OUR PROJECTS

Harriet Tubman Mural

​Harriet Tubman lived the last 50 years of her life in Auburn, New York. She is best known for her work on the Underground Railroad. However, what is less familiar is that she worked as a nurse, scout and spy during the Civil War becoming the first woman in military history to ever plan and lead a raid freeing more than 750 enslaved persons in South Carolina. She was recently inducted into the American Military Hall of Fame as a result. She went on to speak on behalf of Women's Suffrage in several cities in the Northeast and started both the John Brown Hospital and her Home for the Aged for sick and elderly African Americans in Auburn. This mural will represent these lesser known stories of her life and will be displayed on a building in the center of downtown Auburn to help educate both local citizens and visitors to our community about the rest of her story. We can't complete this project without your support!

To donate by check, make it payable to Harriet Tubman Boosters and mail to: 
Harriet Tubman Boosters, 144 Genesee Street, Suite 102-122,
​Auburn, NY 13021
Please indicate "Mural Donation" on memo line

To Donate via our GoFundMe page go to this link:

To read an article in The Citizen about it, use this link: 



"Harriet Was Here"
​Songwriting Residency Project

June 2021  -  Freedom Begins! Rescue on the Combahee

2018  -  Bridge to Freedom

For the past six years, Genesee fourth grade students have participated in a research and song-writing project with musicians Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino, who go by the name Magpie. This project focuses on Harriet Tubman’s life in Auburn. During the first two weeks of June, over twenty Genesee fourth grade students and six teachers participated virtually in this research and song-writing project. Prior to the start of the project, fourth grade teachers Beth Robinson, Alison Donofrio and Mike Falzarano delivered a packet to each student’s home. The packet included a timeline of Tubman’s life, lyrics to the songs created by 4th graders from the past six years and primary source documents. Each student also received a small apple pie, which they ate together at the first meeting while Mrs. Mlod, librarian at Genesee, read the book “An Apple for Harriet Tubman.” Music teachers Justina Taylor and Erin Woodworth also participated in the project. Part of the research included zooms with Kimberly Szewczyk, Park Ranger for the Tubman National Historical Park, as well as noted author and Tubman scholar Kate Clifford Larson.
Two zoom sessions were held each day of the second week, during which students brainstormed lyrics for the song. The title they chose is “We’ll Make a Way Out of No Way”. It means doing something that others don’t think you can do. It is a phrase that has been used by African Americans for a long time. After finishing the lyrics, Magpie created a melody to accompany the lyrics. Normally the students would be recorded as a group; this year each student met with one of the six teachers in a zoom meeting and was recorded singing the lyrics while listening to the music on headphones.

The students decided to dedicate the song to George Perry Floyd and all of the frontline healthcare workers. A zoom celebration was held on June 19th (Juneteenth) at which time the students and teachers were able to hear the final product, which required an audio engineer to combine each individual student’s performance with that of the musicians. The students’ dedication and perseverance, as well as the support of Martha Swan of the organization John Brown Lives! and the Harriet Tubman Boosters made this project a success. You can hear the song at the website auburnhistory.org.

Magpie facilitated the creation of a song by the students called "Oh Harriet the Brave" in the spring of 2014, the story of "Morgan 'Luke' Freeman" and his safe house in the fall of 2014, and a song entitled "Workin' For Freedom" in 2015. Women in New York State were granted the right to vote in 1917 so students that year wrote "Win the Vote!" Because 2018 was the 200th anniversary of Frederick Douglass' birth, last year's 4th graders wrote "Bridge to Freedom" about Douglass' relationship with Tubman. They were invited to perform it at the annual Frederick Douglass Freedom Festival in Rochester, NY last spring. Students have performed publicly at the Cayuga Museum's Carriage House Theater (Theatre Mack), Seymour Library, the Phoenix Building, in City Council Chambers and in downtown Auburn. They were also invited by the City of Auburn to have their songs professionally recorded for the Equal Rights Heritage Center which opened in October 2018.

Read an article in The Citizen (June 8, 2014) here

Watch a video HERE
of the students singing the "Bridge to Freedom" at the Frederick Douglass Freedom Festival in Rochester, NY. They created this song in May 2018 with Greg Artzner and Terry Leonino (Magpie), and their teachers, Mrs. Gilmore, Ms. Jasinski, Mrs. Mlod, Mrs. Jackson, Mr. Falzarano, and music teacher Ms. Taylor.

Oh, Harriet

Morgan "Luke" Freeman Song

Workin' For Freedom


Click HERE to listen to their song  "Win the Vote" about Harriet Tubman as a suffragist, written in 2017 for the 100th anniversary of
​Women's Suffrage!


Photos from the public performance in May 2016 at the Carriage House Theater sponsored by Tubman Boosters 

Above three photos taken at a performance at Seymour Library in 2016 
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​Plaque Dedication at First Niagara Bank in 2018​
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Tubman Boosters support "Harriet Was Here" Project at First Niagara Bank Plaque Dedication July 2016​

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“Centering Black Women: 
Race in the Woman Suffrage Movement”
New York State signed voting rights for women into law three years before the United States passed the 19th Amendment. The year 2017 marks the centennial of women's suffrage in New York State.  To commemorate this anniversary, Humanities New York is fostering a statewide dialogue about the lasting legacy of women's suffrage, and how it continues to shape American democracy today.   As a part of this effort, The Harriet Tubman Boosters are pleased to announce a 
Lecture by SUNY Oneonta Professor of History, Dr. Susan Goodier​
Sunday, April 30, 2017
2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Cayuga Community College Student Lounge
197 Franklin St, Auburn, NY
Free and Open to the Public
Sponsored by:
The Harriet Tubman Boosters, Cayuga Community College and
​The Osborne Center for Social Justice
Susan Goodier, a scholar who focuses on U.S. women’s activism from the period of the Civil War through the First World War, is coordinator for the Upstate New York Women’s History Organization. She serves as book review editor for the New York History Journal. She is the author of No Votes for Women: The New York State Anti-Suffrage Movement. Goodier holds master’s degrees in Gender History and Women’s Studies, and a PhD in Public Policy History, with subfields in International Gender and Culture and Black Women’s History, from SUNY Albany. She teaches New York State and Women’s History courses at SUNY Oneonta.
 
 Dr. Goodier’s presentation explores the women's suffrage movement and the place of women of color in that movement.  Voting rights were as vital to black women as to white women, but knowledge of their activism is scant.  Today, it is important to learn the stories and points of view of black women suffragists. Putting women of color in the center of the story allows us to examine the phenomenon of race within the framework of an historical movement, at the same time offering us a microcosm of racism in the culture more broadly.  As diverse audiences participate in the recovering of knowledge of this women’s suffrage activism, their awareness could offer another pathway to understanding the complex race issues of today.
 
This program was made possible through the support of
the New York Council for the Humanities’ Public Scholars program. 

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Maryland and Auburn representatives in front of Rep. Richard Hanna's Office        On the lawn in front of the Capitol
Harriet on the Hill Day in Washington, D.C. for the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks Act
Legislation was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Dec. 19, 2014 making the dual site the first ever recognizing an African-American Woman. 

The National Parks Service has approved dual sites in Dorchester, Caroline and Talbot Counties in Maryland where Harriet Tubman was born and lived as a slave, and sites in Auburn, NY where she spent the last 50+ years of her life, for designation as a National Park.  The Harriet Tubman Boosters Club actively supported this legislation.

On September 14, 2011, Rosemarie Romano and Laurel Ullyette of the HTBC joined Auburn Mayor Michael Quill, past-Mayor Guy Cosentino, Chamber of Commerce Exec. Dir. Andrew Fish, Rev. Paul G. Carter and City Planning Dept. member Tricia Ottley, in lobbying in Washington, D.C. at the "Harriet on the Hill" Day, on behalf of the passage of the legislation.  

Read about the National Parks Special Resource Study here:
http://www.harriettubmanstudy.org/

Harriet Tubman: No Longer Underground 
A Centennial Symposium held at Cayuga Community College,
Nov. 8-9, 2013
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This was the first academic symposium ever held on
Harriet Tubman in Auburn, NY.  
Details about the speakers and program may be found at this website:  
http://www.cayuga-cc.edu/tubman/pages.php?p=81

Mrs. Pauline Copes Johnson
Great Great Grandniece of Harriet Tubman

Left to right:  
Front, HTBC President Laurel Ullyette, Deidre’ Johnson Stanford, Rosemarie Romano, Pauline Copes Johnson
Back:  Melissa Howell, Keynote Speaker Kate Clifford Larson,  Joy Lewis, John Kingsley

Sheila Myers & Romy Romano
C0-Chairs, Symposium Planning Committee

Mrs. Jan and Dr. Milton Sennet 
and Beth Crawford

Harriet Tubman Memorial Highway

Picture
Pauline Copes-Johnson as Harriet Tubman

The Harriet Tubman Boosters Club is proud to have formulated and carried out the effort to name NYS Route 34 "The Harriet Tubman Memorial Highway".  In 2010 we conceived of the idea to name a state route for Harriet Tubman and selected Rt. 34 for its symbolism of running north and south and because it runs directly past the Harriet Tubman Home at 180 South Street in Auburn.  We approached Sen. David Valesky who was happy to introduce the legislation in the NYS Senate.  Assemblyman Gary Finch was successful in enlisting every member of the NYS Assembly in signing on as a co-sponsor of the legislation.  Governor David Patterson signed it into law that same year.  We were finally successful in setting up a formal dedication ceremony with the support and cooperation of Auburn's Mayor Michael Quill as a kick off to the 2013 Centennial Year Harriet Tubman Founders Day event.  The Cayuga County Health Department sponsored a "Walk in Harriet's Footsteps" symbolizing the many miles Harriet walked back and forth between her home, William Seward's house and downtown Auburn over her 50 years here.  Due to planned construction there will be a delay in actually placing the two NYS highway signs at the north and south gateways to Auburn, but like Harriet, the HTBC will "Keep Going" until it's done. 
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What Would Harriet Do?
Jan. 18 & 19, 2013.  – Harriet Tubman Boosters Club What Would Harriet Do? Series.  1/2hr film “Not for Sale”, discussion on Tubman and Seward’s roles in abolition, Human Trafficking (modern day slavery), at Auburn Public Theater.

July 29 - Aug. 2 -  “What Would Harriet Do?” - "Auburn Heroes" week at Booker T. Washington Community Center Summer Youth Program.  The children will participate in a wide variety of activities, including learning how Harriet Tubman grew food and sold it to Auburn residents, engaging in this character trait of self-sufficiency in their own lives by growing their own food in the BTW community garden.  They will also visit key historical sites in Auburn, modeling Harriet Tubman’s dedication to helping others by engaging in community service.

Oct. 19, 2013 - "What Would Harriet Do?" - Program with Hospice and Absolute Dance Company recognizing Tubman's humanitarian work with the sick and aged.  Special Harriet Tubman "Ribbons of Hope" performance by ADC.  Afternoon and Evening performance times TBA.  Location: Theater Mack at Cayuga Museum  http://cayugamuseum.org/theater-mack/
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The Life of Harriet Tubman: 
A Spiritual Journey Through Music 
CD, with the Syracuse Gospel Music Workshop of America.  Concert performed at Willard Chapel, Auburn, NY, on Feb. 12, 2012.  CD available for purchase on this website, or email harriettubmanboosters@gmail.org for information.