(AP) — Revered abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who was the first woman to oversee an American military action during a time of war, was posthumously awarded the rank of general on Monday.
Dozens gathered on Veterans Day at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Maryland’s Dorcester County for a formal ceremony making Tubman a one-star brigadier general in the state’s National Guard.
Nobody would have judged Tubman had she chosen to remain in Philadelphia and coordinate abolitionist efforts from there, Moore said.
The reading of the official order was followed by a symbolic pinning ceremony with Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, Tina Wyatt.
Wyatt hailed her aunt’s legacy of tenacity, generosity and faith and agreed Veterans Day applied to her as much as any other servicemember.
“Aunt Harriet was one of those veterans informally, she gave up any rights that she had obtained for herself to be able to fight for others,” Wyatt said.
In 2022, a Chicago elementary school was renamed for Tubman, replacing the previous namesake, who had racist views. »