The grounds and exhibits to learn about the lives of escaped slaves, abolitionist, civil war spy and suffragist, Harriet Tubman. Welcome to Harriet Tubmans underground railroad state park. Here we highlight Harriet Tubmans early years. She was born about three miles east of here in the town of madison and spent a lot of time in this area. It was here in this area where she learned the skills that were vital to make her a successful conductor on the underground railroad. Skills such as reading the landscapes, reading the stars, foraging for food, and being comfortable outdoors by herself. I would like to highlight our Visitor Center. This building is lined in cedar which is a reference to her time in the timber fields spent with her father. These last three buildings are lined in zinc. The idea is that after you visit our Visitors Center, your ignorance about Harriet Tubmans life and the underground railroad will fade, as well. We have a vegetative roof on the flat surfaces, you can see the one on the far south. That helps us keep the Visitor Center warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We also have rain barrels to collect the excess water and we use it to water our vegetation. We also have photovoltaic light. I would like to highlight those because we can turn them off at night and also we have a concern on light pollution. The light is filtered downwards. So you can enjoy the night sky. And the far end of the park, we have a barrel that collects our water and filters it. If wildlife lands there, everything is fine and we do not have to worry about it. It is important because a large portion of the park is in a critical area. The view north, is in our design plan, and when you enter the park, you come in through the north, andy walk out you begin your experience. You walk into our Visitor Center and then head north, just like Harriet Tubman did. This area opens up to our legacy gardens, highlighting the view north. This represented openness, the north was free and the south closed and encumbered. Special figured there, with Harriet Tubman pointing north, representing freedom. Every time she would be standing there, she should be pointing north to freedom, out in the distance heading towards their freedom. When you enter the Visitor Center, you look north and you see it is open and very bright. Thanks to this wall there. When you are finished with the experience of this portion of the Visitor Center, you look south and it is closed and dark. Again, done on purpose to represent the south being encumbered and with slavery, and the north being open and free. The north is very important to us, it is our most important interpretive tool. The park is 17 acres, we are surrounded by Blackwater National wildlife refuge which theyer 20,000 acres, and preserve this beautiful landscape you see. To ensure that when you look around you see pines and cedars, and you can see the Blackwater River over there and the first in this area which is also preserved. When you drove down here, you probably took route 16 and read 35, also known as the highway to freedom. When you came down here, you probably saw cornfields, sorghum, various things being grown, and you saw all around you in various stages of growth. The landscape again is very important. The way that it looks now is very similar to the way would have looked in harriet termans Harriet Tubmans time. If she were here, she would be able to navigate this area because it looks similar. This is a map of the Harriet Tubman underground railroad byway, over 120 miles long. It includes maryland, delaware and pennsylvania. We are meant to be the hub right here of the byway. You come here to learn about Harriet Tubmans life. I would like for you to meet our bust of Harriet Tubman. A very important part is it is indeed, lifesize. She was about five feet tall in real life and this is also five feet tall, made by rounded by brendan oneill. This is a bronze bust, and you can see her name at the bottom, along with chains that are broken to represent the bonds of slavery that ms. Tubman rule broke along the underground railroad. You can see the scarring on her back, which were scars from the floggings she received in her life. She was very strong. She bragged she could do the work of a man, so her muscular stature is also visible. The bronze bust a sitting atop the piece of oak is a reference to her time in maryland, it was standing for about 400 years before it fell down. This cedar was chosen because it has that spiral texture and shows texture and strength, also a reference to her time in the timber fields with her father, as i mentioned outside. The Visitors Center first building is lined with cedar, as well. As you can see, she is lifting north, that she is facing north symbolizing her search for freedom. We begin our tour now. We are starting in the south, heading towards the north, like Harriet Tubman on her journey from the underground railroad. You notice the ceiling and the floor and the siding also make you look from south to north, it is very symbolic. Thiswoo this wood is reclaimed barn wood from the Eastern Shore of maryland, again, a reference to her time in the timber fields. This section of the tour first highlights the juxtaposition of tubmans life. The images you see here show the beauty of the river region, as well as the ugliness of slavery. Harriet tubman was born in this river region where she learned the skills and decided to become a successful conductor on the underground railroad. This section is supposed to immerse you in a day of her life. This saves slavery is of the next thing to help. If a person would send another into bondage, he would send them to hell if he could. Again, these are images of the Chop Tank River region. Behind you, you can see eight images of Harriet Tubman on it. This next section here shows the ugliness of slavery and that families were torn apart by slavery. This is an image of the Dorchester County courthouse, showing a mother being sold away from her child and husband. Tubmans Three Sisters were sold in slavery early in her life and it broke her family apart. One was sold to a chain gang and never heard from again. Andan remembers their wails cries as they were sold. Harriet tubmans mother never recovered from that, and it shows the ugliness of slavery, breaking apart families. This is a good section to highlights, the way the exhibits are laid out. Most of the exhibits have a quote or image of Harriet Tubman on the top and on the textile panels. The textile panel is meant to be touched as well so that you can see and touch what you are reading. I grew up as a neglected weed, ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it, i was not happy or contented. It shows an slave children with no shoes, very little clothing, doing farm work. It highlights the fact that fishing and oysters and timber and corn were the important crops found here in this region. This next section talks about tubmans earliest memories. The first thing i recall is lying in a cradle that my father made. This is a recreated cradle. When a child was born in that time, a tree was chopped down, hollowed out, and you put down a headboard and foot forward and it was called the childs cradle. This shows the young Harriet Tubman and taking care of her little brother, moses. She is about four years old here, and she had to take care of her little brother while her mother worked in the big house. Tubman has fond memories of this, but i cannot imagine a mother worrying about her baby taking care of her other baby. Tubman told the story of how the baby was worrying as she was crying, so she got a slab of pork and she warmed it on the fire and put it on the babys mouth, and the baby stopped crying. When the mother came back, she saw a piece of pork hanging out and she thought that her daughter had killed the baby, but it was just a piece of pork. It is a funny story, because if you put a piece of bacon in my mouth, i would stop talking as well. This next quote says every time i saw a white man, i was afraid of being carried away. I had two sisters carried away of themin gang, one left two children, so this highlights the fact that her sisters were sold away to a chain gang, never seen again. This textile panel, again, shows young tubman and her little brother. This is a map of the area that we are in right now, it shows Dorchester County, you probably came through chambers when you came over and you crossed the river and down to where we are. We are in this area here. Tubman was born in peterson that district, right here in madison, known as tobacco sticks. This image right here shows the road she was born on. The next thing i would highlight is Harriet Tubman at work. This shows Harriet Tubman at a very young age checking muscat. Muskrat traps. They are rodents which were common in the area. Most were caught in the late fall or early winter, and they were caught for their pelts. You can see that she is deep in water, no shoes, or a hat, and she is absolutely miserable. The quote says, i used to sleep on the floor, cry and cry, if i could only get home and get in my mothers bed, the drive to go home and be with her family members was within Harriet Tubman from an early age. In the next section i would highlight is the Bucktown Village store incident. When she was about a teenager, she went to the Village Store with the plantation could and an angry overseer was there. Tubman walked in and there was a runaway slave. Tubman was asked to grab the slave and she said no. The overseer picked up a two pound weight and threw it at her and knocked tubman out. She said the last thing she remembered was him raising his hand with the weight in it. She received no medical care, she was taken from the store next door, where she bled and bled. Her owner made her go to work the next day. She said she tried to work but she cannot because there was so much blood and sweat dripping over her eyes. Her mother tried to help her recuperate but her owner decided she was not doing any work, i will try to sell her. So he brought people into poke and prod at her while she tried to recover. When she could not be sold, he said, you are not even worth that you are not even worth a sixpence. That was a hard time for Harriet Tubman and it opened up a new world for her. We think she got epilepsy, which allowed her to have this amazing visions and a direct connection to god. She heard voices, people singing, seeing Amazing Things and having vivid dreams. It was terrible on the physical side, but great for her mental space. This is a quote from Thomas Garrett who was pivotal on the underground railroad, a quaker up in wilmington who helped 3000 2500 to 3000 runaways receive their freedom. He said i never met any person of color who had so much confidence in the voice of god. Her faith in the supreme power truly was great. So, for a white male, landowning quaker to say that about a black woman in tubmans time, speaks volumes about her faith. The next section we highlight is tubman in the timber fields. During her time, about half of the blacks in Dorchester County were indeed free, so this shows her working in the timber fields. The gentleman over there could be free or enslaved men working. She worked in the timber fields with her father. He was a respected timber men. This shows Harriet Tubman in stuart canal, and what happened was that the timber would be cut then floated on the canal to timber towns in madison, to baltimore where it would be shipped there. Tubman was rented out and she was able to take the money for oxen,f and purchase two which allowed her to do more work and carry more timber from the timber fields of Dorchester County to the shipbuilding towns. This is what that shows here, tubman and her oxen. It also highlights the importance of tubman being outside, where she learned how to forage for food, be in the woods at night. These were skills she needed during the underground railroad. Most of her escapes were done at night during the fall and winter when the nights were the longest. It was a very important time for her and she got to look outside with her family and friends, most likely her brothers and her father. This next section we are going to talk about is tubmans self emancipation. In 1849, she got the feeling that she would be sold. As mentioned earlier, she had lost Three Sisters very early on and she did not want to be sold. She was about to leave in 49 and this in 1849, and this shows Harriet Tubman in caroline county, opening the gate as she is going to leave, she sees her owner comes home, and comes on the horse. She opens the gate for him, closes the gate behind him and continues to sing her goodbye song, as she walks to her freedom. It is significant because she was singing the goodbye song so that she could goodbye to her family and friends so they would know that she was leaving and not to be worried. After she got to freedom, she said when i found out i had crossed the line, i looked at my hands to see if i was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came like gold through the trees and i felt like i was in heaven. This was her first taste of freedom and she was able to spend some time in philadelphia to make money to come back and get her family and friends. The next section is called the journey, and it is supposed to show her journey on one night of the underground railroad. The quote of the year says i crossed the line, i was free, but there was no one to welcome me into the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land and my home was in maryland. Because my father, my mother, brothers and friends were there. But i was free, and they should be free. I would make a home in the north, and bring them there. I say to the lord, i will hold steady on to you, and i know you will see me through. That shows that once she got to freedom, there was no one to welcome her there, she was alone because her friends and family were in maryland. She came back 12 times to save her family and friends, people she could not do without. The song you hear now is about that. I will talk about that more later, but you can see the names and lists of people that she rescued, over 70 documented rescues, including moses roth, peter pennington, and the section over here talks about the northstar which tubman used to navigate. God set the northstar in the heavens. He gave me the strength in my lands and said i should be free. This piece shows that the matter what season you are in, the northstar is steadfast and stays exactly where it always is. It is at the tip of the little dipper and at the end of the big cup of the big dipper. Harriet tubman rescued over 70 family and friends from slavery in 12 journeys. Since she was unable to rescue her sister rachel and her children. Unfortunately, rachel died in bondage and her children were sold before tubman could rescue her. The quote says we are pleased that harriet succeeded in assisting even a few of her suffering friends from bondage but her sister was not among the number. That is quoted from abolitionist d. E. Collins. It was to a friend of tubmans. This next section is about the emancipation of her brothers. She was illiterate. She had a letter written to jackson, who owned 480 acres of land. He was an illiterate man and a veterinarian. When the letter was written, it said, read my letter to the old folks and give my love to them and tell my brothers to always be watching under prayer. When the good old ship of zion comes along, be ready to a board. The song you are hearing right now is the good old ship of zion. When Jacob Jackson saw that in the letter, he knew that it was Harriet Tubman telling him to notify her brothers to be ready, that she was going to come back and rescued them. Jacob jackson was a known operative on the underground railroad, he was not permitted to read his mail. So it was important to have this encoded message. The postmaster as well as a few other people had to read his mail before jackson could, they read it and it made no sense. But when he picked it up and looked at it, he said right, this makes no sense. He saw that text, the lyrics knew to letg, so he the brothers know she was coming for them. She met her brothers at poplar in caroline county, and the hit crib and this is a recreated corn crib. They had to hide here and their father, took a blindfold on because he knew somebody would ask him, have you seen your children today . And as he was seen wearing a blindfold, he could say that he had not seen his children. He took food and water to them. Theirad to hide because mother was cooking food for her family and friends, and they had to hide in here, otherwise, if they were seen, their mother would go crazy and be excited and completely give them away. So the idea would that they would come in here and look through the slats and imagine what it would have been like to say, to not be able to say goodbye to your mother, and perhaps have that be the last time you saw her. Harriet tubman used a number of disguises. She knew she would be recognize d once she got back to maryland. There are stories of her disguise as an old woman,earing a bonnet on her head hunched over, carrying chickens when she saw her master one time, he was coming towards her. She plucked the feathers off the chicken and started shouting and screaming, it started squawking. She had to bend over and turn her back to her master who was coming so he would not recognize her. Other enslaved people would also disguise themselves as men, if they were women or as women if they were men, and vice versa. She used disguises pretty often. This section right here highlights the emancipation of ben and ruth ross. She came down in the north to rescue her parents. Her father was a Railroad Agent and he she heard that he would probably be sold or punished. She came back before that would happen. Her parents were in their 70s and she knew that they could not walk a long way, so she made a wagon which is what this shows right here. It had two wheels, and axle, and a place for them to sit and a place for their feet. She tied it to a horse and she emancipated her parents. But her mother would not leave without her prized possessions, as well as her father. This is what this Beautiful Image is showing. All of these columns are here, that are in the middle of the building highlight people that were important to the underground railroad and Harriet Tubmans network. People such as this woman, sam green of east newmarket, william spill, Thomas Garrett, annemarie douglas, Martha Carlton writes, and of course, Frederick Douglass and henry garnet are highlighted. The next section i would like to talk about is tubmans time during the civil war. Harriet tubman was a scout, a spy and a nurse during the civil war, and in june 1, 1863, she became the only woman to plan and execute an armed raid. With Connell James montgomery, and the second North Carolina colored troops, they took three steampowered gunships, and you can see two of them. They went up the river, 25 miles into the depths of South Carolina. Fields andd rice they burned plantations, flooded and emancipated them an hundred and emancipated people. There is significant because in tubmans time, people were of course, property. It was a huge loss to that slaveowners down there. It is showing Harriet Tubman in a smaller boat reaching down to rescue people to their emancipation. It shows women carrying anything that they could carry, a basket, some chickens, and children. That is a big deal because it was the largest emancipation event in the history of the United States. To godte says i pray to make me strong and able to fight. That is what i have prayed for ever since. It shows Harriet Tubmans dedication to the United States, she was indeed a veteran. It was a massive boon to the union army because about 10 days later, 110 men signed up for the union army. Harriet tubman was a little bit of a rabblerouser, complaining that nothing was being done to emancipated people to free the slaves. So, massachusetts governor, don john andrew, recruited her to operate behind the confederate lines. She was given a pass to travel from the north, down to South Carolina and do her military expeditions. She was a scout, a spy, and nurse, able to talk to free and enslaved people in South Carolina. They were told where the landmines were, and given insight into that river area, very similar to Dorchester County. They are both low lands, salt marshes, and dictated by the tides. The skills she learned here in Dorchester County where useful and in South Carolina as well. Everyone knew that, so she was sent down there to help and coordinate and this is the army. This final section of the Visitor Center talks about tubmans later life. She bought a home in auburn, and attended a church and started a home for indigent and aged africanamericans. She was a suffragette, fighting for womens rights. She also had a ship named after her, the ss Harriet Tubman and that is all highlighted here. This is the final part of the tour. I would like to highlight this stainedglass image of Dorchester County in the summer, winter and spring. This image shows Harriet Tubman pointing at the north star and a emancipating a number of people. It is done by jacob lawrence. It also shows the hazards that were there, the snake with the people carrying their children, squirrels, owls, showing the nature of this very beautiful place. Because our building is south facing, when the sun comes through, it is absolutely stunning. The final section is interactive. There is a video over here, where you can learn about Harriet Tubmans life and legacy, and you can sit to ms. Tubman, this the picks are in later years, and i would like to highlight this quote the midnight sky, the silent stars have been the witness of your devotion to freedom and your heroism. That was written by Frederick Douglass about Harriet Tubman. Harriet tubman was born in late february, early march of 1822. The records of enslaved peoples birthdays were not capped, but there is a receipt from a midwife, to help the midwife deliver Harriet Tubman. She died on march 10, 1913. March 10 is now Harriet Tubman day, which is when the Visitor Center was opened. The Visitor Center is managed by the maryland and National Park service. It is located on a maryland state park called Harriet Tubman underground railroad state park. Our Administrative Offices are on the other side of the park and they also house the National Park service and the network for freedom. The National Park service owns 480 acres of land and madison, the land is also managed from the Administrative Offices there. We are a partnership park. I think anyone should visit this center to build a connection to Harriet Tubman and her life. I want people to know that Harriet Tubman was a normal person. She was not a superhero with amazing powers. She was not a regular woman who was born into slavery. She remained illiterate for all of her life but she did Amazing Things for her family and friends. She had everything against her but she lived this amazing life and made a difference. I want people to know that you can make a difference in your normal life, no matter who you are. Interested in American History tv . Visit our website, www. Cspan. Org history, you can view our schedule, preview upcoming programs, and watch college lectures, tours, archival lectures and more. Www. Cspan. Org history. American history tv is on cspan3 every weekend, featuring museum tours, archival films and programs on the presidency, civil war and more. Here is a clip from a recent program. Now in president ial vehicles at the American Museum of innovation, this is a 1972 Lincoln Continental built for president and used up to the first president bush. This represents the final step in the evolution of president ial transportation. We have gone all the way from teddy roosevelts, to Franklin Roosevelt and then john f. Kennedys lincoln as transitional cars, to where they are built as an armored, standard, modified to stretch a little bit but this is a car built from the ground up as an armored vehicle, designed to provide maximum protection to the president. You have armed waiting behind the doors, bulletproof glass, and the vehicles can still drive a way to save the punctured. To safety if punctured. This car is most often associated with president reagan. Theas shot in 1981 and survived. This is the car in which resident reagan was getting in after he made the speech to the union when he was shot. It is almost ironic. As he was getting into the car, or pushed into it by secret service, he was hit not by direct full it but one that ricocheted off of one of the armored panels on the car. It was a perfect shot, for lack of a perfect term, it went through his body, so if it had moved a fraction of an inch one way or the other, he may not have been hit at all. He was sped off to the hospital and made a recovery. The damage he received that they would have been minor but we think of these cars as being glamorous but they did the rough lives and they were being pushed scratched,pped down, and also getting hit by rocks, paint by protesters. It is part of the american way of life. We are free to protest and these cars have been on the front lines. They did get a lot of care, the secret service had the garage near the white house where they could repaint them, wash them, and even with that, the cars the age at a certain point, they fell out of this is a car, in fact, if you look at photos, the front end looks different than what it does now. They changed the front end to try and make it look a little more current. Whenever they could, they would try to do that to keep these cars fresh. But at some point, they just looked too dated. Some of these cars are associated not just with the president s, but with the passengers that they carried with them in these cars. Really almost any world leader , dignitary, you can think of from the middle part of the 20th century would have ridden in one of these cars. We think of roosevelts sunshine special. He certainly had Winston Churchill riding in that several times. The ball top with president eisenhower. Charles de gaulle wrote rode that at some Queen Elizabeth point. Rode in that car, as well. Any number of dignitaries would have been in these cars, too. Being in the president ial car is a real perk and a real kind of point of pride for folks. Anyone from perhaps a bigcity mayor to someone in the congress who the president is trying to woo in order to get legislation passed may get a ride in the car, just as air force one is treated as a perk today, something the president uses as a tool to persuade people to vote in the way he might wish them to. This is the most recent car we have in our collection, even though it was built in 1972. So it is several decades old. The fact is the cars really arent going to museums much anymore. Not the primary cars anymore. Part of that is because they are not just building one primary car, they are building several copies of the primary parade car, so there are more of them out there. And partly, too, these cars are really destroyed at the end of the service life. That is perhaps, partly, to keep the technology from falling into the wrong hands, but also to test the effectiveness of the armor against different and more modern weapons. So it is rare to see them in museums anymore. And we may not get anymore, either. Of course, we got these vehicles from the lincoln motor company. They were leased to the white house by lincoln. When the lease expired and the cars became too dated, lincoln then took the cars back and turned around and gave them to us. For which are very grateful. Now, the cars are provided by cadillac and are purchased outright by the white house. So they will not go back to cadillac or General Motors or whomever. They remain the property of the government to do with as they see fit. Other americannd history programs on our website, where all of our video is archived. That is cspan. Org history. Why am i here . Just for this reason. Think about the opportunity i am involved in with child and being able to rewrite the tax code. The amount of impact that we can have on the u. S. Economy and u. S. Citizens in changing the foreign outlook of the United States this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. For the past 30 years, the Video Library is your free resource or politics, congress, and washington public affairs. But whether it happened 30 years ago or 30 minutes ago, find it in cspans Video Library at cspan. Org. Cspan. Where history unfolds daily. Draper was chief president er for george w. Bush. Interview with his experience documenting white house activities, president ial travel, and major events including the 9 11 terrorist attacks. The Briscoe Center at the university of texas recorded the interview and archived his photo, along with those of several other nationally recognized photographers. This is just over 30 minutes. It is february 15, 2013. Im here with eric draper. The reason we are here is because we are celebrating the opening of the Briscoe Centers new exhibit. Eric, we are here to get your perspective on the things that are on display as well as our photojournalism archives