By Sharon Dukes

African Americans have had a long history of involvement in the production of United States paper currency beginning with Sophia Holmes, a free native of Washington, D.C., who, during the Civil War, was the first African American hired by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Working as a charwoman in the Division of Issue for $15 a month, Ms. Holmes saved the division $200,000 that had been mistakenly thrown away as trash. As an award, then U.S. Treasurer, General Francis Spinner, promoted her to a messenger at a $600 a year salary. Ms. Holmes served in that position for 38 years and died in l900 at age 79. The tradition of African American involvement in the production of US currency continues today.

Two top African American officials at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) presently involved in some phase of research, design, and production of American currency are Larry Felix, Deputy Associate Director of Technology, and James Brent, Jr., Chief, Office of Currency Production.

Both play important roles in the efforts of the Treasury Department to produce "safer, smarter, more secure" currency to stay ahead of tech-savvy counterfeiters.

BEP is the largest producer, both in the design and printing, of security documents, which includes Federal Reserve Notes (paper currency), U.S. postage stamps, Treasury securities, military identification cards, Immigration and Naturalization certificates, and other special security paper products for the United States government. BEP is a Federal Government agency under the US Department of Treasury and it creates its products in two facilities -- at the headquarters in Washington, D.C. and in Ft. Worth, Texas.

Larry Felix and James Brent, along with another African American, William Wills, who is COO at the BEP, have been actively involved in a far-reaching public education campaign designed to ensure the public knows about the new currency that will be issued this fall, what it looks like and how to use its security features.

Larry Felix manages about 400 scientists, engineers, technicians and maintenance workers, and he oversees the scientific, technical and engineering aspects of the creation and production of currency. His area of responsibility includes rigorous testing to ensure that currency is durable and lives through its expected years of circulation.

Felix' division of scientists, chemists, engineers and electro-machinists not only include those who actually handle the design of money but those who must test money to make sure it works well in any environment.
"We're the first step in determining whether paper currency designs are practical from a manufacturing standpoint. We have to inspect it and make certain it stands up to all standards," says Felix.

In addition, Felix says currency facilitates the economy and if a point-of-sale transaction does not work, then it affects the public's trust factor in the US dollar. "My unit's task through testing is to ensure that trust remains."

Felix, who has been with the bureau 10 years, enjoys his involvement in the process of making money safer and more secure. He enthusiastically says, "The public service aspect of what we do at BEP is that we feel we're doing the public good. After all, US currency is used by people all over the world."

James A. Brent, Jr., as Chief of the Office of Currency Production, manages 450 employees and oversees daily operations of six phases of processing money: offset printing where background color is added to next generation currency; intaglio printing places the front and back images on the currency sheets; mechanical/electronic sheet inspection checks the quality of the face and back of currency sheets; currency overprinting and processing equipment places the seals and serial numbers on each note of the currency sheet, sheets are cut to individual notes and shrink wrapped into units of 100, 1,000 and 4,000; note packaging - packages currency for shipment; and, the Federal Reserve Vault schedules shipment of the currency to the Federal Reserve System. Employed by the BEP for 13 years, Brent continues to move up the managerial ranks.

He keeps an eye on trends in currency including how money ages, its design and security features, and management of resources at BEP. A young man with a constant smile, Brent exudes confidence and pride in what he does at the Bureau. "Each day I can measure my successes," he says.

Brent's energy clearly accelerates when he discusses the new offset printing and the state-of-the-art presses that print both sides…adding color to currency.

"The face of counterfeiting has changed as a result of new technology," he says. To keep up with the changes in technology, American money is getting another new look, and the first item to get the makeover in color is the $20 bill, which will debut this October. This new look of money is guaranteed to get attention. Not only is it graced with subtle background colors, but it has enhanced security features as well.

"We've added features that cannot be reproduced so easily. We have to make changes every 7 to 10 years to stay ahead of counterfeiting," said Brent. Some of the new features of the $20 bill include the security thread, which can be seen on both sides of the bill, an artistic watermark and a dramatic color-shifting ink which changes the look of the numeral "20" located on the lower right corner from copper colored to green.

These features are included to make the $20 bill safer, smarter, and more secure. However, it is the inclusion of more color that will make money more noticeable. Both Felix and Brent agree that color adds complexity to the currency, making counterfeiting more difficult.

In addition, Brent says different colors will be used for different denominations, which will help everyone --- particularly those who are visually impaired --- to tell the denominations apart.

The color of employees at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing represents the long and proud history of diversity at an agency essential to the day-to-day functioning of the U.S. government.
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Photo #1 - Larry Felix, Deputy Director of Technology, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, reviews a work matter with Wilma P. Douglass, of Research and Technical Support.