Man Would Like to See Happier-Looking Harriet Tubman on the $20, Please

Impact

In what was perhaps one of the most transcendent "seriously, dude?!" moments of the modern era, a man apparently reached out to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, requesting they use a "happier" image of abolitionist Harriet Tubman.

The comment, ostensibly referencing the newspaper's coverage of the treasury announcement that Tubman would replace former President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill, came to light when Tribune digital producer Courtney Sinner called the reader out on Wednesday: 

"SOME GUY tweeted @StarTribune asking if we have diff photo of #HarrietTubman where she looks happier. ARE YOU KIDDING, SIR," she wrote in a Tweet.

Twitter

Apparently no woman, not even one who has been dead for 103 years, is immune to the patriarchal demands that women maintain a consistently cheery disposition — through rain, through shine, through years of enslavement.

And then there's that whole pesky historical context thing: Photographic convention of the era dictated that subjects did not smile in portraits. 

It's something the reader may have realized had he looked in his wallet.

h/t The Cut

Read more: Twitter Had All the Best Reactions to Harriet Tubman on the $20