aaduna + Harriet Tubman

As you know, aaduna celebrated Tubman’s Centennial in March on the day that she died 100 years ago. Since the Tubman recognitions have been worldwide, we thought our readership would like to know about the following event:

On November 8 and 9, 2013, Cayuga Community College will host “Harriet Tubman: No Longer Underground,” a two-day symposium marking the centennial of the death of Harriet Tubman in 1913.

Co-Sponsored by the Harriet Tubman Boosters Club, the Seward House Museum, and the Women’s Rights National Historical Park, the symposium will celebrate the life and work of the heroic African American woman who escaped slavery, conducted other slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, served the Union Army during the Civil War, and worked as a humanitarian and advocate for women’s rights throughout the 50 years she lived in Auburn, New York.

The program will include leading historians presenting new research and insights about Harriet Tubman, highlighting the social context in which she lived, to encourage greater appreciation of our present-day cultural and racial diversity, and to illustrate the relevance of Harriet Tubman's legacy to continuing struggles for human rights throughout the world.

As a kick-off to the Symposium weekend there will be a FREE performance of "A Change Gon' Come," a multi-media stage production of Harriet Tubman's life in slavery and beyond, sponsored by the Cayuga Community College Foundation, on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Irene A. Bisgrove Community Theater at CCC. This performance is open to the general public.

Historian and writer Kate Clifford Larson, Ph.D., author of the 2004 biography,Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero, will deliver the keynote address on Friday night at a special banquet for symposium participants and others interested in attending. Larson has worked as a consultant and interpretive specialist for numerous public history initiatives related to Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad in Maryland, Delaware, and New York. She is currently consulting historian for Maryland's Harriet Tubman State Park and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, and Delaware's newly approved Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. She has also served as a consulting historian for the National Park Service's Harriet Tubman Special Resources Study, resulting in the introduction of the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks Act, now awaiting approval in Congress.

Accomplished actor/writer/producer Millicent Sparks will portray her signature character, Tubman, in a performance of “The Harriet Tubman Living History Experience” on Friday, and a distinguished list of scholars will address the following periods in Tubman's life: the abolitionist movement, the Civil War and Emancipation Proclamation, and Tubman's post-war work as a humanitarian and advocate for Civil and Women's Rights.

On Saturday, the programs will focus on Tubman in Auburn: Past, Present, and Future, including an examination of sites connected with Tubman’s family and friends, archaeological research and architectural restoration at the Tubman Home property, and the proposed Harriet Tubman National Historical Park. In the afternoon, participants will be provided with information to independently attend specially planned tours of the Tubman Home, the Seward House, and other local historic sites, or attend the "Teachers in Conversation: Curriculum Development Workshop," presented by Seward House Museum Education Director John Kingsley and Docent Patricia Nunno.

This program is appropriate for the general public from high school through adults. Cayuga Community College students will be admitted free of charge to the daytime events and performances. There are also a very limited number of scholarships available for students from other institutions and for interested members of the community.

The symposium is made possible through a grant provided by the Cayuga Community Fund, and financial support from sponsors Nucor Steel of Auburn, Welch Allyn, Hilton Garden Inn of Auburn, Springside Inn, and the Cayuga Community College History Club.


For the complete list of speakers and schedule of events, visit www.cayuga-cc.edu/tubman

For additional information, please contact:


Rosemarie Romano, Co-Chair

Harriet Tubman Centennial Symposium

Harriet Tubman Boosters Club

144 Genesee Street, Suite 102-122

Auburn, New York 13021


rosemarie.romano@gmail.com