A new statue of abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman was unveiled Friday in downtown Binghamton.
The statue is part of the Downtown Binghamton Freedom Trail, a public trail that marks stops along the Underground Railroad, as well as other anti-slavery and civil rights sites.
Professor Anne Bailey is the director of the Harriet Tubman Center at Binghamton University. The statue is the result of four years of work by the center.
For her, the work to erect the statue in Binghamton has personal meaning.
“I feel an incredible debt, and I mean a debt, to people like Harriet Tubman and the other group of multicultural heroes on this trail who, to me, are real heroes,” Bailey said. “What they did, their sacrifices, their fearlessness, the actions that they took, that's what's made my life possible. I would not have the life that I have, my family would not have the life that we have, without their actions.”
SUNY Chancellor John King reflected on Tubman’s legacy.
“Without Harriet Tubman's courage, bravery and perseverance in the face of the unfathomable cruelty of slavery, without her belief that the words of the Declaration of Independence must mean what they say, there would be no Bud Fowler, there would be no Martin Luther King Jr., and you and I may not be here today," King said.
In addition to the unveiling, there will be a talk and reception with Zoe Dufour, the artist who sculpted the statue, on Monday at 5 p.m. in the Fine Arts Building on the Binghamton University campus.