Harriet Tubman was born into slavery near the Chesapeake Bay in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1822. From there, of course, she grew into a hero of the Underground Railroad and helped Union troops liberate hundreds of enslaved people during the Civil War.
And though her birthplace was protected from commercial development in 2013 when President Barack Obama created the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument, much of the site may be swallowed by the bay’s rising waters driven by climate change.
The climate threat comes as the nation prepares to celebrate Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday to commemorate the first step in the ending of slavery. Although Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the enslaved in the Southern states of the Confederacy in September 1862, to go into effect on January 1, 1863, the news did not spread throughout the south until Union troops reached the remote areas. The last area to hear about the proclamation was Galveston Island in Texas on June 19, 1865.
As a child, Tubman was sent to work for a local planter and became familiar with the local marshes while checking muskrat traps. As she grew older, she was assigned to field and forest work, driving oxen, plowing, hauling logs.
In 1849, she escaped, crossing the Mason-Dixon Line to Philadelphia. Later, reflecting on her great relief she wrote: “When I found I had crossed that 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 over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.” But saving herself was not enough for Tubman. She returned over and over between 1851 and 1862 to Maryland’s Eastern Shore, making more than a dozen trips to lead relatives and friends to freedom.
During the Civil War she worked for the Union Army as a cook and nurse initially. She considered Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation a positive but incomplete step to free all people from slavery, so she began to work more directly to defeat the Confederacy. She served as an armed scout and spy and is credited with leading an armed expedition that liberated more than 700 enslaved people. Until several months after the Confederacy’s surrender in April 1865, Tubman worked for the Union forces.
President Obama designated 25,000 acres on Maryland’s Eastern Shore to create the national monument. The designation highlights many of the sites that were significant to Tubman’s life, including natural areas where she honed the skills that helped her become the most famous conductor of the Underground Railroad. While the Visitor’s Center itself was built on higher ground, much of the otherwise protected land is at risk due to climate change.
Sea levels in the Chesapeake Bay surrounding the site are rising at almost twice the global rate due to climate change and the site risks being largely underwater by 2050, according to a 2021 report by Climate Central. The waters near the memorial have already risen more than 10 inches in the last 70 years and are estimated to rise 15 inches more by 2050. The loss of shoreline also puts the area much more at risk for damage from hurricanes and their associated storm surges.
In addition to being the location of these vital historical venues, this area of the Eastern Shore is home to one of the largest populations on the Atlantic Coast of another national icon: nesting bald eagles.
Maryland Matters, a non-profit news website, reported on the threat to the Tubman site and other historically significant locations on the bay in 2021.
Third Act Maryland is working hard to spread the word about the devastating effects of catastrophic global heating and to encourage our local, state and national leaders to enact policies to mitigate these effects and reduce their causes. As we commemorate Juneteenth this year, we encourage all to join these efforts. We take inspiration from stories of Harriet Tubman who worked tirelessly her entire life to fight for what she knew was right. In her memory, we must protect not just our vital history, but our natural areas and ensure a better future for everyone.