The Star-Democrat from Easton, Maryland • Page 12

JANUARY 2011 CHESAPEAKE 36013 By JENNIFER FU For Chesapeake 360 DORCHESTER Dorchester County holds an important piece of African American history as the place where Harriet Tubman grew up and helped slaves escape to the free states up north. Tubman was born in 1822 and spent her childhood on Edward farm in Bucktown, a few miles from downtown Cambridge. She and her mother and siblings lived on the farm, though Tubman often was hired out to work for other landowners. In Dorchester and other neighboring counties, Tubman launched dangerous escapes and began her crusade. Off U.S.

Route 50 is Bucktown Road. The winding rural road leads to a crossroads where the Bucktown country store is the place where a life-altering event changed Tubman. According to an autobiography on Tubman, for the Promised by Kate Clifford Larson, Tubman received an almost-fatal blow to the head when she was an adolescent. When she was hired out to another landowner, she went with the cook to get supplies at the store. An angry overseer from another farm was searching for a runaway slave found at the store.

During the pursuit, the slave broke free and the overseer threw a heavy stone or iron weight that accidentally hit Tubman in the head. The weight broke her skull and she was carried back to the farm. The blow caused Tubman to suffer from narcolepsy the rest of her life. People who knew her said she would fall asleep in the middle of a con- versation and wake up minutes later. From then on, Tubman began to have visions, which she thought told the future.

The visions were coupled with her fervent religious beliefs. Brodess tried to sell Tubman after the injury weakened her health and she could not work as hard. Tubman said she prayed for her death, and when Brodess died in 1849, Tubman thought her prayers had been answered. When Brodess died, his widow tried to sell Tubman, but she ran away. Tubman left in the middle of the night from Anthony C.

property, where she had been hired to work. Using the North Star and instructions from black and white helpers, she found her way to Philadelphia. The story of Tubman and the Underground Railroad has received growing attention from tourists and local residents. A self-guided driving tour through Dorchester and Caroline counties was created, and a map of the a Way to tour is available at the Dorchester County Visitor Center. The surging public awareness of Dorchester County as an important Underground Railroad site has attracted visitors from Southern states where slavery is not always publicly discussed.

The shame of slavery makes some uneasy. a story people want and can talk about said Marie Bradley, a author who visited the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge to conduct research for her new book, Lost A Kentucky native, Bradley said some Southerners want to discuss slavery, and a Tubman center like the one in Cambridge could never be built in her hometown. Local and national interest in life has been building. New biographies on Tubman provide more accurate and detailed portraits of her life. A local discussion group has gotten residents talking about the Underground Railroad, and tourism efforts have attracted visitors to historical sites.

Dorchester County showcases local connections, birthplace of Harriet Tubman, a conductor of the Underground Railroad Following the freedom trail See RAILROAD Page 14 Stewarts Canal can still be seen today along Md. Rt. 16 South between Madison and Taylors Island. Harriet Tubman and her father, John Ross, were among the enslaved people who dug the canal by hand. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CAROLINE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND JOHN CREIGHTON This 1849 newspaper ad seeks the return of Harriet Tubman, also known as Minty Ross, who had escaped from the plantation on which she worked.

Congress is considering legislation to create a national day of remembrance honoring Harriet Ross Tubman, who was born around 1820 as a slave in Dorchester County and went on to lead others to freedom through the Underground Railroad..