Subject
title
Proclamation Declaring March 10, 2025, as Harriet Tubman Day in Rockville, Maryland
end
Department
City Clerk/Director of Council Operations Office
Recommendation
Staff recommends Mayor and Councill Read and approve the proclamation, and present to Sheila Bashiri, Principal Planner, City of Rockville Community Planning and Development Services.
Discussion
Harriet Tubman Day is an American holiday in honor of the anti-slavery activist Harriet Tubman <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman>, observed on March 10, and in the U.S. state of New York. Observances also occur locally around the U.S. state of Maryland. After Juneteenth <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth> became a federal holiday, there are growing calls for this day to also be observed at the federal level.
The holiday was approved as Public Law 101-252 by the 101st Congress in a joint resolution on March 13, 1990. The law was considered and passed by the U.S. Senate <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate> on March 6, 1990 and then was considered and passed through the U.S. House of Representatives <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives> on March 7, 1990. U.S. President George H. W. Bush <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H._W._Bush> gave Proclamation 6107 on March 9, 1990 proclaiming the holiday.
The holiday is celebrated in the State of Maryland and New York.
“Wild Futures: Taking Flight”
Each year, on March 10, Harriet Tubman Day, we in The Harriet Tubman Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, at the University of Maryland, College Park, sound the call to gather. This year, our theme, “Wild Futures: Taking Flight,” invites us to reflect on the relationship between the natural world and freedom. How did those fleeing enslavement navigate the terrain that served as a pathway out of slavery, and what kinds of knowledge might they have drawn upon as they took flight? How does navigating the “wild” serve as a metaphor, not for rugged individualism but for collective becoming? What do we learn by considering the relationship between nature and flight - forests, swamps and seasons? Pursuing the relationship between Blackness and the natural environment not only helps us to understand the urgency of moving toward freedom but also to further interrogate the ways that Blackness has been written out of access to and knowledge of the natural world. This year, we ask you to gather with us “into the wild to watch the sky, climb a tree, and dream the future.”
History
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.
Harriet Tubman was believed to have said, “I would have freed more slaves, if they knew they were slaves…”
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 death. 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.
Mayor and Council History
Mayor and Council present the Harriet Tubman proclamation annually.
Public Notification and Engagement
The Harriet Tubman Museum and Education Center
424 Race Street, Cambridge, Maryland 21613
Goal of the Center:
“It is our goal to preserve and celebrate the historical legacy of Harriet Tubman and other influential African Americans from Maryland's Eastern Shore. We invite you to visit our museum and experience the rich history and inspiring stories that shaped our nation. Through exhibits, films, educational programs, and engaging events, you'll gain a deeper understanding of the profound impact these individuals had on the fight for freedom and equality. We also offer historical tours. You do not have to book a tour in order to visit the museum, but we still highly recommend them! Come explore the journeys of courage and resilience that continue to inspire us today. “
Hours of Operation:
Thursday and Friday - 12: 00 PM - 3:00 PM
Saturday 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Sunday by Appointment