Scott Bruun: A Vote for Abigail Scott Duniway on #TheNew10

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Scott Bruun, GoLocalPDX MINDSETTER™

Apparently it pays to have been president of the United States. It just doesn’t pay ten dollars.

Last week the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Alexander Hamilton will lose (or at least have to share) his position on the $10 bill, beginning in 2020. The new $10 bill will include the portrait of a woman important to America’s history.

Unsaid but likely is that Hamilton’s placement was made less secure by the fact he was never a U.S. president. It’s a safe bet that there would have been rioting in the streets if someone had suggested that Washington or Lincoln share the stage.

It is true that Benjamin Franklin was also never president. Still, it appears that his position on the $100 bill is safe. Franklin’s monumental legacy, including a certain savoir faire with the ladies, will now protect him from getting bumped by one of America’s great ladies.

So the ten-spot it is. But who should share that marquee with Hamilton?

Certainly we should consider women like Sacajawea, Betsy Ross, Susan B. Anthony, Abigail Adams and Eleanor Roosevelt. Great women all.

A very compelling case can be made for Harriet Tubman. Tubman was born to slavery in Maryland, and later became a leading abolitionist and suffragist. As a young woman she was instrumental in helping families escape injustice and brutality through the Underground Railroad. Tubman is a portrait of courage and true American grit, and she now seems an early favorite for the $10 bill. Deservedly so.

But this is GoLocalPDX, not GoMacroUSA. Widmer, not Bud. We focus on local issues in Portland and around Oregon. Local news, local politics, local personalities, local history. And local history-makers.

So for today, as we consider the American female whose face should adorn the $10 bill, let us make a case for Abigail Scott Duniway.

Duniway, as many Portlanders know, was the leading Oregon figure for women’s suffrage. Born in Illinois in 1834 as Abigail Scott, she and her family came to Oregon as pioneers when she was only seventeen. For the Scott family, the Oregon Trail was a trail of tears. Along the way, Abigail Scott lost her mother Anne to cholera. Willie, Abigail’s three-year old brother, drowned while the family camped along the Burnt River in Eastern Oregon.

After arriving in the Willamette Valley, Abigail married Ben Duniway and began a life of pioneer farming and teaching in Clackamas and Yamhill counties. The young family faced significant financial challenges including the loss of two farms. This, plus a disabling injury to her husband, forced Duniway to focus all her efforts on teaching and writing. It was during this time, serving as the family’s bread-winner as well as trying to resolve issues related to her husband’s financial affairs, that Duniway became the outspoken voice in Oregon supporting women’s voting rights.

Her voice was heard loud and clear.

Duniway moved to Portland in 1871, and for decades would speak, teach, write and lobby on behalf of suffrage. She was a pioneer and national leader for voting rights, and tireless. It’s interesting that one of her biggest detractors, an outspoken critic of suffrage, was Duniway’s brother Harvey Scott – then editor of The Oregonian.

Even after suffrage measures were defeated five times in Oregon, more than in any other state, her commitment to voting rights never wavered. Her political and civil rights courage finally paid off in 1912 when Oregon passed a women’s suffrage amendment.

Abigail Scott Duniway is a hero to many, including my wife who attended the grade school in Southeast Portland named for the suffrage pioneer. It is true that Duniway is not well-known nationally, though she was an integral part of the small cadre of women who worked hand-in-glove with Susan B. Anthony.

In that regard, Duniway was as responsible as anyone for securing passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. An amendment which reads: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”

Words that must have rung sweetly for women and Americans in 1920. Perhaps as sweetly as words from the 13th Amendment rang for Americans and former slaves fifty-five years earlier.

The new $10 bill comes out in 2020, exactly 100 years after passage of the 19th Amendment. Over the next few months, many women of historical significance will be nominated to adorn the bill. At this point, Harriet Tubman may very well be the woman to beat.

In fact, I’ll bet ten bucks she wins.

But if I had a vote, I would cast it for Abigail Scott Duniway. The fact that my daughters will vote someday is largely attributable to her. Duniway was a pioneer, courageous leader and inspiring role-model. She was an exceptional American in every sense of the word.

The fact that she was also from Oregon? Well, that’s just icing on the cake.

Scott Bruun is a fifth-generation Oregonian and recovering politician. He lives with his family in the 'burbs', yet dutifully commutes to Portland every day where he earns his living in public affairs with Hubbell Communications.