Harriet Tubman was a spy, a nurse, an abolitionist and, most importantly, a military leader who guided Union soldiers during the Civil War. Her resilience and wartime contributions were honored at a Veterans Day ceremony on Monday.
Tubman honored with military general ranking at Veterans Day ceremony
The service attracted a crowd as Maryland’s National Guard and Gov. Wes Moore posthumously naming Tubman a one-star brigadier general near her birthplace at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Dorchester County, Maryland, CNN and NBC News reported.
Moore delivered a powerful speech about Tubman, highlighting how she risked everything to help herself and others attain freedom at a time when Black Americans were denied such a luxury.
“This is a person who was one of the greatest Marylanders we’ve ever known, and someone who was willing to risk her own freedom, her own safety, her own life in order to save others. That is patriotism. That is heroism,” Moore said, describing Tubman as the ideal recipient of the prestigious honor on Veterans Day, per CNN.
LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: Abolitionist Harriet Tubman posthumously named a general in Maryland Veterans Day ceremony. (📸: Office of Governor Wes Moore)https://t.co/CxJDUFdpj0 pic.twitter.com/LdNTCLm7vX
— WTOP (@WTOP) November 11, 2024
How did Tubman contribute to the U.S. military?
Tubman was born Araminta “Minty” Ross into slavery in Maryland in 1822, escaped in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia, according to Blavity and NBC News. Over two decades later, she established the Underground Railroad as a network to help other enslaved Black men and women gain their freedom.
John A. Andrews, the governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War, appointed Tubman to the Union Army, becoming the first African American woman to serve in combat for the U.S. military, per CNN. She served as a spy and nurse, helping both Black soldiers and slaves.
Tubman’s family honors her legacy
Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, Tina Wyatt, also attended the ceremony and accepted the honor dedicated to her aunt.
“She came into the Civil War, into the bowels of slavery, after having freed herself to be able to free others, and to be able to fight for the Union… but mostly to free the enslaved that were there and then to let them fight,” Wyatt said, according to CNN.
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