III 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 56 

A resolution recognizing the significance of the 100th anniversary of the 

death of Harriet Ross Tubman. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 26, 2013 

Mr. CARDIN (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. MIKULSKI, Mr. SCHUMER, Mrs. 

GILLIBRAND, and Mr. BROWN) submitted the following resolution; which 

was considered and agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

A resolution recognizing the significance of the 100th 

anniversary of the death of Harriet Ross Tubman. 

Whereas Harriet Ross Tubman was born into slavery near 

Buckstown, Maryland, in or around the year 1820, to her 

parents Benjamin Ross and Harriet Green, and was 

named Araminta Ross; 

Whereas, as a child slave, Tubman checked muskrat traps 

along the marshes of the Blackwater River in Dorchester 

County, Maryland, and later worked in the fields and forests surrounding the Brodess Plantation; 

Whereas, as a teenage slave, Tubman worked as a seamstress 

on the Cook Plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland, 

and changed her name to Harriet; 


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Whereas, at the age of 24, Tubman married a free black man 

named John Tubman, though she remained a slave; 

Whereas, in 1849, upon hearing news that she was to be sold 

to settle the debts of her late master, Tubman escaped 

from slavery to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, marking the 

first of many expeditions to and from the Eastern Shore 

of Maryland to lead nearly 70 slaves out of slavery; 

Whereas, over the course of the next 11 years, from 1849 to 

1860, Tubman became a famous conductor of the Underground Railroad, proclaiming in her later years, ‘‘I never 

ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.’’; 

Whereas, since the journeys to freedom by Tubman took 

place over the winter months when the nights were long 

and dark, her groups made stops along the extensive Underground Railroad, first traveling to the Quaker community of Poplar Neck in Caroline County, Maryland, eventually making stops at the homes of Quaker abolitionist 

Thomas Garrett in Wilmington, Delaware, and AfricanAmerican abolitionist and future civil rights activist William Still in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before final resettlement in Canada; 

Whereas, in the late 1850s, Tubman began to speak before 

abolitionist audiences to share her dedication and unwavering commitment to the abolitionist cause and the emancipation of slaves; 

Whereas Tubman drew admiration from African-American 

abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a fellow Eastern Shore 

native of Talbot County, Maryland, who stated, ‘‘I know 

of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and 

hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have.’’; 


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Whereas the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, recognizes Tubman as 

one the most famous conductors along the Underground 

Railroad and has dedicated a theater in honor of Tubman; 

Whereas, in 1859, Tubman purchased a home and several 

acres of land in Auburn, New York, from William Henry 

Seward, then United States Senator from New York and 

future Secretary of State for President Abraham Lincoln; 

Whereas Tubman attended her first Women’s Rights Convention in Boston, Massachusetts in 1860, beginning a lifelong commitment to the suffrage movement; 

Whereas, at the start of the Civil War in 1861, Tubman believed that a Union victory would be a key stepping stone 

to the abolition of slavery and vowed to assist the cause, 

joining abolitionist Bostonians and Philadelphians who 

traveled to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina to provide aid to the Union war effort; 

Whereas Tubman used the skills that she learned evading detection and capture on the Underground Railroad to 

serve as a spy and scout for the Union camp at Port 

Royal, South Carolina in addition to providing care to 

Union forces as a nurse and cook; 

Whereas, in 1863, the same year that the Emancipation 

Proclamation was issued, Tubman became the first 

woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War on 

the Raid on Combahee Ferry; 

Whereas Tubman led bands of scouts along the marshes and 

rivers of Port Royal, similar to those of her native Dorchester County, to map the unfamiliar territory for ColoVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:45 Feb 27, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR56.ATS SR56

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nel James Montgomery, commander of the 2nd Regiment 

South Carolina Volunteer Infantry (African Descent); 

Whereas, between June 1 and June 2, 1863, Tubman guided 

Colonel Montgomery and a detachment of 300 men from 

the 2nd Regiment South Carolina Volunteer Infantry 

(African Descent) through the mine-laden waters of the 

Combahee River in Colleton County, South Carolina, 

where the Union forces liberated nearly 750 slaves; 

Whereas Tubman assisted the newly liberated slaves in the 

years following the raid and tended to wounded soldiers 

in the Commonwealth of Virginia before returning to Auburn, New York after the conclusion of the Civil War; 

Whereas Tubman dedicated the later years of her life to promoting the women’s suffrage movement, traveling to New 

York City, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, District of Columbia, to speak before countless 

women’s groups with fellow suffrage movement leaders 

Susan B. Anthony and Emily Howland; 

Whereas, when asked if she believed women deserved the 

right to vote, Tubman replied, ‘‘I suffered enough to believe it.’’; 

Whereas, in 1903, Tubman deeded her property to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church of Auburn, New 

York, to serve as a home for the ‘‘aged and indigent colored people’’, which opened on June 23, 1908, as the 

Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged; and 

Whereas, having lived in the home named after her, Tubman 

passed away on March 10, 1913, at the age of 93: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 


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1 (1) recognizes the significance of the 100th an2 niversary of the death of Harriet Tubman, whose 

3 dedication and unwavering commitment to serving in 

4 any capacity necessary to pursue the promise of 

5 American ideals and the principles of humanity con6 tinue to inspire all individuals who cherish freedom; 

7 (2) encourages the people of the United States 

8 to honor and preserve the legacy of Tubman; 

9 (3) recognizes the significance of the tireless 

10 work of Tubman and the other individuals who 

11 bravely served to create the Underground Railroad 

12 network to achieve freedom for those individuals 

13 enslaved during the Antebellum Era of the United 

14 States; and 

15 (4) recognizes the dedication and commitment 

16 of the Harriet Tubman Organization of Cambridge, 

17 Maryland, and the Harriet Tubman Home, Inc. and 

18 the Harriet Tubman Boosters Club, both of Auburn, 

19 New York, for preserving the heritage of the United 

20 States and promoting the rich history of the United 

21 States. 

Æ 


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