[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4409]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


[[Page 4409]]

                       HARRIET TUBMAN'S BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. CYNTHIA McKINNEY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 10, 2005

  Ms. McKINNEY. Mr. Speaker, as the bells of freedom toll around the 
globe, it seems appropriate to honor one of America's noble freedom 
fighters. And so today, in recognition of the memory and continuing 
legacy of a true founder of American freedom, I am introducing a 
resolution to designate March 10, 1990, as ``Harriet Tubman Day.''
  Harriet Tubman was born on the eastern shore of Maryland around 1820 
and escaped from slavery in 1849. Her freedom, however, was not the 
beginning of her fight. Even as a child slave, she battled against 
slavery and injustice. One day, she was ordered by an overseer to help 
him tie up another slave who was to be beaten. She defied that order 
and allowed the fellow slave to escape. But in the process, Harriet 
Tubman paid a high price for her defiance and her convictions. She was 
inflicted with a wound so severe that it would cause health problems 
for the rest of her life. The beating was not the first, nor would it 
be the last. But despite that cruel scar and despite the deep scars of 
slavery, Harriet Tubman still pursued. With a vigor difficult to image, 
she pursued her seemingly distant dreams and the buried promise of 
freedom.
  Her own freedom was not good enough, though--others were still 
enslaved. A year after her own escape, Harriet Tubman became a 
conductor on the underground railroad. She was so successful--she alone 
led about 300 slaves to freedom--that a bounty, with a horrifying 
sentence of torture until death, was offered for her capture. Yet, she 
continued to travel the route of the underground railroad, telling 
fellow conductor Thomas Garrett that she ``ventured only where God 
sent: and bragging years later that she had ``never run off track or 
lost a passenger.'' Time and time again whenever Harriet Tubman 
encountered unbeatable odds or insurmountable obstacles, she beat them 
and surmounted them, forging a path of service, spirit, and strength 
for all of us to follow.
  Through her service--as a conductor on the underground railroad, as a 
soldier and a tender of soldiers, and as a speaker for those who could 
not speak for themselves--Harriet Tubman gave hope to countless slaves 
who referred to her as their ``Moses'' and who, because of her, 
realized that they would one day be led from oppression to the promised 
land of freedom. Through her strength--a strength that compelled her to 
risk her own freedom so that others could experience it--Harriet Tubman 
provided an inspiration of liberty, justice and opportunity that serves 
us still. The service, spirit and strength of Harriet Tubman represents 
in timeless eloquence much of what is best in us, as Americans and as 
human beings.
  Mr. President, slavery was the darkest chapter in American history. 
But, out of the darkness of persecution in South Africa came the light 
of Nelson Mandela. And, out of the darkness of slavery in America came 
the light of Harriet Tubman.
  Today, that light is kept alive by the Harriet Tubman Historical 
Society, located in my hometown of Wilmington, DE. Harriet Tubman Day 
is the brainchild of its executive director, Vivian Abdur-Rahim. The 
widespread support this commemorative has receive around the country--
19 states and several citizens have already endorsed it--is a result of 
Vivian's tireless tenacity. She has made a tremendous investment toward 
establishing this day of recognition and tribute, and I am proud to ask 
the Senate to add its support to such a worthy and important effort.

                          ____________________