Posted Feb. 28, 2025
How is that we are still talking about a woman who was born into slavery more than 200 years ago, lived with a disability from a traumatic brain injury, and never had the opportunity as a child to learn to read or write? It’s because the woman was Harriet Tubman. She led a remarkable life of strength in the midst of suffering, courage in the midst of life-threatening situations, and selflessness in a cruel world.
Harriet Tubman’s funeral in 1913 in Auburn, New York
Harriet was born here in Dorchester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Around here, we consider March to be Harriet Tubman Month – it was in this month that she was born (March 22, 1822) and she died at age 93 (March 10, 1913). Two hundred years after her birth, she continues to gain attention around the country. Last year, Tubman was posthumously named a brigadier general for her work during the Civil War, the U.S. Mint released commemorative Tubman coins, the U.S. Postal Service included her on a new set of postage stamps, and Maryland’s Black history museum was renamed to include “Tubman” in the name.
Her life is much more than you might remember from school. After escaping to freedom on her own in 1849, she risked her life time and again to return to these lands to lead family members, friends, and strangers out of slavery along the Underground Railroad – to a chance for a new life. She was also a spy, scout, and nurse in the Civil War. She was a suffragist fighting for women’s right to vote. She became a sought-after speaker. She was a humanitarian who opened a home for aged and ailing African Americans right on her own property.
One of the best ways to learn more about her life and the lives of other freedom seekers is to take the road trip known as the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.
The byway is a meaningful road trip to do as a family, as a way to educate children about the courage and bravery of men and women escaping slavery, or with friends to appreciate the tenacity of Tubman and be inspired by her commitment to helping others.
So take a few moments, a day, or a weekend to learn more…. Here are a few ways:
Take the Harriet Tubman Road Trip
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway
This road trip begins in Dorchester County where she was born, then wanders 125 miles through the Eastern Shore, and up through Delaware to Philadelphia, where she found freedom. More than 45 sites help share the stories. Explore one site, a few, or all of them. Can’t-miss sites include the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park & Visitor Center (a great introduction to her life), Bucktown General Store (site of her first act of defiance), the former site of slave auctions that now is home to a remarkable sculpture of Harriet Tubman, and the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center (home of the powerful “Take My Hand” mural). Plan your trip on the Tubman Byway website and be sure to download the byway map and guide, and excellent audio guide.
See how WBAL-TV of Baltimore experienced the Tubman Byway last month. Watch the segment.
Experience Meaningful Events & Tours
Harriet Tubman Day Celebration: March 8
March 8, 10am-4pm
Visit the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park & Visitor Center in Church Creek, Maryland (Stop #14 on the byway) on Saturday, March 8 to celebrate Harriet Tubman Day! The day will be filled with educational programming on the topics of archeological artifacts, architecture, music, nature, and more. Learn how all of these topics relate to Harriet Tubman. Traditional children’s games and crafts will be available all day.
Bus Tours
Harriet Tubman Tours, based in Dorchester County, Maryland, offers interactive tours of “Tubman Country” with a special dining option (including crab feast in season) for large groups. Reserve here.
Walking Tours
The Harriet Tubman Museum & Education Center (Stop #6 on the byway) offers three guided walking tours:
- Historic Downtown Cambridge, home to several stops along the Tubman Byway.
- Walk from Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge to Brodess Plantation (where Tubman was enslaved as a child) and experience Harriet’s presence.
- Walk along the countryside, tracing the routes of the Underground Railroad. Follow in the footsteps of Harriet Tubman and other freedom seekers.
Birding the Harriet Tubman Byway
2025 dates to be announced soon
Combine birding with history during a Birding the Byway tour, hosted by Delmarva Birding Weekends and Harriet Tubman Tours. During her formative years on the Brodess Farm and as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, Tubman would have been intimately familiar with the birds and wildlife of Dorchester County. She used the call of a Barred Owl to alert freedom seekers that it was safe to come out of hiding and continue northward. The same birds that Tubman would have known more than 170 years ago still inhabit the fields, forests and marshes of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. Find out more.
‘Take My Hand’ Mural of Harriet Tubman by Michael Rosato – Photo courtesy Maryland Tourism
Explore Harriet Tubman in public art and more
Photography was invented the same year that Harriet Tubman was born – 1822. But back then, cameras were rare and very expensive, and photography was mostly limited to those with sufficient funds to afford it. Thus, we know of only a handful of photos of Tubman – and the earliest of those was taken when she was in her 40s. (See two recently rediscovered photos.) But artists through the years have created likenesses of Tubman in many ways. In Dorchester County, Maryland – the place where she was born and toiled in slavery for more than 25 years – there are several public art pieces that pay homage to her bravery and selflessness. Here are a few:
- “Beacon of Hope” – Harriet Tubman sculpture by Wesley Wofford is full of symbolic meaning. Located at the Dorchester County Courthouse (Stop #3 on the byway and once the site of slave auctions), 206 High Street, Cambridge, MD.
- “Take My Hand” mural by Michael Rosato – at the Harriet Tubman Museum & Education Center (Stop #6 on the byway), 424 Race St., Cambridge, MD. The museum is also home to the new interior mural, “Minty’s Act of Courage” by Michael Rosato. And features various portraits created by artists.
- Harriet Tubman Mural by Charles Ross (one of Tubman’s relatives who lives locally) at the Tubman Memorial Garden (Stop #2 on the byway), U.S. Route 50 at Washington Street, Cambridge, MD
- African American Heritage Mural by Michael Rosato – Includes Tubman and highlights of life in the past along Pine Street, one of the oldest African-American communities in the country, dating back to the mid-1800s. Near the corner of Maryland Avenue and Route 50 in Cambridge, MD
- Dorchester County Women’s Mural – Tubman is featured along with 11 other prominent local women from past and present. 418 Poplar St., Cambridge, MD. By the way, this is a particularly good stop, considering March is also Women’s History Month!
- Minty’s Place – This restaurant borrows Harriet Tubman’s childhood name, Minty. On the exterior side of the restaurant, there’s a mural by Michael Rosato that includes her final words before she passed: “I go to prepare a place for you….” 824 Locust St., Cambridge, MD. (Check the restaurant’s social media to see if they’re open before stopping in for a meal.)
Learn more without leaving your home
Maryland Public Television: Ben’s Ten: Chattel Slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore
Watch a Maryland Public Television one-hour documentary, which first aired in 2024, that sheds light on the lives of enslaved Marylanders, including a young Harriet Tubman. “Ben’s Ten” follows a Maryland team of archaeologists and historians as they discover remnants of a home believed to belong to Ben Ross, the father of Harriet Tubman. Read more about the documentary,
and watch it here.
Soldier of Freedom
This 16-minute film is what’s shown at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park & Visitor Center (Stop #14 on the byway). Filmed on location on the Eastern Shore, the film briefly shares the dramatic, difficult story of Tubman’s life as an enslaved child and adult, her pursuit of freedom on the Underground Railroad, and her determination to end slavery and bring liberty and justice to others. The short film is a deeply moving introduction to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center exhibits and programs, highlighting all the things that were most meaningful and important to Tubman – Family, Freedom, Faith, and Community.