Washington: Anti-slavery crusader Harriet Tubman will become the first African-American to be featured on the face of US paper currency when she replaces President Andrew Jackson in the top spot on the US $20 bill, the US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday.

She will also be the first woman on US paper currency in more than a century.

Harriet Tubman, between 1860 and 1875. Photo: H.B. Lindsley, Library of Cpngress

The redesigned US $20 bill will move Jackson to the back of the bill alongside an image of the White House, Treasury officials said.

Advertisement

A new US $10 bill will keep founding father Alexander Hamilton on the front, while adding images of five women, all leaders of the women's suffrage movement, to the back.

The reverse of a new US $5 note will honour events  at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, including former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King jnr, officials said.

The US $20 bill, featuring a likeness of Andrew Jackson, seventh president of the United States. Photo: US Treasury

The slew of changes give the Treasury "a chance to open the aperture to reflect more of America's history," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew told reporters on a conference call.

The decision to replace the seventh president of the US with Tubman, who was born a slave and helped hundreds of slaves escape using the network of safe-houses known as the Underground Railroad, followed public outreach by the Treasury Department regarding which woman should be featured on a bill after they announced plans in June to feature one on the US $10 note.

In part prompted by a young girl's letter to President Barack Obama about the lack of women on US currency, a social media campaign "Women on 20s" began pushing for a woman to replace Jackson on the currency early last year.

Pushing for the recognition of Harriet Tubman on the US$20 bill at a town hall meeting in New York state last year. Photo: AP

On Wednesday, the movement's leaders said they were "ready to claim victory" but only if the new bill is issued by 2020, in time to mark the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote.

"What was to be a celebration of female American heroes ... cannot be postponed," said group founder Barbara Ortiz Howard.

The women last depicted on US bills were former first lady Martha Washington, on the US $US1 silver certificate from 1891 to 1896, and Native American Pocahontas, in a group photo on the US US $20 bill from 1865 to 1869.

Harriet Tubman became the top-trending hashtag on Twitter shortly after the news broke, with more than 100,000 tweets and mentions online.

Reuters, Washington Post