Built in 1867, the Stanley Institute was named after Reverend Ezekiel Stanley, and it was used a school and church for African Americans and managed by African Americans after the Civil War. The Stanley Institute was last used in 1966 during the Civil Rights Movement. It is one of the oldest African American schools in Maryland. It was a crime to teach a slave to read before the Civil War, so this left a slim chance to learn how to read and write. The Stanley Institute provided hope for those who wanted to educate themselves and their children. Now owned by the Friends of the Stanley Institute, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The Stanley Institute represents the dedication of nearly a century of African Americans who educated themselves and their children in a suppressive society in which they lived as slaves and eventually as free individuals in a racist society with segregated school systems.

The Stanley Institute is a small, one-story building used as both school and church for the African American community after the Civil War through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s (it was built in 1867 and was last used in 1966). It is one of the oldest schools in the state to be organized and maintained by the community. Today, it is owned and operated by the Friends of the Stanley Institute and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

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This tour begins at the Bucktown Village Store where Harriet Tubman suffered from a severe head injury that resulted in the development of epilepsy that she had for the rest of her life. The tour takes users to several locations with significance to Harriet Tubman's life and legacy.

The 19th-century Bucktown Village Store was once a store in a small farmland community near the shipyards at the Transquaking River. One day, Harriet Tubman was sent to the Bucktown Village Store by a farmer with the farm’s cook to buy items for the house. When Tubman and the cook arrived at the store, a slave was there having left without permission. This slave’s overseer followed him to the store and commanded Tubman to tie him up. Tubman refused and the slave broke free and ran away.

The overseer threw a two-pound weight and threw it at the slave. This weight ended up hitting Tubman in the head. This injury almost killed her. The hit cracked her skull and caused her trauma for the rest of her life. Tubman suffered from epilepsy for the rest of her life. A few days later, she was sent back to work with no medical attention ever reaching her. This was Harriet Tubman’s first stand against her oppressors and slave owners.

The Bucktown Village Store displays a collection of artifacts from the Underground Railroad and the life of Harriet Tubman. It is operated by the Bucktown Village Foundation. The village store is open for tours six days a week. It is one of 36 sites along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway self-guided driving tour. The tour is 125 miles along Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway features sites that include exhibits, artifacts and preserved locations of Tubman’s life and the Underground Railroad. The Bucktown Village Store shares the artifacts that Harriet Tubman once interacted with and the location that changed her life forever.

The fully restored Bucktown Village Store is a preserved general store from 1835, which now serves as a historical site on the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. The Bucktown Village Store is where Harriet Tubman was almost killed due to a head injury. This incident followed her for the rest of her life. The Bucktown Village Store is open now for tours as a museum.

Bucktown Village Store

Edward Brodess frequently hired out his slaves, because his small farm didn’t provide enough work for them all. He had eight children to provide for, so he kept his slaves busy by sending them off to work at neighboring farms. He was said to be a brutal and abusive slave owner. Tubman’s mother, Rit, and her children experienced emotional and physical abuse from Brodess. Tubman&nbsp;suffered from being sold to different farms by Brodess, as well. In 1825, the Brodess farm was struggling financially and Brodess soon sold Harriet’s older sisters Miriah, Linah and Soph.

When Tubman was interviewed about her experiences at the Brodess farm, she said she seldom stayed with the Brodess family. Tubman’s brothers Ben and Robert suffered the most at the hand of Brodess. In an interview, Robert said Brodess wasn’t fit to own a dog. In an interview, Ben said if you knew what they did to the slaves, your hair would stand on end and skin would crawl.

The Brodess Farm is now gone with only an informational plaque recording the brutal history of the farm. The farm is one of 36 historical sites along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway that highlights important locations of Tubman’s life and the Underground Railroad. Visitors can visit the site as a self-guided driving tour or request a tour guide from the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway Visitor Center.

The Brodess Farm was the childhood home of Harriet Tubman and this location is marked today by a commemorative plaque that stands at the site of the former the farmhouse. In 1822, Edward Brodess, Tubman’s enslaver, took Tubman, her mother, Rit, and siblings to the Brodess Farm in Bucktown, Maryland to tend to his farm. The Brodess farm is one of 36 historical sites along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.  

The Brodess Farm, Childhood Home of Harriet Tubman  

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Monument consists of 25,000 acres of federal, state, and private lands in Dorchester County, Maryland. They are very significant to Tubman's early years and retell her life while she was enslaved and a conductor of the Underground Railroad. There are no park facilities on these sites.While the park is named after Harriet Tubman, you will not see her represented on site in structures and statues. The landscapes and waterways at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Monument are the same ones Tubman navigated and used for her Underground Railroad missions. The national monument includes Stewart's Canal and Jacob Jackson's home site. Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument is a new national park and has no park facilities at this time. The park is in progress, and in the coming years there will be added services to the park done along with Maryland's planned Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. It is a privately owned area with specific rules and regulations. Harriet Tubman was born in in
1822 with the name Araminta Ross. She was born into slavery to slave parents
named Harriet Green and Ben Ross. Harriet was owned by a woman named Mary
Pattison Brodess. Harriet Green and Ben Boss had nine children together; three
daughters were sold to another family, separating them. Harriet Tubman was
rented as a young child to a woman named Miss Susan. Harriet’s job was to
take care of Miss Susan’s baby during the night. If the baby cried, Harriet was
whipped. The whippings left her with severe scars for the rest of her life.
Harriet started wearing thick clothes as protection, fighting back, and running
away. Throughout her childhood, Harriet Tubman was hired out to various
masters. While she was working, she suffered a severe head injury when she was hit with
a metal weight. For the rest of her life, she suffered from seizures,
headaches, visions, and vivid dreams. This diminished her value as a slave.

In 1844 Harriet Tubman
married a free Black man named John Tubman. She took his last name and began using her mother’s name, Harriet. In 1849, Harriet’s owner passed away.
Instead of waiting on the possibility of being sold, Harriet escaped with her
brothers, Ben and Henry, on September 17, 1849. Later, her brothers experienced
guilt and returned with Harriet. This did not stop Harriet from escaping again
soon after. Harriet used the Underground Railroad to escape and used the North Star for direction. She eventually made it to
Pennsylvania, a free state.

Once Harriet was in a free
state, she began working odd jobs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. However, she
felt that her family in Maryland should also experience freedom. Despite
the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, she began rescuing family and other slaves
beginning in December 1850. With each trip back to Maryland, she became more
confident. On one return trip she discovered that her husband had married another
woman, and he refused to go with Harriet. Soon, Harriet’s trips between Maryland and
Pennsylvania turned into guiding former slaves to Ontario, where the Fugitive
Slave Law of 1850 was not in effect.

It is estimated that Harriet Tubman
made 19 trips and guided over 300 slaves to safety. In 1903 she donated her
personal land to the church for the founding of Harriet Tubman Home for the
Aged, which opened in 1908. In 1911 her health began to decline, and she moved
into the aged home. She died of pneumonia in 1913 and was buried at Fort Hill
Cemetery in Auburn with semi-military honors.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Monument is located in Dorchester County, Maryland. It is around 25,000 acres and features the same lands that Harriet Tubman traveled to guide slaves to safety. Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist, suffragist, and humanitarian who was born in 1822 and died in 1913. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Monument is a way visitors can put themselves in Harriet Tubman's shoes.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Monument

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1820. Tubman grew up to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad, in which she helped other slaves escape to freedom in the north. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse, cook, scout, and even a spy. After the Emancipation Proclamation, she lived the rest of her life in Auburn, New York.<div>The State of Maryland began construction of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center on March 9, 2013. The center was part of a larger state-funded project to create a&nbsp;17-acre Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park and Visitor Center. Since its opening in March 2017, the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center has welcomed guests to discover new facets of Harriet Tubman’s life and influence.&nbsp; </div>The Harriet Tubman Railroad Visitor Center features multimedia exhibits and a theater to share Tubman's story. There is a research library, theater and gift shop visitors can explore along with the multimedia exhibits. A slideshow about Tubman’s journey and accomplishments is shown as an overview and starting point for the exhibits within the visitor center. There is also a picnic pavilion with a stone fireplace for guests to use at the visitor center. Guests can continue to explore Tubman’s journey through a ranger-led program or a self-guided tour of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.&nbsp; Young visitors may connect to Tubman even more through a self-guided activity book available at the visitor center information desk. Once completed, they may take the Junior Ranger pledge with a park ranger, and they’ll be gifted a patch and historical trading cards. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center has park rangers available to assist you as an introduction to the park and the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway trail. Groups may request a ranger-led tour through the park and interpretive programs.&nbsp;

Construction of this visitor's center began in 2013 and was part of a larger effort by the state of Maryland to create the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. The Byway includes thirty-six sites related to Tubman's life, including this visitors center which offers exhibits, programs, and a research library dedicated to preserving and sharing Tubman's journey from slavery to freedom and many accomplishments as a leader within the abolitionist movement. The visitor center is one of thirty-six historical sites along. The visitor center is surrounded by a 17-acre state park with walking trails and a picnic pavilion. The exhibits in the visitor center are extensions of the historical sites along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.

The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center

As Harriet Tubman lived a life of bravery and courage, the
Harriet Tubman Museum was built in order to commemorate her honorable life. The
Harriet Tubman Organization, founded in the 1980’s, desired to fully captivate
the essence of her legacy by offering a museum and education center that would
provide insightful information to all. 

The museum is located in Dorchester County, Maryland just a
few miles from where Harriet lived. It offers memorials, tours, museum
displays, and educational exhibits all portraying the experiences Harriet would
undergo throughout her life. Harriet Tubman was an advocate of equality, as she
fought for freedom. “After growing up on the Brodess Farm in Bucktown in
Dorchester County, Tubman later escaped from slavery and returned 13 times to
lead other enslaved people to freedom using the secret network of people and
sites known as the Underground Railroad. She later served as a Civil War spy
and nurse, a suffragist, and a humanitarian."

In addition to the museum, the Harriet Tubman Organization
holds various events throughout the year in order to commemorate this fearless,
strong, brave Civil Rights advocate. They hold a memorial banquet each March,
and host historical discussion conferences.


The organization hopes to inspire society, and to recognize
the distinguishable life of Harriet Tubman as she was a pivotal character that
played an impactful role during the Civil Rights Movement. The museum and
educational center continually work to improve and enhance the exhibits by
community involvement as well as research.&nbsp;

The Harriet Tubman Museum, located just miles from where Harriet grew up in Dorchester County, Maryland, was established by the Harriet Tubman Organization; they strive to truly captivate the essence of culture for Harriet as she faced slavery, adversity, and inequality. The museum offers a unique and sentimental frame of mind as they honor Harriet Tubman with memorials, tours to specific places impactful to her life, museum displays, educational exhibits, and celebrations.

Harriet Tubman Landmark Tour

Stanley Institute

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

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