An A.I.-generated image of abolitionist, Harriet Tubman.
Many African-Americans have mixed feelings about the military.
They have reverence for those who have served, especially those from the African-American community.
However, some know that many African-American soldiers served their country valiantly overseas, only to return home as second-class citizens.
Nevertheless, when an ancestor, and hero to many African-Americans, gets a military honor celebrating their dedication to freedom, it causes many to celebrate joyously.
According to the Associated Press, “Revered abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who was the first woman to oversee an American military action during time of war, was posthumously awarded the rank of general on Monday.
“Dozens gathered on Veterans Day at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Maryland’s Dorchester County for a formal ceremony making Tubman a one-star brigadier general in the State’s National Guard.”
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said, “Today, we celebrate a soldier and a person who earned the title of veteran. Today, we celebrate one of the greatest authors of American history.”
The Associated Press reported, “Tubman escaped slavery herself in 1849, settling in Philadelphia in 1849. Intent on helping others achieve freedom, she established 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, helping guide 150 Black soldiers on a gunboat raid in South Carolina.”
According to The African American Encyclopedia, “During the early years of the Civil War, the governor of Massachusetts sent for Tubman to engage her services as a spy, scout, and nurse for the Union Army. At the time, Tubman lived in Auburn, N.Y., on a farm with her parents. Leaving her parents and farm to the care of charitable neighbors and friends, she went to war. Her labors included leading armies through swamps, gaining the confidence of recently liberated slaves (who often feared northern Whites more than they feared their former owners), nursing soldiers, using the knowledge of roots and herbs acquired from her father, and passing through enemy lines as a spy. After the war, she returned to Auburn, where she found her farm being sold to satisfy delinquent mortgage payments.”
Despite her heroic deeds, Moore said that no one would have judged Tubman if she simply stayed up North, not putting her life on the line countless times to assist runaway slaves and Union soldiers.
However, she did it anyway and changed the course of history.
Maryland’s Democratic governor said, “She knew that in order to do the work, that meant that she had to go to the lion’s den. She knew that leadership means you have to be willing to do what you are asking others to do.”
Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birkhead said, “On behalf of the Maryland National Guard, I am proud to call Brig. Gen. Harriet Tubman among the best of us. With courage and selflessness, Harriet Tubman nobly advanced the survival of the Union and the proposition that all people are created equal.”
The decision to name Tubman a general earned unanimous support from both chambers of Maryland’s General Assembly.
Moore added, “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.”
Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece Tina Wyatt praised her aunt’s tenacity, generosity and faith during the Veterans Day celebration, agreeing that the holiday applied to her ancestor as much as did for any soldier who put their life on the line to uphold freedom.
Wyatt said, “Aunt Harriet was one of those veterans informally, she gave up any rights that she had obtained for herself to be able to fight for others. She is a selfless person.”
And the honors continue for the veteran and abolitionist.
In 2019, Hollywood produced a major motion picture entitled “Harriet” starring Cynthia Erivo as the famous freedom fighter.
Erivo received an Oscar nomination for her performance in “Harriet.”
In 2022, a Chicago elementary renamed itself to honor Tubman after past racist remarks from the school’s original namesake led to a new moniker.
And next year, Philadelphia will unveil a 14-foot statue of Tubman, designed by an African-American artist.
Unfortunately, efforts to replace former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill with Tubman hit a snag when President-elect Donald Trump nixed the idea during his first administration.
And with Trump’s efforts to ban diversity, equity and inclusion, all currency might remain White and male for the foreseeable future.
Despite her heroic life, Tubman spent the final years of life struggling financially and physically.
According to The African American Encyclopedia, “By the war’s end, Tubman was some forty-five years old and penniless. She also continued to suffer from the wound inflicted to her during her youth…
“Tubman continued to lobby for the establishment of a home for the indigent aged Blacks of Auburn. During the years that funds were insufficient for such a project, she converted her own home into a shelter for the aged. In 1897, more than thirty years after the end of the Civil War and after decades of asking the federal government, Tubman was awarded a pension of twenty dollars a month. Much of her pension she used to help shelter and care for the aged. The people of Auburn, moved by her selflessness, eventually rallied to her aid and established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged Indigent Negroes in 1908.”
