Harriet Tubman: The abolitionist to become one
Harriet Tubman's long journey to the $20 bill is ongoing, but the trailblazing abolitionist and conductor on the Underground Railroad will soon be honored another way: She'll be posthumously commissioned as a one-star general in the Maryland National Guard.
Tubman, born in Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, was the first Black woman to serve the U.S. military in combat. During the Civil War, she was a spy, scout, nurse and cook, according to the Maryland National Guard.
Tubman received a pension for her service, according to the Maryland National Guard. But she never had official status within the military, according to biographers . On Monday, Veterans Day, she'll be honored as a brigadier general.
During the Civil War, Tubman helped refugees in Port Royal, South Carolina, working as a nurse. After President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, Tubman turned to direct efforts against the Confederacy.
She guided steamboats with Black soldiers on board down the Combahee River in South Carolina to assault plantations and liberated enslaved people who had been forewarned by Tubman's spies. She helped recruit freed men to join the Union Army.
Clara Small, a professor emerita in the history department at Salisbury University , said Tubman was "divinely inspired to fight for what she believed in."
Tubman's success in leading a raid and freeing slaves behind Confederate lines was, in some ways, "a turning point," Small said.
It showed that enslaved people in the Confederacy could be a bigger part of the war, she said. Slaves knew the waterways, they knew the terrain — and they helped share information.
"This is a woman, she's like the wind beneath my wings. When things get crazy, and things get so down in the dumps, I think, 'What would she do?'" Small said.
A law passed by the General Assembly during the last session authorized the governor to posthumously promote, appoint or commission someone.
So when Gov. Wes Moore, Maj. Gen. Janeen L. Birckhead, Maryland House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and others honor Tubman on Monday, it will come much faster than Tubman's appearance on the $20 bill.
In an email, Jones said she was honored to be a part of the commission.
"Too often, the contributions of Black women are overlooked and forgotten," she wrote. "But it is my hope that, in celebrating and protecting Harriet Tubman's story, her legacy will continue to inspire us to stand up for our freedoms and, more importantly, each other."
Federal authorities have been discussing redesigns to U.S. currency, including the $20 bill, since at least 2011. Tubman's name entered those conversations shortly after — then-President Barack Obama wrote a letter back to an 8-year-old girl who suggested Tubman as a possible contender for the honor, telling her that he liked the idea.
Things have slowed since. Tubman appears on commemorative coins minted this year , but we're still years away from seeing her on cash. A spokesperson from the Bureau of Engraving & Printing said the redesign timeline, which is set to wrap up in 2030, remains on schedule.
