Harriet Tubman was a true American hero. Born on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Tubman spent nearly 30 years of her life enslaved. Once she escaped from bondage, she repeatedly returned to Dorchester and Caroline counties to rescue other African Americans, leading them to freedom along the Underground Railroad. Tubman continued working for civil rights throughout her life, advancing Union efforts in the Civil War and later advocating for women’s rights.

On March 25, 2013, President Barack Obama honored Tubman’s legacy by designating the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument in Maryland. The monument includes multiple properties that are significant to Tubman’s early life in Dorchester County and evocative of her experience as an enslaved person and conductor on the Underground Railroad.

The Conservation Fund’s Role

The Conservation Fund helped make this designation possible by donating a key 480-acre property at the heart of the monument to the National Park Service (NPS). The property includes the former home site of Jacob Jackson, a “free black” who helped Tubman rescue her brothers. The sites included in the monument have the extraordinary power to tell Tubman’s story right where it happened — and in a landscape that still looks much like it did during her lifetime.

A national monument such as this is never the work of just one group or one leader. President Obama, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, the entire Maryland congressional delegation and dozens of community leaders, historians and conservationists worked to make the monument a reality. TCF is honored to have played a lead partnership role in this accomplishment.

Why This Project Matters

By designating lands honoring Harriet Tubman a national monument, President Obama gave this property the same status as any national park, such as the Grand Canyon. Once a site has been designated a national monument, Congress possesses the authority to upgrade its designation. In fact, nearly half our current national parks were first designated national monuments. Efforts to achieve a national park honoring Harriet Tubman’s legacy continue.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park

In March 2013, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources broke ground on what would become the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. The new park, established on a 17-acre property protected by TCF, commemorates Tubman’s life work on the Underground Railroad against a backdrop of marshes, woodlands and fields reminiscent of the landscapes she would have encountered in her early life on the Eastern Shore. The land is physically and thematically linked to nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge through programming, roads and multiuse trails.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park

In December 2014, Congress passed and President Obama subsequently signed the National Defense Authorization Act that established two new parks commemorating Tubman — the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland and the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in New York. These two parks will be administered by the NPS and will complement Maryland’s national monument and state park.

Learn More

• Insights: “Honoring the Brave and Inspirational Life of Harriet Tubman“
• Official site: Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway