Harriet Tubman, conductor of the Underground Railroad, is buried in upstate Auburn, N.Y., where she spent the last 50 years of her life.(Photo: Melanie Eversley, USA TODAY)
Harriet Tubman, the woman who will soon replace President Andrew Jackson on<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the $20 bill, was born into slavery but emerged as one of the leaders of the abolitionist and women's right movements.
The news out of the Treasury Department made for an exciting day in Auburn, N.Y., outside of Syracuse, where Tubman spent the last 50 years of her life. She is also buried there.
"I’m very very pleased and happy for Harriet Tubman and her family, her descendants," Auburn Mayor Michael Quill told USA TODAY. "She had to be a very remarkable lady, Harriet was, for everything that she accomplished in her lifetime."
Karen Hill, president and CEO of the Harriet Tubman Home, a site in Auburn owned and managed by the AME Zion Church, said she was cautiously optimistic after pushing for Tubman for years to be featured on the $10 biill. Hill warned that the $20 change might not happen for decades, and said sh eis trying to find out the details from the federal government.
"It's what we've always wanted - for her to be recognized," Hill told USA TODAY, but she added the hope has always been for the release of such a bill to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, in 2020.
"If that is not happening, then we need to get a handle on when it will be happening," Hill said. "As we understand it, the $20 bill is not scheduled for reconsideration until 20 or 30<span style="color: Red;">*</span>years from now, so we're really just trying to get our arms around when this would happen."
USA TODAY
N.Y. community promotes ties to Harriet Tubman legacy
Admirers have hailed the 5-foot-2 illiterate abolitionist who advised Civil War leaders<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and led hundreds to freedom for being recognized as a leader in a male-dominated world.
Tubman grew up into slavery in Dorchester County, Md., on the Eastern Shore. Born Araminta Ross in 1822, most historians believe, she was taken from her parents and put to work at the age of 6.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>brutal beating at 12 left her with a permanent seizure disorder. As a young woman, she married John Tubman. She<span style="color: Red;">*</span>escaped with the help of a white neighbor who gave her names of people who would hide her during her travels north.
From a base in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, Tubman went back for members of her family and other slaves, making the trip about 20 times to lead more people to freedom. They traveled at night along back roads and waterways, and historians say Tubman would pull a gun on anyone who threatened to back out.
While she was away from Maryland, her first husband took another wife.
She organized a network of Union Army scouts and spies during the Civil War and led troops in the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Combahee River<span style="color: Red;">*</span>expedition in a raid that freed more than 750 slaves.
USATODAY.COM
Harriet Tubman changed history with bravery - USATODAY.com
In 1857, she put down roots in Auburn, N.Y., a small city outside of Syracuse. Local resident<span style="color: Red;">*</span>William Seward,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>President Lincoln's secretary of State, was an admirer who had helped house fugitive slaves. He sold her the property for a small price. She is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>buried in the city's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Fort Hill Cemetery.
Wednesday's news comes amid a wave of renewed interest about Tubman. In June, a half marathon in Niagara Falls will give out a medal with Tubman's picture on it. Actress Viola Davis will play Tubman in an HBO movie. And in 2014, President Obama signed legislation that clears the way for the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn and another side with ties to Tubman in Cambridge, Md., to become part of the national park system.
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