[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 1756]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    SENATE RESOLUTION 56--RECOGNIZING THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE 100TH 
            ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF HARRIET ROSS TUBMAN

  Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. Portman, Ms. Mikulski, Mr. Schumer, Mrs. 
Gillibrand, and Mr. Brown) submitted the following resolution; which 
was considered and agreed to:

                               S. Res. 56

       Whereas Harriet Ross Tubman was born into slavery near 
     Buckstown, Maryland, in or around the year 1820, to her 
     parents Benjamin Ross and Harriet Green, and was named 
     Araminta Ross;
       Whereas, as a child slave, Tubman checked muskrat traps 
     along the marshes of the Blackwater River in Dorchester 
     County, Maryland, and later worked in the fields and forests 
     surrounding the Brodess Plantation;
       Whereas, as a teenage slave, Tubman worked as a seamstress 
     on the Cook Plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland, and 
     changed her name to Harriet;
       Whereas, at the age of 24, Tubman married a free black man 
     named John Tubman, though she remained a slave;
       Whereas, in 1849, upon hearing news that she was to be sold 
     to settle the debts of her late master, Tubman escaped from 
     slavery to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, marking the first of 
     many expeditions to and from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to 
     lead nearly 70 slaves out of slavery;
       Whereas, over the course of the next 11 years, from 1849 to 
     1860, Tubman became a famous conductor of the Underground 
     Railroad, proclaiming in her later years, ``I never ran my 
     train off the track and I never lost a passenger.'';
       Whereas, since the journeys to freedom by Tubman took place 
     over the winter months when the nights were long and dark, 
     her groups made stops along the extensive Underground 
     Railroad, first traveling to the Quaker community of Poplar 
     Neck in Caroline County, Maryland, eventually making stops at 
     the homes of Quaker abolitionist Thomas Garrett in 
     Wilmington, Delaware, and African-American abolitionist and 
     future civil rights activist William Still in Philadelphia, 
     Pennsylvania, before final resettlement in Canada;
       Whereas, in the late 1850s, Tubman began to speak before 
     abolitionist audiences to share her dedication and unwavering 
     commitment to the abolitionist cause and the emancipation of 
     slaves;
       Whereas Tubman drew admiration from African-American 
     abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a fellow Eastern Shore 
     native of Talbot County, Maryland, who stated, ``I know of no 
     one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships 
     to serve our enslaved people than you have.'';
       Whereas the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, 
     located in Cincinnati, Ohio, recognizes Tubman as one the 
     most famous conductors along the Underground Railroad and has 
     dedicated a theater in honor of Tubman;
       Whereas, in 1859, Tubman purchased a home and several acres 
     of land in Auburn, New York, from William Henry Seward, then 
     United States Senator from New York and future Secretary of 
     State for President Abraham Lincoln;
       Whereas Tubman attended her first Women's Rights Convention 
     in Boston, Massachusetts in 1860, beginning a lifelong 
     commitment to the suffrage movement;
       Whereas, at the start of the Civil War in 1861, Tubman 
     believed that a Union victory would be a key stepping stone 
     to the abolition of slavery and vowed to assist the cause, 
     joining abolitionist Bostonians and Philadelphians who 
     traveled to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to provide aid 
     to the Union war effort;
       Whereas Tubman used the skills that she learned evading 
     detection and capture on the Underground Railroad to serve as 
     a spy and scout for the Union camp at Port Royal, South 
     Carolina in addition to providing care to Union forces as a 
     nurse and cook;
       Whereas, in 1863, the same year that the Emancipation 
     Proclamation was issued, Tubman became the first woman to 
     lead an armed assault during the Civil War on the Raid on 
     Combahee Ferry;
       Whereas Tubman led bands of scouts along the marshes and 
     rivers of Port Royal, similar to those of her native 
     Dorchester County, to map the unfamiliar territory for 
     Colonel James Montgomery, commander of the 2nd Regiment South 
     Carolina Volunteer Infantry (African Descent);
       Whereas, between June 1 and June 2, 1863, Tubman guided 
     Colonel Montgomery and a detachment of 300 men from the 2nd 
     Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (African Descent) 
     through the mine-laden waters of the Combahee River in 
     Colleton County, South Carolina, where the Union forces 
     liberated nearly 750 slaves;
       Whereas Tubman assisted the newly liberated slaves in the 
     years following the raid and tended to wounded soldiers in 
     the Commonwealth of Virginia before returning to Auburn, New 
     York after the conclusion of the Civil War;
       Whereas Tubman dedicated the later years of her life to 
     promoting the women's suffrage movement, traveling to New 
     York City, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, 
     District of Columbia, to speak before countless women's 
     groups with fellow suffrage movement leaders Susan B. Anthony 
     and Emily Howland;
       Whereas, when asked if she believed women deserved the 
     right to vote, Tubman replied, ``I suffered enough to believe 
     it.'';
       Whereas, in 1903, Tubman deeded her property to the African 
     Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Auburn, New York, to serve 
     as a home for the ``aged and indigent colored people'', which 
     opened on June 23, 1908, as the Harriet Tubman Home for the 
     Aged; and
       Whereas, having lived in the home named after her, Tubman 
     passed away on March 10, 1913, at the age of 93: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the significance of the 100th anniversary of 
     the death of Harriet Tubman, whose dedication and unwavering 
     commitment to serving in any capacity necessary to pursue the 
     promise of American ideals and the principles of humanity 
     continue to inspire all individuals who cherish freedom;
       (2) encourages the people of the United States to honor and 
     preserve the legacy of Tubman;
       (3) recognizes the significance of the tireless work of 
     Tubman and the other individuals who bravely served to create 
     the Underground Railroad network to achieve freedom for those 
     individuals enslaved during the Antebellum Era of the United 
     States; and
       (4) recognizes the dedication and commitment of the Harriet 
     Tubman Organization of Cambridge, Maryland, and the Harriet 
     Tubman Home, Inc. and the Harriet Tubman Boosters Club, both 
     of Auburn, New York, for preserving the heritage of the 
     United States and promoting the rich history of the United 
     States.

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