Women get a place on paper money

The US paper money is getting a historic makeover. Harriet Tubman, an African-American abolitionist born into slavery, will be the new face on the $20 bill.

The leader of the Underground Railroad is replacing the portrait of Andrew Jackson, the nation’s seventh president and a slave owner, who is being moved to the back of the bill.

The changes are part of a currency redesign announced by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew. Tubman will become the first African-American on the US paper money and the first woman to be depicted on currency in 100 years.

The back of the $20 bill, which shows the White House, will be redesigned to include the White House and Jackson, whose statue stands across the street in Lafayette Park.

It is also reported that the $10 and $5 bill will also undergo changes and Lew pledged that the designs for all three bills will be accelerated so they’ll be finished by 2020, the 100th anniversary of passage of the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.

Rowling’s Fantastic Beasts screenplay to be published

J.K. Rowling’s screenplay of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a Harry Potter spinoff, is set to be published in fall to coincide with the release of the new Warner Bros. film.

Pottermore, the global digital publisher of Rowling’s Wizarding World, said it will publish the screenplay on November 19 while it will hit theatres November 18.

The spinoff has stoked the flames of mania surrounding the Harry Potter franchise. The new film marks Rowling’s screenwriting debut. The published screenplay will feature Rowling’s full script and be available for all major eReader devices.

Published in Dawn, Young World, May 14th, 2015