Her letter to the president helped inspire the founder of Women On 20s, a nonprofit that plans to petition the White House to replace Andrew Jackson. She spoke to BuzzFeed News about the idea.
For the past month, people have been debating the idea of putting a famous woman on the $20 bill.
The nonprofit Women On 20s spearheaded the discussion and launched a ballot with 15 options, including civil rights activist Rosa Parks, feminist writer Betty Friedan, and environmentalist Rachel Carson.
Once the public has decided on the woman most deserving of the honor, the group plans to send a petition to the White House. The goal is to replace President Andrew Jackson by 2020, the centennial anniversary of women's suffrage.
Women On 20s / Via youtube.com
Sofia, a Massachusetts fourth grader, inspired the Women On 20s' founder as she developed the campaign.
As of Tuesday, the 9-year-old is an official junior ambassador for the nonprofit campaign, the group announced in a news release.
Sofia's mother requested that BuzzFeed News not use her daughter's last name.
Courtesy of Women on 20s
After Sofia's class studied historical figures late last spring, she came home and asked her mom if she could write a letter to President Obama about putting important women in history on U.S. currency.
When she and her classmates had to present on an historical figure, her peers who presented on men typically showed the class coins and dollar bills, but she noticed women in history didn't seem to have the same honors to their names.
"Why is that? Why are no girls on currency?" Sofia told BuzzFeed News. "Because women are just as important as men and I think that it's important for the women to get recognized in this way."
Only Sacagawea and Susan B. Anthony have been featured on U.S. currency.
Courtesy of Women on $20s
Sofia and her family waited, but heard nothing back at first. Then, at the end of July, they got word Obama mentioned her letter in a speech.
"A young girl wrote to ask me why aren't there any women on our currency, and then she gave me like a long list of possible women to put on our dollar bills and quarters and stuff — which I thought was a pretty good idea," he said while speaking on the economy in Kansas City, Missouri.
"I was so happy and I ran around the house," Sofia said.
Jim Watson / AFP / Getty Images
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