Syracuse and Auburn Rotarians welcomed CNY Rotary President Lizzy Martin (front row/center) to a journey into history. The occasion was a visit organized by the Rotary Book Club to the Harriet Tubman Museum in Auburn. It was the culminating activity of the club’s reading of “Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People.” The book was co-authored by Syracuse Rotarian Michele Jones Galvin, a direct descendant of Harriet Tubman’s sister.
The day started with Museum Historian Reverend Paul Carter giving a rousing presentation. He painted a picture of Harriet Tubman’s life that was so vivid that his audience felt placed in the middle of her suffering, her escape from enslavement, and her risky returns to lead others to freedom. He even passed around a two-pound weight of a kind that was thrown by an enraged overseer that bashed Harriet in the forehead, nearly killing her and causing sudden blackouts throughout her life.
Departing from the museum, the group reunited at the Thompson Memorial AME Zion Church, where Tubman was a regular parishioner. There, in the modest nave of the historic church, Michele read an excerpt from her book about the passing of Harriet Tubman, and the memorial service that took place in the church. As she read, the group was transported to March 13, 1913. On that day, as Harriet Tubman’s body lay before the altar, her family, the Auburn community and indeed the whole world began mourning that continues to this day for this heroic, tiny, but powerful woman.
