New York

Tubman Town: New face of $20 could be honored with US park

Associated Press
Published | Updated

In this Thursday, May 19, 2016 photo, Judith Bryant, a great-great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman, poses at Tubman's grave site at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, N.Y. Tubman’s upcoming debut on the $20 bill is just half the good news in the upstate New York town where the Underground Railroad conductor settled down and grew old. Bryant’s great-great grandfather was Tubman’s brother, and was among the dozens of slaves she guided north to freedom. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, May 19, 2016 photo, Judith Bryant, a great-great-grandniece of Harriet Tubman, poses at Tubman's grave site at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, N.Y. Bryant’s great-great grandfather was Tubman’s brother, and was among the dozens of slaves she guided north to freedom. Harriet Tubman’s upcoming debut on the $20 bill is just half the good news in the upstate New York town where the Underground Railroad conductor settled down and grew old. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (The Associated Press)

In this Thursday, May 19, 2016 photo, the inscription on Harriet Tubman's gravestone is seen at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, N.Y. Tubman’s upcoming debut on the $20 bill is just half the good news in the upstate New York town where the Underground Railroad conductor settled down and grew old. A long-sought national historical park here honoring Tubman could be officially established as early as this summer. (AP Photo/Mike Groll) (The Associated Press)

Harriet Tubman's upcoming debut on the $20 bill is just half the good news in the upstate New York town where the Underground Railroad conductor settled down and grew old.

A long-sought national historical park here honoring Tubman could be officially established as early as this summer. The move would give a boost to preservation efforts at her old home and church just as the former slave is poised to replace President Andrew Jackson as the face of the $20 bill.

Tubman had been free for a decade in 1859 when she bought a parcel of land on the outskirts of Auburn. She settled long-term in the area after the Civil War.

The design of the new $20 bill with Tubman on the front is expected to be completed by 2020.