Mysterious Young Harriet Tubman Photo Discovered in Forgotten Abolitionist’s Album Sparks New Historical Revelations
Other noteworthy figures in the album are William Johnson, a soldier with the U.S. Colored Troops; Elmer Ellsworth, the first Union officer casualty in the Civil War; and Denmark’s Princess Dagmar, who eventually became ruler of Russia. The album also contains photos of Howland’s family and friends, former students, fellow suffragists and abolitionists, and her other acquaintances.
“A picture like that does a couple of things,” Bunch continued. “It reminds people that someone like Harriet Tubman was an ordinary person who did extraordinary things…But I also think one of the real challenges of history is that sometimes we forget to humanize the people we talk about…and I think that picture humanizes her in a way that I would have never imagined.”
Library of CongressAn older portrait of Harriet Tubman as we are accustomed to seeing her.
After achieving her own freedom, Tubman was known to have led an estimated 700 slaves to freedom as she repeatedly made her way back to the South to save more people, including her aging parents, along the Underground Railroad. By 1860, she had made the dangerous trip 19 times.
Tubman’s heroic acts of liberty rightfully earned her the nicknames “Moses” and “General Tubman.” Not only was she a freer of slaves and a Civil War spy, but she also served as a nurse and cook for the Union Forces. Tubman’s photograph and the rest of Howland’s album are on display at the Smithsonian museum’s entry hall, Heritage Hall. The album will eventually be relocated to the Slavery and Freedom exhibition that is currently on view.
Post Comment