Harriet Tubman
Apr. 24th, 2016 10:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillSo I hear they're moving Andrew Jackson from the front of the US $20 bill to the back, and putting a picture of Harriet Tubman on the front.
In general I think this is a fine thing though really they could have removed Andy entirely. Harriet Tubman, as people have noted, was seriously admirable in many ways.
When the conservative screaming died down a touch, a meme popped up about how Harriet Tubman was a Second Amendment supporting Republican.
Come on, people. Harriet Tubman couldn't vote. She was a woman.
Had she been allowed to vote, yes, she would probably have voted Republican because the Republican Party, way back when it started, was actually in favor of Abolition. It was the party of Abraham Lincoln. My how times change, right?
Next, it turns out that Harriet Tubman did in fact carry a gun. The mentions I could find of her using it was when slaves she was helping escape became too frightened or too tired and wanted to turn back. Then she would threaten them with her gun to make them keep going. Arguably necessary in this terrible time, yes, but maybe not something to strut about, at least in my opinion.
However the Second Amendment was not what allowed her to carry a gun. She, like every slave, but more, every single person of color in the south, was forbidden by law to have weapons of any kind, and the Second Amendment made no difference to that.
The Second Amendment existed so that the slave owners could have guns. The Second Amendment ensured that the people persuing her and her fellow escapees would be armed.
The meme is fundamentally pretty dishonest, but it is great that it brings so many social issues to light.
In general I think this is a fine thing though really they could have removed Andy entirely. Harriet Tubman, as people have noted, was seriously admirable in many ways.
When the conservative screaming died down a touch, a meme popped up about how Harriet Tubman was a Second Amendment supporting Republican.
Come on, people. Harriet Tubman couldn't vote. She was a woman.
Had she been allowed to vote, yes, she would probably have voted Republican because the Republican Party, way back when it started, was actually in favor of Abolition. It was the party of Abraham Lincoln. My how times change, right?
Next, it turns out that Harriet Tubman did in fact carry a gun. The mentions I could find of her using it was when slaves she was helping escape became too frightened or too tired and wanted to turn back. Then she would threaten them with her gun to make them keep going. Arguably necessary in this terrible time, yes, but maybe not something to strut about, at least in my opinion.
However the Second Amendment was not what allowed her to carry a gun. She, like every slave, but more, every single person of color in the south, was forbidden by law to have weapons of any kind, and the Second Amendment made no difference to that.
The Second Amendment existed so that the slave owners could have guns. The Second Amendment ensured that the people persuing her and her fellow escapees would be armed.
The meme is fundamentally pretty dishonest, but it is great that it brings so many social issues to light.
no subject
Date: 2016-04-24 07:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-04-26 03:48 pm (UTC)1) the meme was also floating around attached to a different picture which I believe to be correct
2) the meme was also being passed on in pictureless comments.
I focused on correcting what seemed to me to be the most crucial errors. Granted attaching a picture of Stagecoach Mary instead of Harriet Tubman was not the finest hour for the maker of that particular version of the meme but I wanted to address all versions.