Activist wants Harriet Tubman statue at Md. State House

Associated Press//August 26, 2016//

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The Harriet Tubman Museum and Learning center in Cambridge, Maryland, contains a section documenting Harriet Tubman's life as a slave on the Eastern Shore. (DANIEL KERRY/CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE) — The Harriet Tubman Museum and Learning center in Cambridge, Maryland, contains a section documenting Harriet Tubman’s life as a slave on the Eastern Shore. (DANIEL KERRY/CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE)

ANNAPOLIS— A student activist is calling for a statue of Harriet Tubman to be added to the grounds of the Maryland State House.

The Washington Post reports that University of Maryland student Colin Byrd thinks his push for the Tubman statue will be able to gather momentum after the Treasury Department decided to put the abolitionist on $20 bills.

The area surrounding the capitol building has been controversial because it houses a statue of Roger Taney, the Supreme Court justice who authored the pro-slavery Dred Scott decision.

Legislation that called for installing statues of Tubman and fellow abolitionist Frederick Douglass failed in 2012 and 2013.

Tubman spent nearly 30 years in Dorchester County as a slave before escaping in 1849. She led hundreds of slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

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