[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3695]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             HARRIET TUBMAN

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, 12 years ago this very day, the Senate 
passed a joint resolution that honored Harriet Tubman, with Harriet 
Tubman Day, on March 10. That resolution was sponsored by Senator 
Carper and then-Senator Biden. In the House of Representatives, I 
served and I cosponsored a similar resolution.
  Harriet Tubman was a remarkable woman. She was born in Dorchester 
County, MD, in 1822. She was a slave for greater than 25 years of her 
life. At age 25, she married John Tubman. She escaped slavery in 1849. 
She returned to the eastern shore of Maryland, not once but 19 times 
that we know of within a 10-year period, in order to rescue slaves and 
to set them free.
  She rescued slaves in Dorchester County and Caroline County in 
Maryland and throughout the entire Northeast. She was known as the 
modern day ``Moses'' for the Underground Railroad.
  In the Civil War, she joined Union forces as a spy, as a scout, and 
as a nurse, operating in Virginia, Florida, and South Carolina.
  After the Civil War was over, she settled in Auburn, NY, and was very 
actively involved in the women's suffrage movement, and she established 
one of the first African-American homes for the aged.
  She died in 1913.
  Harriet Tubman embodies the American spirit. She was a strong-willed 
person who fought for the rights and freedom of those who were 
oppressed in the barbaric institution of slavery.
  Her personal freedom was not enough for her because she recognized 
there was injustice in this country, and she wanted to be involved. As 
the joint resolution that passed the Senate 12 years ago said:

       . . . Harriet Tubman--whose courageous and dedicated 
     pursuit of the promise of American ideals and common 
     principles of humanity continues to serve and inspire all 
     people who cherish freedom. . . .

  A major part of learning and understanding the significance of 
history is being able to experience the places where that history 
occurred.
  From Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD, to the Lincoln Memorial here in 
the Nation's capital, we have preserved our history for future 
generations. Millions of visitors and schoolchildren visit these iconic 
places in American history.
  The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and the Harriet Tubman 
Underground Railroad National Historical Park is legislation I have 
filed so we can preserve the history of Harriet Tubman with these 
historic places for future generations.
  I am joined in this effort by Senator Mikulski, Senator Schumer, and 
Senator Gillibrand. The natural landscape on the eastern shore that 
existed during Harriet Tubman's day exists today. Her homestead, where 
her father was born, Ben Ross, exists today. Stewart's Canal, where her 
father worked, exists today. The Brodess Farm, where Harriet Tubman 
worked as a slave, exists today. Right adjacent to it, and including 
part of that property, is the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. So 
we have the landscape in which the Underground Railroad was operating 
to free slaves in the 19th century. It exists today on the eastern 
shore of Maryland.
  In Auburn, NY, the home in which Harriet Tubman lived still exists, 
the home for the aged that she started still remains. The Thompson 
Memorial AME Zion Episcopal Church is still there, and the Fort Hill 
Cemetery, where she is buried. They are all intact, and all are 
available for preservation.
  The legislation we have filed will preserve these places in American 
history under our National Park System for future generations. I urge 
my colleagues to support this legislation, to honor a great American, 
and to preserve our heritage for future generations.

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