DID YOU KNOW?
1 0 0 T H
A N N I V E R S A R Y
One hundred years after her death in 1913, Delaware celebrates
the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor
HARRIET
TUBMAN
Online: Test how
well you’ve learned
about Harriet
Tubman at delawareonline.com/quiz
By John Micklos, Jr.
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS JOURNAL
I
n the spring of 1854, Harriet Tubman led four escaping slaves
north toward Wilmington, the last
stop on the Underground Railroad
before reaching the free state of
Pennsylvania. About 30 miles
from their destination, a tidal
stream blocked their way. Unsure how
deep the water might be, the men refused
to enter. Tubman, realizing they had to
keep moving or face capture, waded right
in. The men, shamed by her courage, followed.
Stories like these, recounted in “Bound
for the Promised Land” by historian Kate
Clifford Larson, help explain how Tubman
earned the nickname “Moses” for leading
so many slaves to freedom. Following her
own escape in 1849, Tubman led a dozen
daring rescues over the next decade. She
brought some 70 slaves, including many
members of her own family, through
Delaware to freedom.
Born Araminta Harriet Ross around
1820 in Dorchester County, Md., Tubman
was struck in the head as a young teen
with an iron weight thrown by an overseer.
She suffered serious side effects for the
rest of her life. For instance, she frequently fell asleep in the middle of activities – a distinct danger when fleeing slave
hunters.
During the Civil War, Tubman served as
a nurse, scout, spy, and cook for the Union.
In 1863, she became the first woman in the
war to lead an armed expedition – a South
Carolina raid that freed more than 700
slaves.
After the war, Tubman settled near
Auburn, N.Y., where she continued to
serve others. She spoke out for women’s
suffrage and donated her 25-acre property
to the AME Zion Church of Auburn so that
the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged
could be established. In 1911, wheelchair
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
To experience a bit of Delaware’s Underground Railroad history, travel the 97-mile Harriet
Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. Conceived by the Underground Railroad Coalition of
Delaware and administered by DelDOT, the
byway winds from Sandtown on the Mary(9) Tubman-Garrett
land/Delaware border to the Pennsylvania
Riverfront Park
border north of Wilmington.
The park was dedicated in 1998 to the
work of Thomas
Garrett and Tubman.
Wilmington
Garrett lived in the
nearby Quaker Hill
neighborhood
where
9
7 8
runaway slaves often
6
found refuge.
bound, Tubman herself entered the home.
She died on March 10, 1913, making this
the centennial year of her death.
Tubman’s Delaware connection
Tubman had deep ties to Delaware. All
of her trips came through the state – sometimes through Seaford, other times Camden, before reaching Wilmington. “This
story is multicultural and involves different religions,” noted Penny Marshall,
board president of West End Neighborhood House in Wilmington and the organizer of several Harriet Tubman commemorative activities. “It involves free blacks
helping slaves, white people helping
slaves, and Quakers helping slaves, all because they believed that slavery was
wrong.”
Tubman’s Delaware Underground Railroad connections included free blacks
William Brinkley and Abraham Gibbs in
the Camden-Dover area. In helping escaping slaves, they risked prison or even the
possibility of being sold into slavery themselves.
Another trusted friend was Thomas
Garrett, a Wilmington Quaker who helped
2,700 slaves escape over 40 years. “They
had a great relationship and partnership,”
said Larson, a consultant to Delaware’s
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad
Byway project. “He helped restore her
faith in humanity.” Successfully sued
by two slave owners from Maryland for property loss, Garrett
PA.
5
4
2
1
ar
law
De
MD.
e
y
N
10 MILES
DESIGN, GRAPHICS AND ILLUSTRATION BY DAN GARROW
» Thomas Garrett
Thomas Garrett (Aug. 21, 1789 – Jan. 25,
1871) was an abolitionist and leader in
the Underground Railroad movement.
As he toiled in the iron and hardware
business in Wilmington, Garrett openly
worked as a Station Master on the last
stop of the Underground Railroad
in the state. One
time, when Wilmington authorities
were watching
for Tubman and a
group of escapees
at the bridge leading into the city,
Thomas Garrett
arranged for
some bricklayers to bring them into the
city at the bottom of a wagon, buried
under a pile of bricks, blankets, and
tools. Some wagons had false bottoms
where escaped slaves could hide. Garrett is credited with helping 2,700 escaped slaves reach freedom.
had to pay a judgment of $5,400 in 1848 – a
huge sum in those days. Still he continued
to aid runaway slaves. “His conscience
told him it was the right thing to do,” said
Cynthia Synder, site manager for the New
Castle Court House Museum.
Garrett’s funeral in 1871 drew thousands of mourners. His black friends carried his body on their shoulders to its resting place at Friends Meeting House. “It
was the funeral of the decade,” said
Paulette de la Veaux, secretary of Wilmington Friends Meeting.
The Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park,
just steps from the bridge where many escaping slaves entered Wilmington, honors
the collaboration between these Underground Railroad titans. The park’s centerpiece is a dramatic statue depicting
the two of them helping escaping slaves.
“I NEVER LOST
A PASSENGER”
SOURCE: history.com
» A different
type of railroad
A courageous life
• Tubman was born a slave in Dorchester
County, Md., around 1820. .Fearing she might be
sold to another master, Tubman escaped to freedom
through Delaware when she was 25 years old.
• She boasted that in all of her journeys “I never lost
a passenger.”
• She carried a gun which she
used to threaten the fugitives if
they became too tired or
decided to turn back, telling
them, “You'll be free or die.”
(5) Corbit-Sharp
House
The house was uilt
in Odessa in the
1770s. Owner
Daniel Corbit
was active in the
Underground
Railroad and
known for hiding
fugitives in his attic.
Tubman leads slaves through a
swamp. COURTESY OF “HARRIET
• By 1856, Tubman’s capture
would have brought a $40,000
reward from the South.
• Once she overheard some
men reading her wanted
poster, which stated that she was illiterate. She pulled
out a book and feigned reading it. The ploy was enough
to fool the men.
TUBMAN: A PASSAGE TO FREEDOM”
Sites along the byway
• (1) Del. 10 agricultural landscape
• (2) Camden Friends Meeting House
• (3) Delaware Old State House
• (4) Blackbird State Forest
• (5) Corbit-Sharp House
• (6) New Castle Courthouse
• (7) Quaker Hill Historic District
• (8) Wilmington Old Town Hall
• (9) Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park
To learn more, visit www.harriet
tubmandelaware.com.
SOURCE: thedailyrecord.com
• 1From 1850-1860 Tubman conducted roughly a dozen
rescue missions to Maryland, bringing relatives, including
her 70-year-old parents, and roughly 70 others to freedom
through on her eastern route through Delaware.
Abolitionist meetings were held
here and captured freedom
seekers were
jailed here before
being returned to
enslavement.
Ba
A wax statue of Harriet Tubman was
unveiled last year at The President’s
Gallery by Madame Tussauds in Washington. Tubman’s great-great-greatgrandnephew Charles E.T. Ross and Tubman’s great-great-grandniece Valery
Ross Manokey visited the museum.
HARRIET TUBMAN
(8) Wilmington
Old Town Hall
3 Dover
» New depiction
(2) Camden
Friends Meeting
House
New
statue
Built in 1804, it
served as the
regional hub of
Quaker worship
as a meetingplace for Quakers
who were active
in the Underground
Railroad.
Wilmington’s
statue “Unwavering
Courage in the
Pursuit of Freedom”
in Tubman-Garrett
Park honors Harriet
Tubman and Thomas
Garrett
• After the war she settled in Auburn, N.Y., where she
spent the rest of her long life. She died in 1913.
• A joint resolution of the U.S. Congress designated March
10, 1990, as “Harriet Tubman Day.”
Tubman escape warrant
Slave owners often offered rewards for the return of
runaways. An ad posted in the Delaware Gazette (left)
offered $300 for the return of Minty (as Harriet Tubman was
known in her younger years) when she fled to freedom.
The Underground Railroad was neither
underground nor a railroad. It got its
name because its activities in freeing
slaves had to be
carried out in
secret, using darkness or disguise,
and because railway terms were
used by those
involved with the
system to describe
how it worked:
Conductor: A
person who led escaping slaves toward freedom.
Station: A safe refuge for escaping
slaves, they were usually about twenty
miles apart.
Cargo or freight: The fleeing slaves.
Station Master: A person who offered a safe haven for escaping slaves,
usually in his or her home.
» Delaware and slavery
At the time of the Underground Railroad, slavery was legal in Delaware. The
state’s Constitution of 1776 banned the
importation of
PA.
slaves but did not
free those already
N.J.
in bondage. Most
of Delaware’s
slaves lived in the
MD.
DEL.
southern part of
the state, where
there were more
large farms and plantations.
Because it bordered free states Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Delaware became an escape route for slaves fleeing
from Maryland and the south. Delaware’s
large numbers of Friends (Quakers),
many of whom strongly opposed slavery,
also contributed to the state’s active role
in the Eastern Route of the Underground
Railroad.
» Celebrations
March 1: Governor’s Proclamation
for Harriet Tubman Day on March 10,
Old State House, Dover. Time to be determined. Contact Beverly Laing, 302736-7437, [email protected].
March 9: Guided walking tours in
Camden, featuring the Tubman story and
a Civil War interpretation, organized by
Friends of Historic Camden. For information, visit www.historiccamdende.org.
For information about activities
scheduled between March 1 and March
10, visit www.harriettubmandelaware.com.
COMING NEXT WEEK » THE HOTTEST NEW TECHNOLOGY – 3D PRINTING