Harriet Tubman: Such Might in Such a Small Package

Story by Gabi McCrea. Photos by Elmater Pleasant.

My mom has this thing for field trips, and we go on most Fridays. We’ve gone skating, bowling and to most DC museums. On March 8th we drove an hour and a half to Dorchester County, Maryland. Dorchester is on Route 50, like going to Ocean City.  As you enter town there are large murals of Mrs. Tubman reaching out to you from the sides of buildings and billboards. When we arrived at our destination, we were at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center. When we went inside, I thought it was going to be another boring museum. It wasn’t.

When we walked into the lobby, a female national historical park ranger named Casey at the front desk was really kind and gave me a junior ranger activity book. The book had an abundance of activities for different age ranges that you could do in order to receive a badge.  Next to the bust of Harriet Tubman, I took a pledge to discover all that I could about the Underground Railroad. Also, this bust is set at the actual height of the mighty Harriet Tubman. 

The museum was small but informative.  The first room is a small theater with a brief, succinct (means to the point) story of her life.  I always thought that Harriet Tubman lived and was enslaved in the South, but she was actually born enslaved just a few miles away in Dorchester County. She was separated from her family at 6 years young.  I can only imagine being lonely, sad and confused if someone took my family away from me. Harriet Tubman was only about 5 feet tall and not only did she run to freedom in the wetlands of Dorchester County but she kept going back to free others. There were big men that stayed behind out of fear.  She also fought in the war for the freedom of her people. I think when you lose everything you love at six years old there is nothing else to lose.  Most of us only know part of herstory about being black in the United States of America. 

To learn more about the visitor center and how to support it, click here. I learned that 10 stamps are being released to honor this great shero. I also learned that construction for a museum about Frederick Douglass will begin soon in Talbot County.

Gabriel McCrea  is a 7th grade scholar at Friendship Online Academy.