Schumer Announces, Following His Push, National Women's Hall Of Fame Will Host Public Input Town Hall With Treasurer Of The United States Rosie Rios On New $10 Bill Design; Forum To Discuss Which Great American Woman Should Be Featured On Federal Currency Will Take Place Monday 8/31

Press Release

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that, following his push, the National Women's Hall of Fame will host a town hall with Treasurer of the United States Rosa "Rosie" Rios in Seneca Falls, NY, which will serve as a site for one of the Department's public input town halls on the new $10 bill design. Schumer explained that, in June, Secretary Jack Lew announced the $10 bill would be redesigned to feature a woman in spirit of the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed women the right the vote. The Treasury Department plans to unveil the redesigned $10 bill by 2020 and said that it planned to hold several town-hall style meetings in locations across the country in order to determine which American woman will appear on the new $10 bill. On the heels of this news, Schumer urged the Treasury Department to hold a forum in Seneca Falls. During his July visit to the National Women's Hall of Fame in NY, Schumer said Seneca Falls -- as the birthplace of the women's equality movement -- should be selected to help decide which great American woman would be featured on the redesigned $10 bill.

Now, the town hall is set to take place this Monday, August 31, 2015, from 1-2pm in Seneca Falls with Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios. It will take place at the historic Wesleyan Chapel, located at 126 Fall Street, Seneca Falls, NY, where the original 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention was held.

"Seneca Falls' selection as a town hall site to discuss which great American woman will be featured on the redesigned bill is great news. It will be a lasting tribute to the courage of the women and men who started a movement in the Finger Lakes region that led to women getting the ballot," said Schumer. "It is only fitting that the input of a town so ingrained in the history of women's equality play an integral part in the process that will place a woman on our currency."

During his July visit, Schumer said choosing Seneca Falls would have symbolic power because it has historical significance as the birthplace of the women's rights movement. In July 1848, America's first "Women's Rights Convention" was held and produced the Declaration of Sentiments, which inspired and guided the drive for women's equality to this very day. Therefore, Schumer said that as the birthplace of the women's equality movement, it was only fitting that the input of a town so ingrained in the history of women's rights play an integral part in the process to place a woman on our paper currency.

Schumer explained that many great New Yorkers, including Susan B. Anthony, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eleanor Roosevelt, and more dedicated their lives to creating true democracy in a time when women had no right to vote and slavery was commonplace throughout much of the nation. Schumer said the political and social movements launched by these women, and many like them, across New York State and the country transformed American society. At the heart of this struggle was the Town of Seneca Falls, where, in 1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott joined with 300 other women at the First Women's Rights Convention. It was at this convention that these women presented and passed the Declaration of Sentiments, which demanded woman have the right to vote.

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