Tubman relatives applaud monument in her honor

Relatives of the late Harriet Tubman, the hero of the Underground Railroad, were on hand in Maryland, USA on Wednesday to hear the announcement by President Barack Obama of the establishment of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument. The new national monument is located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and includes large sections of landscapes that are significant to Tubman’s early life in Dorchester County and evocative of her life as an enslaved person and conductor of the Underground Railroad. Tubman died in 1913, and the decision to create a monument in her honor was made to celebrate her “selfless commitment to fight for the freedom of those unjustly held in bondage,” said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, pictured here with Tubman’s relatives, including her great-great-great niece. Interestingly, President Obama also recently unveiled another significant monument, this one to Col. Charles Young, the first Africa-American colonel in the US Army.