[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 19 (Thursday, February 7, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S522-S524]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Schumer, Ms. Mikulski, and Mrs. 
        Gillibrand):
  S. 247. A bill to establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical 
Park in Auburn, New York, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad 
National Historical Park in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, 
Maryland, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and 
Natural Resources.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, as we start Black History Month, I rise 
today to discuss a national hero that I have spoken about many times on 
the Senate floor. 2013 is a particularly remarkable year for Harriet 
Ross Tubman in that March 13, 2013 will mark the 100th anniversary of 
her death. This noteworthy anniversary makes it all the more 
appropriate for me to talk about Maryland's Harriet Ross Tubman and her 
dedication to justice, equality and service to this country. It is also 
why it is important for Congress to take action this year on The 
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and The Harriet Tubman 
Underground Railroad National Historical Park Act that I am 
reintroducing today.
  In my career, I have spoken on the Senate Floor, at events in 
Maryland, in meetings with constituents and with my colleagues about 
Harriet Tubman's legacy. While I hope each opportunity I have taken to 
discuss the life of this remarkable woman helps raise awareness about 
her importance to the history of our great Nation, my ultimate goal is 
to properly commemorate her life and her work by establishing the 
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park on the 
Eastern Shore of Maryland and, in working with my colleagues from New 
York, also establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in 
Auburn, NY.
  For the last 5 years I have championed the legislation I am 
reintroducing today. I appreciate the active support and work my 
cosponsors of this bill, Senators Mikulski, Schumer and Gillibrand have 
put into advancing this bill through the Senate. We all share a deep 
appreciation for how important establishing these parks is to 
preserving the legacy of this remarkable historical figure in American 
History but also to how important these parks will be to the 
communities where they will be located.
  I also greatly appreciate the support this legislation has received 
in the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. In the last 
Congress, the bill was reported out of committee with bi-partisan 
support including the support of Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member 
Murkowski. I look forward to working with the Committee's new Chairman, 
the Senior Senator from Oregon in reporting this bill quickly for the 
full Senate's consideration.
  The establishment of the Harriet Tubman Historical Parks has been 
years in the making and is long overdue. The mission of the National 
Park Service has evolved over time from not only preserving natural 
wonders across the U.S. for recreational purposes but also 
commemorating unique places of significance to historical events and 
extraordinary Americans that have shaped our nation.
  The woman, who is known to us as Harriet Tubman, was born in 
approximately 1822 in Dorchester County, MD and given the name 
Araminta, Minty, Ross. She spent nearly 30 years of her life in slavery 
on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She worked on a number of different 
plantations on Maryland's Eastern Shore and as a teenager was trained 
to be a seamstress. As an adult she took the first name Harriet, and 
when she was 25 years-old married John Tubman.
  In her late twenties, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849. 
She fled in the dead of night, navigating the maze of tidal streams and 
wetlands that, to this day, comprise the Eastern Shore's landscape. She 
did so alone, demonstrating courage, strength and fortitude that became 
her hallmarks. Not satisfied with attaining her own freedom, she 
returned repeatedly for more than 10 years to the places of her 
enslavement in Dorchester and Caroline counties where, under the most 
adverse conditions, she led away many family members and other slaves 
to freedom in the Northeastern United States. She helped develop a 
complex network of safe houses and recruited abolitionist sympathizers 
residing along secret routes connecting the Southern slave states and 
Northern Free States. No one knows exactly how many people she led to 
freedom or the number of trips between the North and South she led, but 
the legend of her work was an inspiration to the multitude of slaves 
seeking freedom and to abolitionists fighting to end slavery. Tubman 
became known as ``the Moses of her people'' by African-Americans and 
white abolitionists alike. Tubman once proudly told Frederick Douglass 
that in all of her journeys she ``never lost a single passenger.'' She 
was so effective that in 1856 there was a $40,000 reward offered for 
her capture in the South. She is the most famous and most important 
conductor of the network of resistance known as the Underground 
Railroad.
  During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union forces as a spy, a 
scout and a nurse. She served in Virginia, Florida and South Carolina. 
She is credited with leading slaves from those slave states to freedom 
during those years as well.
  Following the Civil War, and the emancipation of all black slaves, 
Tubman settled in Auburn, NY. There she was active in the women's 
suffrage movement, and she also established one of the first 
incorporated African-American homes for aged to care for the elderly. 
In 1903 she bequeathed the Tubman Home to the African Methodist 
Episcopal Zion Church in Auburn where it stands to this day. Harriet 
Tubman died in Auburn in 1913 and she is buried in the Fort Hill 
Cemetery. Fortunately many of the structures and landmarks in New York 
remain intact and in relatively good condition.
  Only recently has the Park Service begun establishing units dedicated 
to the lives of African-Americans. Places like Booker T. Washington 
National

[[Page S523]]

Monument on the campus the Tuskegee University in Alabama, the George 
Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, The Buffalo Soldiers 
at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the National Historical Trail 
commemorating the March for Voting Rights from Selma to Montgomery 
Alabama, and most recently the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the 
National Mall are all important monuments and places of historical 
significance that help tell the story of the African-American 
experience.
  As the National Park Service continues its important work to 
recognize and preserve African-American history by providing greater 
public access and information about the places and people that have 
shaped the African-American experience, there are very few units 
dedicated to the lives of African-American women, and there are no 
National Historical Parks commemorating African-American women.
  I cannot think of a more fitting hero than Harriet Tubman to be the 
first African-American woman to be memorialized with National 
Historical Parks that tell both her personal story and her lifelong 
fight for justice and freedom starting with her fight against the cruel 
institution of slavery and work of the Underground Railroad she led to 
her work in the women's suffrage movement.
  I hope that my colleagues will support my effort to honor Harriet 
Tubman and support passage of my bill to authorize the creation of the 
Tubman National Historical Parks in New York and Maryland. These parks 
will hopefully pave the way for the Park Service to develop more 
National Historical Park commemorating the lives of many other 
important African-American women in our history.
  The vision for the Tubman National Historical Parks is to preserve 
the places significant to the life of Harriet Tubman and tell her story 
through interpretative activities and continue to discover aspects of 
her life and the experience of passage along the Underground Railroad 
through archaeological research and discovery.
  The buildings and structures in Maryland have mostly disappeared. 
Slaves were forced to live in primitive buildings even though many 
slaves were skilled tradesmen who constructed the substantial homes of 
their owners. Not surprisingly, few of the structures associated with 
the early years of Tubman's life remain standing today. The landscape 
of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, however, is still evocative of the 
time that Tubman lived there. Farm fields and loblolly pine forests dot 
the lowland landscape, which is also notable for its extensive network 
of tidal rivers and wetlands that Tubman, and the people she guided to 
freedom, under the cover of night. In particular, a number of 
properties including the homestead of Ben Ross, her father, Stewart's 
Canal, where he worked, the Brodess Farm, where she worked as a slave, 
and others are within the master plan boundaries of the Blackwater 
National Wildlife Refuge.
  Similarly, Poplar Neck, the plantation from which she escaped to 
freedom, is still largely intact in Caroline County. The properties in 
Talbot County, immediately across the Choptank River from the 
plantation, are currently protected by various conservation easements. 
Were she alive today, Tubman would recognize much of the landscape that 
she knew intimately as she secretly led black men, women and children 
to freedom.
  There has never been any doubt that Tubman led an extraordinary life. 
Her contributions to American history are surpassed by few. Determining 
the most appropriate way to recognize that life and her contributions, 
however, has been exceedingly difficult. The National Park Service 
determined that designating a Historical Park that would include two 
geographically separate units would be an appropriate tribute to the 
life of this extraordinary American. The New York unit would include 
the tightly clustered Tubman buildings in the town of Auburn. The 
Maryland portion would include large sections of landscapes that are 
evocative of Tubman's time and are historically relevant.
  Harriet Tubman was a true American patriot. She was someone for whom 
liberty and freedom were not just concepts but values she fought 
tirelessly for. She lived those principles and so selflessly helped 
hundreds of other people attain freedom. In doing so, she has earned a 
nation's respect and honor.
  Harriet Tubman is one of many great Americans that we honor and 
celebrate every February during Black History Month. In schools across 
the country, American History curriculums teach our children about 
Tubman's courage, conviction, her fight for freedom and her 
contributions to the greatness of our Nation during a contentious time 
in U.S. history. Now it is time to add to Tubman's legacy by preserving 
and commemorating the places evocative of Harriet Tubman's 
extraordinary life.
  Every year, millions of school children, as well as millions of 
adults, visit our National Historical Parks gain experiences and 
knowledge about our Nation's history that simply cannot be found in 
history books or on the Internet. Our Nation's strength and character 
comes from the actions of the Americans who came before us and the 
significant events that shaped our Nation. The National Park Service is 
engaged in the important work of preserving the places where American 
history was made and providing a tangible experience for current and 
future generations to experience and understand. It is one thing to 
learn about Harriet Tubman from a book, and it is yet a completely 
different and fulfilling experience to explore, see, listen to and feel 
the places where she worked as a slave, where she escaped from and 
where she lived out her life as a free American.
  The National Park Service is uniquely suited to honor and preserve 
these places of historical significance and I urge my colleagues to 
join me in preserving and growing the legacy of Harriet Tubman by 
establishing the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks in her honor.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 247

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Harriet Tubman National 
     Historical Parks Act''.

     SEC. 2. HARRIET TUBMAN UNDERGROUND RAILROAD NATIONAL 
                   HISTORICAL PARK, MARYLAND.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Historical park.--The term ``historical park'' means 
     the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical 
     Park established by subsection (b)(1)(A).
       (2) Map.--The term ``map'' means the map entitled 
     ``Authorized Acquisition Area for the Proposed Harriet Tubman 
     Underground Railroad National Historical Park'', numbered 
     T20/80,001, and dated July 2010.
       (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (4) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of Maryland.
       (b) Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical 
     Park.--
       (1) Establishment.--
       (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), there is 
     established the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National 
     Historical Park in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, 
     Maryland, as a unit of the National Park System.
       (B) Determination by secretary.--The historical park shall 
     not be established until the date on which the Secretary 
     determines that a sufficient quantity of land, or interests 
     in land, has been acquired to constitute a manageable park 
     unit.
       (C) Notice.--Not later than 30 days after the date on which 
     the Secretary makes a determination under subparagraph (B), 
     the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register notice of 
     the establishment of the historical park, including an 
     official boundary map for the historical park.
       (D) Availability of map.--The official boundary map 
     published under subparagraph (C) shall be on file and 
     available for public inspection in appropriate offices of the 
     National Park Service.
       (2) Purpose.--The purpose of the historical park is to 
     preserve and interpret for the benefit of present and future 
     generations the historical, cultural, and natural resources 
     associated with the life of Harriet Tubman and the 
     Underground Railroad.
       (3) Land acquisition.--
       (A) In general.--The Secretary may acquire land and 
     interests in land within the areas depicted on the map as 
     ``Authorized Acquisition Areas'' by purchase from willing 
     sellers, donation, or exchange.
       (B) Boundary adjustment.--On acquisition of land or an 
     interest in land under subparagraph (A), the boundary of the 
     historical park shall be adjusted to reflect the acquisition.
       (c) Administration.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary shall administer the 
     historical park in accordance

[[Page S524]]

     with this section and the laws generally applicable to units 
     of the National Park System, including--
       (A) the National Park System Organic Act (16 U.S.C. 1 et 
     seq.); and
       (B) the Act of August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
       (2) Interagency agreement.--Not later than 1 year after the 
     date on which the historical park is established, the 
     Director of the National Park Service and the Director of the 
     United States Fish and Wildlife Service shall enter into an 
     agreement to allow the National Park Service to provide for 
     public interpretation of historic resources located within 
     the boundary of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge that 
     are associated with the life of Harriet Tubman, consistent 
     with the management requirements of the Refuge.
       (3) Interpretive tours.--The Secretary may provide 
     interpretive tours to sites and resources located outside the 
     boundary of the historical park in Caroline, Dorchester, and 
     Talbot Counties, Maryland, relating to the life of Harriet 
     Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
       (4) Cooperative agreements.--
       (A) In general.--The Secretary may enter into a cooperative 
     agreement with the State, political subdivisions of the 
     State, colleges and universities, non-profit organizations, 
     and individuals--
       (i) to mark, interpret, and restore nationally significant 
     historic or cultural resources relating to the life of 
     Harriet Tubman or the Underground Railroad within the 
     boundaries of the historical park, if the agreement provides 
     for reasonable public access; or
       (ii) to conduct research relating to the life of Harriet 
     Tubman and the Underground Railroad.
       (B) Visitor center.--The Secretary may enter into a 
     cooperative agreement with the State to design, construct, 
     operate, and maintain a joint visitor center on land owned by 
     the State--
       (i) to provide for National Park Service visitor and 
     interpretive facilities for the historical park; and
       (ii) to provide to the Secretary, at no additional cost, 
     sufficient office space to administer the historical park.
       (C) Cost-sharing requirement.--
       (i) Federal share.--The Federal share of the total cost of 
     any activity carried out under this paragraph shall not 
     exceed 50 percent.
       (ii) Form of non-federal share.--The non-Federal share of 
     the cost of carrying out an activity under this paragraph may 
     be in the form of in-kind contributions or goods or services 
     fairly valued.
       (d) General Management Plan.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date on 
     which funds are made available to carry out this section, the 
     Secretary shall prepare a general management plan for the 
     historical park in accordance with section 12(b) of the 
     National Park Service General Authorities Act (16 U.S.C. 1a-
     7(b)).
       (2) Consultation.--The general management plan shall be 
     prepared in consultation with the State (including political 
     subdivisions of the State).
       (3) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate the 
     preparation and implementation of the management plan with--
       (A) the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge;
       (B) the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park established 
     by section 3(b)(1)(A); and
       (C) the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
       (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out 
     this section.

     SEC. 3. HARRIET TUBMAN NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK, AUBURN, NEW 
                   YORK.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Historical park.--The term ``historical park'' means 
     the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park established by 
     subsection (b)(1)(A).
       (2) Home.--The term ``Home'' means The Harriet Tubman Home, 
     Inc., located in Auburn, New York.
       (3) Map.--The term ``map'' means the map entitled ``Harriet 
     Tubman National Historical Park'', numbered T18/80,000, and 
     dated March 2009.
       (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (5) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of New York.
       (b) Harriet Tubman National Historical Park.--
       (1) Establishment.--
       (A) In general.--Subject to subparagraph (B), there is 
     established the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in 
     Auburn, New York, as a unit of the National Park System.
       (B) Determination by secretary.--The historical park shall 
     not be established until the date on which the Secretary 
     determines that a sufficient quantity of land, or interests 
     in land, has been acquired to constitute a manageable park 
     unit.
       (C) Notice.--Not later than 30 days after the date on which 
     the Secretary makes a determination under subparagraph (B), 
     the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register notice of 
     the establishment of the historical park.
       (D) Map.--The map shall be on file and available for public 
     inspection in appropriate offices of the National Park 
     Service.
       (2) Boundary.--The historical park shall include the 
     Harriet Tubman Home, the Tubman Home for the Aged, the 
     Thompson Memorial AME Zion Church and Rectory, and associated 
     land, as identified in the area entitled ``National 
     Historical Park Proposed Boundary'' on the map.
       (3) Purpose.--The purpose of the historical park is to 
     preserve and interpret for the benefit of present and future 
     generations the historical, cultural, and natural resources 
     associated with the life of Harriet Tubman.
       (4) Land acquisition.--The Secretary may acquire land and 
     interests in land within the areas depicted on the map by 
     purchase from a willing seller, donation, or exchange.
       (c) Administration.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary shall administer the 
     historical park in accordance with this section and the laws 
     generally applicable to units of the National Park System, 
     including--
       (A) the National Park System Organic Act (16 U.S.C. 1 et 
     seq.); and
       (B) the Act of August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
       (2) Interpretive tours.--The Secretary may provide 
     interpretive tours to sites and resources located outside the 
     boundary of the historical park in Auburn, New York, relating 
     to the life of Harriet Tubman.
       (3) Cooperative agreements.--
       (A) In general.--The Secretary may enter into a cooperative 
     agreement with the owner of any land within the historical 
     park to mark, interpret, or restore nationally significant 
     historic or cultural resources relating to the life of 
     Harriet Tubman, if the agreement provides that--
       (i) the Secretary shall have the right of access to any 
     public portions of the land covered by the agreement to allow 
     for--

       (I) access at reasonable times by historical park visitors 
     to the land; and
       (II) interpretation of the land for the public; and

       (ii) no changes or alterations shall be made to the land 
     except by mutual agreement of the Secretary and the owner of 
     the land.
       (B) Research.--The Secretary may enter into a cooperative 
     agreement with the State, political subdivisions of the 
     State, institutions of higher education, the Home and other 
     nonprofit organizations, and individuals to conduct research 
     relating to the life of Harriet Tubman.
       (C) Cost-sharing requirement.--
       (i) Federal share.--The Federal share of the total cost of 
     any activity carried out under this paragraph shall not 
     exceed 50 percent.
       (ii) Form of non-federal share.--The non-Federal share may 
     be in the form of in-kind contributions or goods or services 
     fairly valued.
       (D) Attorney general.--
       (i) In general.--The Secretary shall submit to the Attorney 
     General for review any cooperative agreement under this 
     paragraph involving religious property or property owned by a 
     religious institution.
       (ii) Finding.--No cooperative agreement subject to review 
     under this subparagraph shall take effect until the date on 
     which the Attorney General issues a finding that the proposed 
     agreement does not violate the Establishment Clause of the 
     first amendment to the Constitution.
       (d) General Management Plan.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 3 years after the date on 
     which funds are made available to carry out this section, the 
     Secretary shall prepare a general management plan for the 
     historical park in accordance with section 12(b) of the 
     National Park Service General Authorities Act (16 U.S.C. 1a-
     7(b)).
       (2) Coordination.--The Secretary shall coordinate the 
     preparation and implementation of the management plan with--
       (A) the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National 
     Historical Park established by section 2(b)(1); and
       (B) the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom.
       (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out 
     this Act, except that not more than $7,500,000 shall be 
     available to provide financial assistance under subsection 
     (c)(3).
                                 ______