the Tubman twenty, published in the Times last Friday, gives a sense of how far along the plan had been. Thedesigners chose a familiar image, showing an older Tubman in a black coat with a prim white collar, her graying hair pulled back in what might beplaits. It is not a statesman's bloodless portrait; it does not project pomp or circumstance but, rather, a frisson of moral humility. Frail-seeming,Tubman is ever so slightly smiling. Her expression is a stealthy contrast to the blank-eyed stare of Jackson, who would remain on the new twenty'sback side, demoted but not fully displaced.

Looking at the bill design, I'm reminded of a photograph of Tubman that was discovered, earlier this year, in an album that belonged to anineteenth-century abolitionist. It is a carte de visite-a calling card-and it features Tubman in her youth. She is draped on a chair, wearing afashionable dress with a bodice cinched to her waist and a voluminous skirt lavishly sweeping the floor. The image is beautifully intimidating. Itvibrates with a mystique never attributed to Tubman; if you can dispell, for a moment, the humble altruism that girdles her legend, you may noticethat the portrait is almost sexy. It's impossible to imagine fitting the glory of this Tubman onto a dollar bill. Who would dare touch her?

To read the complete article, see:
The Haunted Image ofHarriet Tubman on the Twenty-Dollar Bill(https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-haunted-image-of-harriet-tubman-on-the-twenty-dollar-bill)

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
BEP PREPARED HARRIET TUBMAN FACSIMILE DESIGNS(https://www.coinbooks.org/v22/esylum_v22n24a32.html)

To nobody's surprise, the decision was viewed in some right-wing quarters as politicizing our currency. Trump himself called the decision "purepolitical correctness," as if no politics have been involved in previous choices of who appears on our bills and coins. He suggested Tubman shouldperhaps appear on the $2 bill, currency that many Americans are surprised to learn still exists.

To read the complete article, see:
NYT: Mnuchin misled Congress on why Harriet Tubman's image won't appear on $20 bill anytime soon(https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/14/1864805/-NYT-Mnunchin-misled-Congress-on-why-Harriet-Tubman-s-image-won-t-appear-on-20-bill-any-time-soon)