Beacon of Hope, the inspiring, 13-foot bronze sculpture of Harriet Tubman, is located just a few miles from where the Underground Railroad conductor was born in Dorchester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The dedication celebration in 2022, in conjunction with the bicentennial of Harriet’s birth, marked the culmination of two years of community grassroots fundraising and activities to create and install the permanent sculpture at the Dorchester County Courthouse, a place where enslaved ancestors were auctioned and Tubman’s niece was rescued.
Motivated by the traveling Harriet Tubman sculpture that graced the Courthouse entrance in 2020, Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation led the drive to have a permanent Harriet Tubman statue created specifically for Dorchester County. Wesley Wofford, the Emmy- and Academy-award winning sculptor who created the traveling Harriet statue created the new one that specifically reflects her connections to Dorchester County. It is especially noteworthy that at a time when other cities are taking down monuments, the Dorchester County community came together one to honor one of their own – Harriet Tubman.
It was Tubman’s experiences in Dorchester County – both horrific slavery and love of God and family – that were the basis for forming her into the woman she became. Her legacy and her commitment to the ideals of true freedom and equality have made her an icon of courage and determination that is still relevant today. The impetus for this sculpture came during a tumultuous time for this country, a time of heightened social unrest coupled with a deadly pandemic. Yet, in Dorchester County, a grassroots movement arose, uniting a diverse community inspired by the community’s shared admiration and respect for Tubman’s legacy. Two hundred years after Tubman’s birth, “Beacon of Hope” was unveiled in 2022, celebrating the common experiences and shared values that form a foundation of respect and admiration to build a more equitable future.
The sculpture is rich with symbolism that reflects Tubman’s legacy. Not far from Cambridge at the Bucktown General Store (Stop #17 on the Tubman Byway), Araminta Ross was struck in the head with a weight, an injury she attributed to opening her to visions. This story is the basis for this sculpture, and a replica of the weight is embedded in the sculpture.
As young Araminta lifted herself from the ground, she had a vision of the strong woman she would become. The sculpture depicts Harriet reaching down to help her younger self up and offering her a key to unlock the shackle on her little arm. With this “generational key,” Araminta unlocked her inner strength to forge her own destiny: the rebirth of Araminta Ross as Harriet Tubman.
The oxen yoke illustrates the historical story of young Minty steering a team of oxen with her father. but it is also a metaphor for the yoke of slavery. Harriet crushes this broken obstacle to the point of snapping it. The piles of shackles and chains depict all of the lives adversely affected by slavery. The open shackles represent those whom she freed, and the closed ones represent those left behind, as well as the work that still is to be done to achieve true American equality.
While Harriet used the North Star to navigate out of bondage, she then became the compass rose to the thousands of enslaved who followed her guiding light to Freedom.
The Dorchester County Courthouse in Cambridge is Stop #3 on the road trip known as the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.
Cambridge is now home to two major pieces of public art dedicated to Harriet Tubman: “Beacon of Hope” and “Take My Hand,” a mural by local artist Michael Rosato that went viral in 2019 and has attracted visitors from around the world. Learn more about Take My Hand, located on the side of the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center (Stop #6 on the Byway).
Things to know:
- If you’d like to see the sculpture in person, it’s located at the Dorchester County Courthouse, Stop #3 along the Harriet Tubman Byway, 206 High St., Cambridge, Maryland.
- Listen to the artist Wesley Wofford speak about the sculpture.
- There’s still time to donate or to sign up for a custom brick in the plaza where the statue is located. Find out more.
- Make a visit to the statue part of a bigger road trip to the places where Tubman and other freedom seekers lived, toiled, worshipped, and escaped. Info and free resources at HarrietTubmanByway.org.
Photos here from the dedication weekend are by Jill Jasuta for Alpha Genesis CDC.