No, said the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The United States had previously put an actual woman on an actual bill: Martha Washington in 1891. Whoops, said Disney. They now proclaimed Minnie the second female portrayed on North American currency.
But that also wasn’t true. If we’re counting fictional women now, the US had put Lady Liberty, Lady Justice, and the figure of Columbia on bills before. And it turns out that even Martha Washington wasn’t the first real woman whose face went on a bill. Pocahontas appeared on a twenty dollar bill all the way back in 1863.
Disney, of course, would later make a Pocahontas film. In 1995, they could have put their cartoon Pocahontas on a Disney Dollar and said “Pocahontas is the first woman portrayed on North American currency” … and this time, technically, they would have been telling the truth.
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For more Disney slip-ups, check out:
Disney Movies Used To Be Far From Box Office Juggernauts
The Walt Disney Concert Hall Shoots Heat Rays
I Was There At Disneyland’s Opening (And It Was A Nightmare)
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