Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center will open to the public on March 11, 2017.
Harriet Tubman was a deeply spiritual woman who lived her ideals and dedicated her life to freedom. She is the Underground Railroad’s best known conductor and before the Civil War repeatedly risked her life to guide nearly 70 enslaved people north to new lives of freedom. This new national historical park preserves the same landscapes that Tubman used to carry herself and others away from slavery.
The Underground Railroad refers to the effort of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage.
Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape, at first to maroon communities in remote or rugged terrain on the edge of settled areas. Their acts of self-emancipation made them "fugitives" according to the laws of the times, though in retropsect "freedom seeker" seems a more accurate description. While most freedom seekers began their journey unaided and many completed their self-emancipation without assistance, each decade in which slavery was legal in the United States saw an increase in active efforts to assist escape.
In many cases the decision to assist a freedom seeker may have been a spontaneous reaction as the opportunity presented itself. However, in some places, and particularly after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, the Underground Railroad was deliberate and organized. Despite the illegality of their actions, and with little regard for their own personal safety, people of all races, classes and genders participated in this widespread form of civil disobedience. Spanish territories to the south in Florida, British areas to the north in Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and other foreign countries offered additional destinations for freedom. Free African American communities in urban areas in both the South and the North were the destination of some freedom seekers.
The maritime industry was an important source for spreading information as well as offering employment and transportation. Through ties to the whaling industry, the Pacific West Coast and perhaps Alaska became a destination. Military service provided another avenue as thousands of African Americans joined the military, from the colonial era to the Civil War, as a means to gain their freedom. During the Civil War, many freedom seekers sought protection and liberty by escaping to the lines of the advancing Union army.
The National Park Service is implementing a national Underground Railroad program to coordinate preservation and education efforts nationwide and integrate local historical places, museums, and interpretive programs associated with the Underground Railroad into a mosaic of community, regional, and national stories.
The NPS project builds upon and is supported by community initiatives around the country as well as legislation passed in 1990 and the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998. Historic places and educational or interpretive programs associated with the Underground Railroad will become part of a network, eligible to use or display a uniform network logo, receive technical assistance and participate in program workshops.
The Network will also serve to facilitate communication and networking between researchers and interested parties, and aid in the development of statewide organizations for preserving and researching Underground Railroad sites.
National Park Service (NPS) involvement with the Underground Railroad began in response to Public Law 101-628, enacted in November 1990, which directed the agency to study alternatives for commemorating and interpreting the Underground Railroad.
Guided by an Advisory Committee[1] as specified in the legislation, the NPS completed a Special Resource Study in 1995. Several alternatives for commemorating the Underground Railroad were evaluated, including establishment of a commemorative and interpretive center, improvement and expansion of interpretive programs, visitor interaction with a concentration of Underground Railroad resources over a broad geographic area, development of a single commemorative monument, and establishment of a series of trails.The Advisory Committee recommended that "all the alternatives … be pursued with equal vigor and simultaneously as appropriate."[2]
Three findings of the study were especially important in setting the stage for the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act of 1998, which established the framework for an on-going NPS program.
These findings continue to inform the development of the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Program, as authorized by P.L. 105-203.
Influenced by the increasing grass roots efforts by communities and descendants across the country to preserve their UGRR heritage and the recommendations of the Special Resource Study, the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom Act was drafted.
From its inception, the authors conceived of the Network to Freedom Program as a unique effort to honor and commemorate the people of the UGRR, past and present. A three-pronged program was outlined:
Harriet Tubman did extraordinary work with abolitionist causes and as the Underground Railroad's most famous conductor. Her heroic efforts in personally leading people out of slavery to freedom in the North defined her as the "Moses of her People."
Contact the Park›
Mailing Address:
4068 Golden Hill Road
Church Creek, MD 21622
Phone: 410-221-2290
(Link: https://www.nps.gov/hatu/index.htm)