Harriet Tubman, the courageous abolitionist who guided Union soldiers during the Civil War was honored for her resilience and contributions to the war effort in Eastern Shore, Maryland recently.
The event drew a large crowd as Maryland’s National Guard as Maryland Gov. Wes Moore posthumously awarded Tubman the rank of one-star brigadier general. The ceremony took place near her birthplace at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Dorchester County, Maryland, according to reports.
In a speech, Moore highlighted Tubman’s bravery, emphasizing how she risked everything to secure freedom for herself and others at a time when Black Americans were denied such a fundamental right.
“This is a person who was one of the greatest Marylanders we’ve ever known, and someone who was willing to risk her own freedom, her own safety, her own life in order to save others. That is patriotism. That is heroism,” Moore said.
Harriet Tubman, born Araminta “Minty” Ross in Maryland in 1822, escaped slavery in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia, according to Blavity and NBC News. More than two decades later, she established the Underground Railroad, a vast network that helped enslaved Black men and women escape to freedom.
During the Civil War, Massachusetts Governor John A. Andrews appointed Tubman to the Union Army, making her the first African American woman to serve in combat for the U.S. military, as reported by CNN. She worked as a spy and nurse, aiding both Black soldiers and those still enslaved.
At the ceremony honoring Tubman, her great-great-great-grandniece, Tina Wyatt, was present to accept the recognition on behalf of her family.
“She came into the Civil War, into the bowels of slavery, after having freed herself to be able to free others, and to be able to fight for the Union… but mostly to free the enslaved that were there and then to let them fight,” Wyatt said, according to CNN.
