Subject
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Proclamation Declaring Harriet Tubman Day on March 10, 2024
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Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council read and approve the proclamation.
Discussion
Harriet Tubman was born as Araminta Ross to enslaved parents, Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1822. She had eight brothers and sisters, which would soon change when three of her sisters were sold, never to be seen again. Tubman’s drive for justice began early when at the age of 12, she stepped in the way of an overseer throwing a two-pound metal weight at a slave that was attempting to escape. This blow to the head left Tubman with a lifetime of severe headaches and narcolepsy, causing her to fall into deep sleeps at random.
Even though slaves were not legally allowed to marry, she entered a marital union with John Tubman, a free back man, in 1844. She changed her last name from Ross to Tubman and took her mother’s first name, Harriet. Upon hearing that her brother’s Ben and Henry were to be sold, Tubman started to plan her escape. She managed to escape in 1849 with her two brothers although her husband refused to go with her. Tubman discovered The Underground Railroad system, established in the late eighteenth century by Black and White abolitionists, and used it to help her escape. After traveling this system for 90 miles, Tubman gained her freedom in Pennsylvania.
She found work as a housekeeper in Philadelphia but was not satisfied with that life. She wanted freedom not just for herself, but for her family, and for others who were enslaved. Tubman returned to the South to free her niece and niece’s children. Using The Underground Railroad, Tubman gained vast knowledge of transportation in the South and directly helped at least 70 enslaved people find freedom. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which allowed fugitive and freed workers in the North to be captured and enslaved, encouraged slave owners to put a $40,000 reward on Tubman’s capture or death. This did not stop Tubman, and over the next 10 years it is estimated that she helped emancipate 300 enslaved people with the help of abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass.
During the Civil War, Tubman was recruited at Fort Monroe where she worked as a nurse, cook and laundress, all while assisting fugitive enslaved people and helping treat the sick. Later in the war, she became head of an espionage and scout network for the Union Army, providing intelligence to Union commanders about Confederate Army supply routes.
In 1990, the United States Congress enacted Harriet Tubman Day as a national holiday to celebrate all the heroic work she accomplished in her life. George Bush Sr. proclaimed the holiday on March 9, 1990 and the national day of observance was set for March 10 in respect to Harriet Tubman’s date of birth. Here in Rockville, we encourage everyone to observe this day and to help everyone around us to understand the significance of Harriet Tubman’s service and life to American history.