Harriet Tubman Day

 

Today (March 10th) is Harriet Tubman Day.

It was first proclaimed at the Federal Level in 1990, in Maryland (where she was born a Slave  - in 2000) and in New York (where she lived the last years of her life – in 2003.) March 10th was chosen because that was when she died – there are no accurate records of when she was born.

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross c. 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an American Abolitionist, Humanitarian, and an Armed Scout and Spy for the United States Army during the American Civil War (she was the first Woman to lead an Armed Expedition in the War, she guided the Raid at Combahee Ferry, South Carolina - which liberated more than 700 Slaves.)

Born into Slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made 13 missions to rescue 70 enslaved Families and Friends, using the network of Antislavery Activists and Safe Houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped Abolitionist John Brown to recruit men for his raid on the Harpers Ferry.

 In the Post-War era she was an active participant in the struggle for Women's Suffrage.

In 1844, she married a Free Black Man named John Tubman and changed her name to Harriet. Laws at the time said that any Children the couple had would be considered Slaves as it was “passed down” from the Mother’s side so she decided not to have any Children until they could be free.

In 1849 she fled the South and Slavery for the North. According to the Federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 she was still considered the property of her Slave Owners even in the North where Slavery was illegal.

Despite Slavecatchers and huge bounties on her head she was never caught. Because of her work in the Underground Railroad and the fact that her Husband was a Free Man and she was a Slave they never had any Children and divorced in 1851.

She only became a Free Woman in 1862 after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – as she was still considered, under the Law, to be a Fugitive Slave until then.

After the War she went to her home in Auburn, New York (which she had received in 1859 and officially purchased as a Free Woman in 1862), took care of her aging Parents and became involved in the Fight for Women’s Suffrage.

She married Nelson Davis (an Escaped Slave from North Carolina and now Free Man who had fought for the Union during the Civil War – in the 8th United States Colored Infantry Regiment) in 1869 and they remained together until his death in 1883. They had no Children together, but did adopt Gertie Davis in 1874.

She received no US or State Veteran Benefits for her service during the Civil War and only received a Pension because of her Husband’s Military Service after the Dependent and Disability Pension Act of 1890 was passed (7 years after her Husband’s Death and 25 years after the Civil War had ended.)

 In 1899, Congress passed and President William McKinley signed H.R. 4982, which approved $20 per month (the $8 from her Widow's Pension plus $12 for her service as a Nurse), but did not acknowledge her as a Scout and Spy.

In 1908 she opened the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged for “aged and indigent colored people".

 In 1911, after seizures and brain surgery she moved into the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged where she died of Pneumonia on March 10, 1913 around 90 years old. Tubman was buried with Semi-Military Honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York.

I got my first book about Harriet Tubman at Waldenbooks when I was 8 years old - I still have it in my Library.