Law and Remembrance

Harriet Tubman day may soon be added to the list of holidays in New York State. The holiday, if approved by the New York State Legislature, would honor the legendary female hero of the Underground Railroad dubbed the Black Moses.

Tubman was the main conductor on the Underground Railroad, an illegal network of slaves 19th century abolitionist movement that freed thousands of slaves. As her birthday is still unknown, Tubman's achievements would be commemorated on March 10, the anniversary of her death.

"Portrait of Harriet Tubman." Courtesy of the Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University.

Celebrating a black woman by means of a public holiday would be a first nationwide, says Elizabeth Fulcher-Rankin,chairperson for the Committee for the Preservation of African-American Historical Sites.

This legislative initiative reflects the renewed public interest nationally regarding the Underground Railroad. Although New York City was an important stop for slaves fleeing the South on their way to Canada, few people know about the city’s role in the Underground Railroad.

Opinions differ as to why the slave escape route has been relegated to the underground of New Yorkers' minds. Lack of physical evidence and racial prejudice are two of the most cited reasons for the situation.

 


What is the Underground Railroad?


The Underground Railroad was neither "underground" nor a "railroad." It was a loose network of aid and assistance to fugitives from bondage in the United States.

As many as 100,000 enslaved persons may have escaped in the years between the American Revolution and the Civil War.

The legend says that in 1831 a slave named Tice Davis swam across the Ohio River to escape from his owner. Exasperated that he could not find Davis, the master said that his slave must have "gone off on an underground railroad..."




Slavery in New York City
1600s

  • 1625: The Dutch West India Company brings the first African slaves to New Amsterdam (Manhattan) to build forts, clear fields and do construction work.
  • 1644: During the Dutch-Indian wars, the first black slaves find freedom in New Amsterdam.
  • 1664: Almost 300 men, women and children come to New Amsterdam on the slave ship Gideon.
  • 1680: New York colony receives from England the monopoly on the production of wheat so the Hudson Valley region needs more slave labor.
  • 1682: A slave code imposed by the colonial legislature requires all black slaves to carry passes and forbids black men from being out at night without a lantern.

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