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Harriet Tubman

Special Events

A poster advertising Underground Railroad Week
Join Harriet Tubman NHP and Women's Rights NHP for Underground Railroad Week events!

NPS

September 16-21, 2025: Underground Railroad Week

The Underground Railroad is one of the most remarkable stories in American history. This is a story of ordinary men and women coming together in harmony, united to pursue the extraordinary mission of helping those in their journey to freedom. This movement, which thrived from the late 18th century through the Civil War, was a testament to the power of unity, courage, and a shared commitment to liberty.

September is International Underground Railroad Month. This month was chosen because it was the month that two of the most well known freedom seekers and Underground Railroad operatives, Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman, escaped from slavery.

Join us for a week of guest speakers, programs, and special activities highlighting the importance of the Underground Railroad and the role that prominent women's rights activists and abolitionists played in this network of freedom seekers and their supporters.

This event is provided in cooperation with Women's Rights National Historical Park.

Featured Programs

Ongoing Activities

Craft: "Inspiration Bracelets" (Friday-Saturday only)

Word bracelets are a great way to give yourself a daily reminder of what inspires you! Harriet Tubman’s bravery, compassion, and resilience are an inspiration to many people who learn about her story. Take a moment to create your own “inspiration” bracelet to remind you of Harriet Tubman’s life and legacy.

Thompson Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church Community Case

Discover some fun archeological finds from the Parsonage rehabilitation project in the rotating “community case” exhibit. Learn about the community that Harriet Tubman was a part of in Auburn, and which continues to uphold her legacy of faith and service.

Wednesday, September 17:

6pm: "The Underground Railroad as Afrofuturism: Exploring New Galaxies in the Outer Spaces of Slavery" with Dr. dann j. Broyld
Location: Cayuga Museum Carriage House Theater (203 Genesee St (Rear) Auburn)

This lecture employs the lens of Afrofuturism to address new dimensions of the Underground Railroad, detailing what imagination, tact, and technology, it took for fugitive Blacks to flee to the "outer spaces of slavery." The talk addresses the intersections of race, technology, and liberation by retroactively applying a modern concept to dynamic historical Black moments. Special attention will be paid to runaways in Central and Western New York that fled to Canada, as well as Harriet Tubman, and Frederick Douglass.

This lecture is hosted in partnership with the Cayuga Museum in Auburn, New York. Dr. Broyld will appear virtually. American Sign Language interpretation is made possible through a grant provided by the National Park Foundation.

dann j. Broyld is an associate professor of African American History at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He earned his PhD in nineteenth-century United States and African Diaspora History at Howard University. His work focuses on the American–Canadian borderlands and issues of Black identity, migration, and transnational relations as well as oral history, material culture, and museum-community interactions. He was a 2017-18 Fulbright Canada scholar at Brock University and his book Borderland Blacks: Two Cities in the Niagara Region During the Final Decades of Slavery (2022) was published with the Louisiana State University Press. Borderland Blacks won the Ontario Historical Society's 2022-23 Fred Landon Book Award. Copies of Dr. Broyld's book, Borderland Blacks, are available for purchase at the Women's Rights NHP bookstore.

Thursday, September 18:

1pm: “The Life and Legacy of Harriet Tubman in Her Birth State of Maryland” with Ranger Joanna Trojanowski from Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park (Maryland State Parks)
Location: Women's Rights Guntzel Theater (136 Fall St, Seneca Falls)

Learn about the landscape and community that shaped Harriet Tubman into the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad. Get a chance to see how the Maryland Park Service in partnership with the National Park Service, interprets Harriet Tubman's youth in Dorchester County and shares her courageous life story of escaping slavery and journeys on the Underground Railroad with visitors.

Friday, September 19:

1pm: “Forged in Freedom: The Sewards and the Underground Railroad” with Kate Grindstaff, Seward House Museum
Location: Thompson Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church (49 Parker St, Auburn)

Harriet Tubman's journey from Civil War battlefields extends into today's boardrooms as the fight for fair pay continues. This presentation will focus on Harriet Tubman's quest for her earned wages while examining the ongoing journey toward pay equity for women.

All Friday programs, including regularly scheduled ranger programs, will include American Sign Language interpretation, made possible by a National Park Foundation grant.

 

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Last updated: September 5, 2025

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Contact Info

Mailing Address:

Harriet Tubman National Historical Park
P.O. Box 769

Auburn, NY 13021-0769

Phone:

(315) 835-5945

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