Cardin, Harris meet with Tubman advocates
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin and Rep. Andy Harris spoke Wednesday with advocates who are hoping to build support in Congress for a national park system in Maryland and New York that would honor Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman.
Cardin is the lead sponsor of a bill that would create a park in Caroline, Dorchester and Talbot counties – along with a separate park in Auburn, N.Y. – to remember the Eastern Shore woman who was born into slavery but ultimately lead dozens of slaves to freedom.
“Harriet Tubman is one of our heroes in America,” the Maryland Democrat told the advocates, who gathered on Capitol Hill. “Her story is an incredible story. We are fortunate in Maryland that the landscape still exists.”
“Now is the time,” Harris, a Baltimore County Republican who represents the Eastern Shore, told the group.
The parks bill is currently pending in the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, which held a hearing on it in May.
During the legislative session in Annapolis this year state lawmakers considered sending a statue of Tubman to the U.S. Capitol. Because each state may submit only two statues to the Capitol, Maryland would have had to remove a statue of founding father John Hanson. The legislation ultimately did not pass.
Maryland received a federal grant earlier this year to build the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center in Dorchester County. The Center is scheduled to be completed in 2013, 100 years after Tubman's death.
Comments
I love the way Andy Harris from Baltimore County parades as if he's from the Eastern Shore. Now supporting Harriet Tubman. He is such a hypocrite.
Posted by: Marla Commonsenseii | September 14, 2011 3:08 PM
@Marla,
Maybe you should remember that the next time the Governor and his dark minions in the General Assembly talk about redistricting... its not Andy Harris' fault that his house in Cockeysville was put in the same district as the Eastern Shore (while houses just down the road are the 6th District).
That was the gerrymandering brought to us by the likes the state Democrats trying to protect Dutch Ruppersberger in the 2nd District.
Posted by: Gunpowder Chronicle | September 14, 2011 4:12 PM
Where is Ben Cardin from?
Posted by: TImmy | September 14, 2011 4:27 PM
How much is it going to cost to build? How much is it going to cost to maintain? Who is going to pay for it?
This is a nice idea, but WE CANNOT AFFORD IT! Jeesh, get a clue! And no, I DON'T care who else already has parks, etc., in their name. We don't have the money and we cannot afford it.
Posted by: mar | September 14, 2011 4:28 PM
A waste of the People's hard earned dollars. This is nothing more than pandering for AA votes at taxpayer expense. That's part of the game, you say? So is being booted out of office..............
Posted by: MDR | September 14, 2011 5:37 PM
This effort to honor Harriet Tubman creates jobs, generates increased tourism revenue, supports American historicsites in New York and Maryland, and will also spur interest and heritage tourism (new dollars) in many other states where the Underground Railroad existed.
Posted by: Lou Fields | September 20, 2011 11:16 AM