Cardin Testifies Before Senate Committee in Support of Creation of Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks
Harriet Tubman was a true American patriot, for whom liberty and freedom were not just concepts. She lived those principles and shared that freedom with hundreds of others. These two parks will make it possible for Marylanders and the entire nation to trace her life's work and remember all that she was able to accomplish.
In 1999, Congress directed the National Park Service (NPS) to conduct a Special Resource Study to determine the appropriateness of establishing a unit of the National Park Service to honor Harriet Tubman. In January, the NPS recommended that a Park include two geographically separate units. The Park Service formally threw its support behind my legislation at today's hearing.
Since there are very few structures still left on the Eastern Shore associated with Harriet Tubman's life, it is entirely appropriate that the Maryland Historical Park be comprised of landscapes on the Eastern Shore that are evocative of the time in which Ms. Tubman lived. I am pleased that the Park Service supports my call to include within the Park boundaries a number of important properties that are associated with her life, including the homestead of her father and the farm in which Harriet Tubman worked as a slave.