19–010 

Calendar No. 267 

112TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 112–105 

HARRIET TUBMAN NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARKS 

JANUARY 13, 2012.—Ordered to be printed 

Filed, under authority of the order of the Senate of December 17, 2011 

Mr. BINGAMAN, from the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 247] 

The Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, to which was 

referred the bill (S. 247) to establish the Harriet Tubman National 

Historical Park in Auburn, New York, and the Harriet Tubman 

Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, Maryland, and for other purposes, 

having considered the same, reports favorably thereon with amendments and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

The amendments are as follows: 

1. On page 7, lines 6 through 8, strike ‘‘Public Law 91–383 (commonly known as the ‘National Park Service General Authorities 

Act’)’’ and insert ‘‘the National Park Service General Authorities 

Act’’. 

2. On page 12, lines 21 through 23, strike ‘‘Public Law 91–383 

(commonly known as the ‘National Park Service General Authorities Act’)’’ and insert ‘‘the National Park Service General Authorities Act’’. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of S. 247 is to establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Caroline, 

Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, Maryland. 


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BACKGROUND AND NEED

Often referred to as ‘‘the Moses of her people,’’ Harriet Tubman, 

born Araminta Ross, was responsible for helping hundreds of enslaved people escape from bondage to freedom as the most famous 

conductor on the Underground Railroad resistance network. Born 

circa 1822, Tubman changed her name to Harriet as a young adult. 

At age 25, she married John Tubman while both were slaves on 

Brodess Farms in Dorchester County, Maryland. Tubman escaped 

from enslavement in 1849, when she slipped away alone on a pitchdark night through the wetlands and tidal streams that characterize Maryland’s Eastern Shore. 

Tubman defied capture and the imposing wilderness to return repeatedly to Dorchester and Caroline Counties in Maryland to conduct family and other enslaved people to freedom in the North. 

Tubman used her skills to go into the slave states of Virginia, Florida, and South Carolina to lead hundreds of additional slaves to 

freedom. During the Civil War she served her country as a spy, a 

scout, a cook, and a nurse. In June 1863 she guided Union troops 

in South Carolina for an assault along the Combahee River resulting in the emancipation of hundreds of enslaved African Americans. 

Following the Civil War, Tubman settled in Auburn, New York, 

where she was active in the Women’s Suffrage movement, working 

alongside Susan B. Anthony and Emily Howland. An intensely 

spiritual person, Tubman was active in Auburn’s African Methodist 

Episcopal Zion Church and donated land to the Church for the establishment of a home ‘‘for aged and indigent colored people.’’ On 

March 10, 1913, she died at the home she founded for the aged and 

was buried in Auburn at Fort Hill Cemetery. Harriet Tubman was 

a true American patriot for whom liberty and freedom were not 

just concepts. She lived those principles and shared that freedom 

with hundreds of others. 

While few structures remain in the Maryland Eastern Shore area 

where Tubman grew up, the landscape and wetlands that shaped 

the character of one of the most iconic figures in American history 

remain nearly the same as when she escaped into the night seeking freedom. The properties associated with her youth would be familiar to her even though the structures are gone. A number of 

closely related Tubman resources exist on lands adjacent to the 

proposed park managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at 

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. 

In New York, on the other hand, many of the buildings associated with Tubman’s life are intact. Her home where she lived, the 

Tubman Home for the Aged she founded, the African Methodist 

Episcopal Zion Episcopal Church where she worshipped, and the 

Fort Hills Cemetery where she was buried, still stand. 

Public Law 106–516 directed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to determine the appropriateness of 

establishing a unit in the National Park Service to honor Harriet 

Tubman. The National Park Service public process during the resource study found extensive public support including private property owners. This support led the Park Service to recommend that 

designation of two geographically separate units would be appropriate. The Maryland site would include large sections of landscape 


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that are consistent of Tubman’s time that are historically relevant. 

The New York park would include the tightly clustered Tubmanassociated buildings in Auburn. 

S. 247 would designate two new units of the National Park System to honor Harriet Tubman. In Maryland, the Harriet Tubman 

Underground Railroad National Historical Park would be established and composed of nationally significant historic landscapes 

associated with Harriet Tubman in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties. The park would be established upon the Secretary of 

the Interior’s determination that sufficient land or interest in land 

has been acquired to constitute a park and would provide for interpretation and preservation of the landscape through cooperative 

agreements with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the State of 

Maryland, colleges, non-profit organizations, and individuals. 

The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New 

York, would be established upon the Secretary of the Interior’s determination that sufficient land or interest in land has been acquired to constitute a park. The historical park will include the 

Harriet Tubman home, the Tubman Home for the Aged, and the 

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and associated land. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 247 was introduced by Senators Cardin, Gillibrand, Mikulski, 

and Schumer on February 2, 2011. The Subcommittee on National 

Parks held a hearing on S. 247 on May 11, 2011 (S. Hrg. 112–124). 

On November 10, 2011, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources ordered S. 247 favorably reported with amendments. 

During the 111th Congress, the Committee considered similar 

legislation, S. 227, sponsored by Senators Cardin, Clinton, Gillibrand, Mikulski, and Schumer. The Subcommittee on National 

Parks held a hearing on S. 227 on January 15, 2009 (S. Hrg. 111– 

92). 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION

The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in 

open business session on November 10, 2011, by a voice vote of a 

quorum present, recommends that the Senate pass S. 247, if 

amended as described herein. Senators Barrasso, Risch, Lee, Paul, 

and Corker asked to be recorded as opposing the measure. 

COMMITTEE AMENDMENTS

During its consideration of S. 247, the Committee adopted two 

amendments, which correct references to the National Park Service 

General Authorities Act. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1 contains the short title, the ‘‘Harriet Tubman National 

Historical Parks Act’’. 

Section 2(a) defines key terms used in this section. 

Subsection (b) establishes the Harriet Tubman Underground 

Railroad Historical Park in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, Maryland as a unit of the National Park System. 

Paragraph (3) authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire 

land and interests in land within the authorized acquisition areas 


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as identified on the map by purchase from willing sellers, donation, 

or exchange. The boundary of the park is to be adjusted once acquisitions are made. 

Subsection (c)(1–3) directs the Director of the National Park 

Service and the Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife 

Service to enter into an agreement to allow the Park Service to provide for public interpretation of historic resources within the 

boundary of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, including interpretative tours to sites and resources outside of the boundary of 

the park relating to the life of Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. 

Paragraph (4) authorizes the Secretary to enter into cooperative 

agreements to mark, interpret, and restore nationally significant 

historic or cultural resources relating to the life of Harriet Tubman 

or the Underground Railroad within the boundaries of the park. 

The Secretary may enter into a cooperative agreement with the 

State of Maryland to design, construct, operate, and maintain a 

joint visitor center on land owned by the State. The Federal cost 

share shall not exceed 50 percent. 

Subsection (d) provides that a general management plan for the 

park shall be prepared no later than three years after the date on 

which funds are made available. The Secretary shall coordinate 

with the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, the Harriet Tubman 

National Historic Park, and the National Underground Railroad 

Network to Freedom. 

Subsection (e) authorizes appropriations of such sums as are necessary. 

Section 3(a) defines key terms used in this section. 

Subsection (b) establishes the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York as a unit of the National Park System. 

Paragraph (4) authorizes the Secretary to acquire land and interests in land within the areas identified on the map by purchase 

from willing sellers, donation, or exchange. 

Subsection (c) allows the Secretary to provide interpretative 

tours to sites and resources outside of the boundary of the park relating to the life of Harriet Tubman. 

Paragraph (3) provides that the Secretary may enter into cooperative agreements to mark, interpret and restore nationally significant historic or cultural resources and to conduct research relating 

to the life of Harriet Tubman. The Federal cost share shall not exceed 50 percent. Further, the Secretary must submit to the Attorney General any cooperative agreements involving religious property or property owned by a religious institution. No agreement 

will take effect until the Attorney General finds that the proposed 

agreement does not violate the Establishment Clause of the first 

amendment of the Constitution. 

Subsection (d) provides that a general management plan for the 

park shall be prepared no later than three years after the date on 

which funds are made available. The Secretary shall coordinate 

with the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic 

Park and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. 

Subsection (e) authorizes the necessary appropriations. 


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COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The Congressional Budget Office estimate of the costs of this 

measure has been requested but was not received at the time the 

report was filed. When the Congressional Budget Office completes 

its costs estimate, it will be posted on the Internet at www.cbo.gov. 

REGULATORY IMPACT EVALUATION

In compliance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee makes the following evaluation 

of the regulatory impact which would be incurred in carrying out 

S. 247. 

The bill is not a regulatory measure in the sense of imposing 

Government-established standards or significant economic responsibilities on private individuals and businesses. 

No personal information would be collected in administering the 

program. Therefore, there would be no impact on personal privacy. 

Little, if any, additional paperwork would result from the enactment of S. 247, as ordered reported. 

CONGRESSIONALLY DIRECTED SPENDING

S. 247, as ordered reported, does not contain any congressionally 

directed spending items, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff benefits as defined in rule XLIV of the Standing Rules of the Senate. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The testimony provided by the Department of the Interior at the 

May 11, 2011, Subcommittee on National Parks hearing on S. 247 

follows: 

STATEMENT OF STEVEN E. WHITESELL, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR PARK PLANNING, FACILITIES, AND LANDS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to present 

the views of the Department of the Interior on S. 247, a 

bill to establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical 

Park in Auburn, New York, and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Caroline, 

Dorchester, and Talbot Counties in Maryland. 

The Department supports enactment of S. 247, with two 

technical amendments attached to this testimony. The Department testified in the House of Representatives on 

March 24, 2009, and in the Senate on July 15, 2009, in 

support of similar bills introduced during the 111th Congress. 

Harriet Tubman is truly an iconic American. Born circa 

1822 as an enslaved person in Dorchester County, Maryland, she courageously escaped her bondage in 1849, returned on many occasions to Dorchester and Caroline 

Counties to free others including members of her family 

and remains known, popularly and appropriately, as ‘‘The 

Moses of her People.’’ She was a leading ‘‘conductor’’ along 

the Underground Railroad guiding the enslaved to freedom 

at great risk to her own life. Her accomplishments were 


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admired and extolled by her contemporaries including the 

abolitionist leader and former slave Frederick Douglass. In 

1868 Douglass wrote to Tubman: 

Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the 

way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a 

private way. I have wrought in the day—you in 

the night . . . The midnight sky and the silent 

stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to 

freedom and of your heroism. 

Harriet Tubman served honorably during this nation’s 

Civil War as a cook, nurse, scout, and spy for Union forces 

in Virginia, South Carolina, and Florida, always at personal risk and always advancing the quest for freedom by 

providing assistance to other enslaved people. In June 

1863, she guided Union troops in South Carolina for an assault along the Combahee River resulting in the emancipation of hundreds of the enslaved. 

At the invitation of then U.S. Senator and later Secretary of State William H. Seward, Harriet Tubman purchased land from him in Auburn, New York, where she 

lived and cared for members of her family and other 

former slaves seeking safe haven in the North. In later 

life, she became active in progressive causes including efforts for women’s suffrage. Working closely with activists 

such as Susan B. Anthony and Emily Howland, she traveled from Auburn to cities in the East advocating voting 

rights for women. Harriet Tubman gave the keynote 

speech at the first meeting of the National Federation of 

Afro-American Women upon its founding in 1896. 

Harriet Tubman was an intensely spiritual person and 

active in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion 

Church. In 1903 she donated land to the Church in Auburn for the establishment of a home ‘‘for aged and indigent colored people.’’ She died on March 10, 1913, at this 

home for the aged and was buried with full military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn. Booker T. Washington, also born into slavery, journeyed from Alabama a 

year later to speak at the installation of a commemorative 

plaque for her at Auburn City Hall. 

Harriet Tubman is an American figure of lore and legend. Today, she is an enduring inspiration to those who 

cherish individual freedom and strive for human rights 

throughout the world. 

On January 12, 2009, the Department transmitted the 

Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study to Congress. The 

study, authorized by Public Law 106–516, the Harriet Tubman Special Resource Study Act, concluded that the resources associated with Harriet Tubman in Auburn, New 

York, and Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, 

Maryland met the national significance, suitability, feasibility, and need for National Park Service management 

criteria for potential units of the National Park System. 


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After an intensive and lengthy public involvement process, 

the study found that there is extensive public support, including support by affected private property owners within 

the boundaries proposed by S. 247 in New York and Maryland, for the establishment of the two units. Locally elected officials in both states have also expressed their support. 

S. 247 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to 

establish a unit of the National Park System, the Harriet 

Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, 

upon determination that sufficient land or interests in 

land has been acquired to constitute a manageable park 

unit. The park would consist of the Harriet Tubman Home, 

the Home for the Aged, the Thompson Memorial A.M.E. 

Zion Church, which is no longer used for religious services, 

and its parsonage. The Secretary would be authorized to 

enter into cooperative agreements and provide technical 

and matching financial assistance to the A.M.E. Zion 

Church and others for historic preservation, rehabilitation, 

research, maintenance, and interpretation of the park and 

related Harriet Tubman resources in Auburn, New York. 

The Secretary would be further authorized to provide uniformed National Park Service staff to operate the park in 

partnership with the Church and to conduct interpretation 

and tours. 

In Maryland, S. 247 would authorize the Secretary of 

the Interior to establish a unit of the National Park System, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National 

Historical Park, in nationally significant historic landscapes associated with Harriet Tubman in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot Counties, upon determination that sufficient land or interests in land have been acquired to constitute a manageable park unit. This agricultural, forest, 

and riverine mosaic largely retains historic integrity from 

the time that Tubman was born enslaved, worked in the 

fields and forests, emancipated herself, and helped others 

there to escape to freedom. 

The Secretary of the Interior would be authorized to provide matching grants to the state of Maryland for the construction of a visitor services facility to be jointly operated 

by the state and uniformed staff of the National Park 

Service. The Secretary would be further authorized to 

enter into cooperative agreements with various organizations and property owners, and provide grants for the restoration, rehabilitation, public use, and interpretation of 

sites and resources related to Harriet Tubman. Because a 

number of closely related Harriet Tubman resources exist 

on lands adjacent to the proposed park at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, which is managed by the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service, or on lands scheduled for future refuge acquisition, the bill provides for an interagency agreement between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the 

National Park Service to promote compatible stewardship 

and interpretation of these resources. 


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The estimated cost for the annual operations and main- tenance for each unit would be approximately $500,000 to 

$650,000. The estimated cost for any acquisitions and the 

federal share of capital improvements is approximately 

$7.5 million for the Harriet Tubman National Historical 

Park in Auburn, New York. The cost of land acquisition 

and the federal share for the visitor center at the Harriet 

Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park 

in Maryland is estimated to be up to $11 million. The estimated cost for the completion of the general management 

plan for each unit would be approximately $600,000 to 

$700,000. All funds are subject to NPS priorities and the 

availability of appropriations. 

Mr. Chairman, it is not every day that the Department 

comes before the committee to testify on a bill to establish 

two units of the National Park System to honor an 

enslaved woman who rose from the most difficult and 

humble beginnings imaginable to indelibly influence the 

causes of human justice and equality in our society, and to 

have such a significant impact on our national story. We 

do so with full understanding of the life and contributions 

of Harriet Tubman and suggest that nearly 100 years after 

her death the time for this abundantly deserved honor has 

finally arrived. 

That concludes my testimony Mr. Chairman. I would be 

pleased to respond to any questions from you and members 

of the committee. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee notes that no changes in existing law are made by S. 247, as ordered reported. 

Æ 


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