The E-Sylum:  Volume 4, Number 49, December 2, 2001, Article 6

AFRICAN AMERICANS ON CURRENCY

  Editors love to steal (er, "borrow") material from one another.
  Here's an interesting piece from the November 7th YN
  newsletter (which in turn came from the Bureau of Engraving
  and Printing  (BEP) web site at http://www.moneyfactory.gov/:

  "It is a little known fact that five African Americans have had
  their signatures on currency.  The four African American men
  whose signatures appeared on the currency were Blanche K.
  Bruce, Judson W. Lyons, William T. Vernon and James C.
  Napier.  These men served as Registers of the Treasury. Until
  the series 1923 currency, the two signatures on almost all
  currency (except Fractional Currency and Demand Notes)
  were of the Treasurer and the Register. During this period four
  of the 17 registers were African American.

  The fifth African American whose signature appeared on
  currency was Azie Taylor Morton.  Ms. Morton was the 36th
  Treasurer of the United States.  She served from September 12,
  1977, to January 20, 1981.  There are no images of African
  Americans printed on U.S. currency.  The records of the U.S.
  Mint, the agency responsible for manufacturing U.S. coins,
  show that two fifty cent commemorative silver coins were
  produced during the 1940s commemorating Black Americans:
  the Carver-Washington coin and the Booker T. Washington
  memorial coin. The coins are listed in the Official Red Book
  of United States Coins.   These coins are only available from
  collectors. The recently released Jackie Robinson coin can be
  purchased directly from the United States Mint."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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