CHURCH CREEK, Md. — Respected abolitionist Harriet Tubman, the first woman to oversee a wartime U.S. military action, was posthumously promoted to the rank of general on Monday.
Dozens gathered on Veterans Day at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Maryland’s Dorcester County for a formal ceremony, making Tubman a one-star brigadier general in the state’s National Guard.
Governor Wes Moore called the occasion a great day not only for Tubman’s home state, but for the entire US
“Today we celebrate a soldier and an individual who has earned the title of veteran,” Moore said. “Today we celebrate one of the greatest authors of the American story.”
Tubman himself escaped slavery in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia. Intent on helping others achieve freedom, she founded the Underground Railroad network and led other enslaved black women and men to freedom. She then channeled those experiences as a scout, spy and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War, aiding 150 black soldiers in a gunboat raid in South Carolina.
No one would have condemned Tubman had she chosen to stay in Philadelphia and coordinate abolitionist efforts from there, Moore said.
“She knew that in order to do the job, it meant going into the lion’s den,” Moore said. “She knew that leadership means being willing to do what you ask of others.”
The reading of the official order was followed by a symbolic pinning ceremony with Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, Tina Wyatt.
Wyatt praised her aunt’s legacy of tenacity, generosity and faith and agreed that Veterans Day applied to her as much as any other military member.
“Aunt Harriet was informally one of those veterans, giving up all the rights she had won for herself to fight for others,” Wyatt said. “She is a selfless person.”
Tubman’s status as an icon of history has only been further elevated in recent years. The city of Philadelphia chose a black artist to create a Bronze statue of 4.3 meters can be seen next year. In 2022, there was an elementary school in Chicago renamed Tubmanreplacing the previous namesake, which had racist views. Plan anyway Put Tubman on the $20 bill have stood still.