Celebrating Harriet Tubman’s 200th Birthday

On Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the house where Harriet Tubman was born is now part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, where her 200^th birthday is a good occasion for families to spend a weekend of family travel to learn about her life and the famous “railroad”. Born a slave, Tubman escaped and found herself wanting to help fellow slaves find freedom. She returned to see her family and others escape on what came to be known as the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad was a network of “conductors” — people who hid and fed escaping slaves and helped them on their way to the next “station” until they reached Canada, where they were free. Near her birthplace, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center has interactive and audiovisual exhibits about this network and about her life.

You can visit sites surrounding Harriet Tubman’s home, where she was born into slavery, and returned after her own escape to guide her family and friends north to freedom. Learn more about her life at the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center in Cambridge, also part of a self-guided road trip, the Tubman Byway. Pick up a free map or free audio guide here.

The weekend of March 12–13 is the kick-off for a series of special events marking her birthday, including free, family-friendly programs and a special, limited-time exhibit of artifacts from Tubman’s life on display throughout the month of March.

These exhibitions include the receipt from the midwife that delivered her, a “runaway” advertisement for her after she escaped and items found at Tubman’s father’s cabin. Some of the artifacts are on display to the public for the first time. Throughout 2022, the park’s expert staff, known as “Team Tubman,” will host special programs to honor the life and legacy of the abolitionist and suffragist.

By asking questions, attending a program and engaging with park rangers, children also can earn and collect National Park Trading Cards about the Underground Railroad and the Civil Rights Movement.