Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks Act

Mr. President, as we start Black History Month, I rise today to discuss a national hero that I have spoken about many times on the Senate floor. 2013 is a particularly remarkable year for Harriet Ross Tubman in that March 13, 2013 will mark the 100th anniversary of her death. This noteworthy anniversary makes it all the more appropriate for me to talk about Maryland's Harriet Ross Tubman and her dedication to justice, equality and service to this country. It is also why it is important for Congress to take action this year on The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park Act that I am reintroducing today.

In my career, I have spoken on the Senate Floor, at events in Maryland, in meetings with constituents and with my colleagues about Harriet Tubman's legacy. While I hope each opportunity I have taken to discuss the life of this remarkable woman helps raise awareness about her importance to the history of our great Nation, my ultimate goal is to properly commemorate her life and her work by establishing the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and, in working with my colleagues from New York, also establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, NY.

For the last 5 years I have championed the legislation I am reintroducing today. I appreciate the active support and work my cosponsors of this bill, Senators Mikulski, Schumer and Gillibrand have put into advancing this bill through the Senate. We all share a deep appreciation for how important establishing these parks is to preserving the legacy of this remarkable historical figure in American History but also to how important these parks will be to the communities where they will be located.

I also greatly appreciate the support this legislation has received in the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. In the last Congress, the bill was reported out of committee with bi-partisan support including the support of Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Murkowski. I look forward to working with the Committee's new Chairman, the Senior Senator from Oregon in reporting this bill quickly for the full Senate's consideration.

The establishment of the Harriet Tubman Historical Parks has been years in the making and is long overdue. The mission of the National Park Service has evolved over time from not only preserving natural wonders across the U.S. for recreational purposes but also commemorating unique places of significance to historical events and extraordinary Americans that have shaped our nation.

The woman, who is known to us as Harriet Tubman, was born in approximately 1822 in Dorchester County, MD and given the name Araminta, Minty, Ross. She spent nearly 30 years of her life in slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She worked on a number of different plantations on Maryland's Eastern Shore and as a teenager was trained to be a seamstress. As an adult she took the first name Harriet, and when she was 25 years-old married John Tubman.

In her late twenties, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849. She fled in the dead of night, navigating the maze of tidal streams and wetlands that, to this day, comprise the Eastern Shore's landscape. She did so alone, demonstrating courage, strength and fortitude that became her hallmarks. Not satisfied with attaining her own freedom, she returned repeatedly for more than 10 years to the places of her enslavement in Dorchester and Caroline counties where, under the most adverse conditions, she led away many family members and other slaves to freedom in the Northeastern United States. She helped develop a complex network of safe houses and recruited abolitionist sympathizers residing along secret routes connecting the Southern slave states and Northern Free States. No one knows exactly how many people she led to freedom or the number of trips between the North and South she led, but the legend of her work was an inspiration to the multitude of slaves seeking freedom and to abolitionists fighting to end slavery. Tubman became known as ``the Moses of her people'' by African-Americans and white abolitionists alike. Tubman once proudly told Frederick Douglass that in all of her journeys she ``never lost a single passenger.'' She was so effective that in 1856 there was a $40,000 reward offered for her capture in the South. She is the most famous and most important conductor of the network of resistance known as the Underground Railroad.

During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union forces as a spy, a scout and a nurse. She served in Virginia, Florida and South Carolina. She is credited with leading slaves from those slave states to freedom during those years as well.

Following the Civil War, and the emancipation of all black slaves, Tubman settled in Auburn, NY. There she was active in the women's suffrage movement, and she also established one of the first incorporated African-American homes for aged to care for the elderly. In 1903 she bequeathed the Tubman Home to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Auburn where it stands to this day. Harriet Tubman died in Auburn in 1913 and she is buried in the Fort Hill Cemetery. Fortunately many of the structures and landmarks in New York remain intact and in relatively good condition.

Only recently has the Park Service begun establishing units dedicated to the lives of African-Americans. Places like Booker T. Washington National

Monument on the campus the Tuskegee University in Alabama, the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, The Buffalo Soldiers at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the National Historical Trail commemorating the March for Voting Rights from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, and most recently the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall are all important monuments and places of historical significance that help tell the story of the African-American experience.

As the National Park Service continues its important work to recognize and preserve African-American history by providing greater public access and information about the places and people that have shaped the African-American experience, there are very few units dedicated to the lives of African-American women, and there are no National Historical Parks commemorating African-American women.

I cannot think of a more fitting hero than Harriet Tubman to be the first African-American woman to be memorialized with National Historical Parks that tell both her personal story and her lifelong fight for justice and freedom starting with her fight against the cruel institution of slavery and work of the Underground Railroad she led to her work in the women's suffrage movement.

I hope that my colleagues will support my effort to honor Harriet Tubman and support passage of my bill to authorize the creation of the Tubman National Historical Parks in New York and Maryland. These parks will hopefully pave the way for the Park Service to develop more National Historical Park commemorating the lives of many other important African-American women in our history.

The vision for the Tubman National Historical Parks is to preserve the places significant to the life of Harriet Tubman and tell her story through interpretative activities and continue to discover aspects of her life and the experience of passage along the Underground Railroad through archaeological research and discovery.

The buildings and structures in Maryland have mostly disappeared. Slaves were forced to live in primitive buildings even though many slaves were skilled tradesmen who constructed the substantial homes of their owners. Not surprisingly, few of the structures associated with the early years of Tubman's life remain standing today. The landscape of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, however, is still evocative of the time that Tubman lived there. Farm fields and loblolly pine forests dot the lowland landscape, which is also notable for its extensive network of tidal rivers and wetlands that Tubman, and the people she guided to freedom, under the cover of night. In particular, a number of properties including the homestead of Ben Ross, her father, Stewart's Canal, where he worked, the Brodess Farm, where she worked as a slave, and others are within the master plan boundaries of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

Similarly, Poplar Neck, the plantation from which she escaped to freedom, is still largely intact in Caroline County. The properties in Talbot County, immediately across the Choptank River from the plantation, are currently protected by various conservation easements. Were she alive today, Tubman would recognize much of the landscape that she knew intimately as she secretly led black men, women and children to freedom.

There has never been any doubt that Tubman led an extraordinary life. Her contributions to American history are surpassed by few. Determining the most appropriate way to recognize that life and her contributions, however, has been exceedingly difficult. The National Park Service determined that designating a Historical Park that would include two geographically separate units would be an appropriate tribute to the life of this extraordinary American. The New York unit would include the tightly clustered Tubman buildings in the town of Auburn. The Maryland portion would include large sections of landscapes that are evocative of Tubman's time and are historically relevant.

Harriet Tubman was a true American patriot. She was someone for whom liberty and freedom were not just concepts but values she fought tirelessly for. She lived those principles and so selflessly helped hundreds of other people attain freedom. In doing so, she has earned a nation's respect and honor.

Harriet Tubman is one of many great Americans that we honor and celebrate every February during Black History Month. In schools across the country, American History curriculums teach our children about Tubman's courage, conviction, her fight for freedom and her contributions to the greatness of our Nation during a contentious time in U.S. history. Now it is time to add to Tubman's legacy by preserving and commemorating the places evocative of Harriet Tubman's extraordinary life.

Every year, millions of school children, as well as millions of adults, visit our National Historical Parks gain experiences and knowledge about our Nation's history that simply cannot be found in history books or on the Internet. Our Nation's strength and character comes from the actions of the Americans who came before us and the significant events that shaped our Nation. The National Park Service is engaged in the important work of preserving the places where American history was made and providing a tangible experience for current and future generations to experience and understand. It is one thing to learn about Harriet Tubman from a book, and it is yet a completely different and fulfilling experience to explore, see, listen to and feel the places where she worked as a slave, where she escaped from and where she lived out her life as a free American.

The National Park Service is uniquely suited to honor and preserve these places of historical significance and I urge my colleagues to join me in preserving and growing the legacy of Harriet Tubman by establishing the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks in her honor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, as we start Black History Month, I rise today to discuss a national hero that I have spoken about many times on the Senate floor. 2013 is a particularly remarkable year for Harriet Ross Tubman in that March 13, 2013 will mark the 100th anniversary of her death. This noteworthy anniversary makes it all the more appropriate for me to talk about Maryland's Harriet Ross Tubman and her dedication to justice, equality and service to this country. It is also why it is important for Congress to take action this year on The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park and The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park Act that I am reintroducing today.

In my career, I have spoken on the Senate Floor, at events in Maryland, in meetings with constituents and with my colleagues about Harriet Tubman's legacy. While I hope each opportunity I have taken to discuss the life of this remarkable woman helps raise awareness about her importance to the history of our great Nation, my ultimate goal is to properly commemorate her life and her work by establishing the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and, in working with my colleagues from New York, also establish the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, NY.

For the last 5 years I have championed the legislation I am reintroducing today. I appreciate the active support and work my cosponsors of this bill, Senators Mikulski, Schumer and Gillibrand have put into advancing this bill through the Senate. We all share a deep appreciation for how important establishing these parks is to preserving the legacy of this remarkable historical figure in American History but also to how important these parks will be to the communities where they will be located.

I also greatly appreciate the support this legislation has received in the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee. In the last Congress, the bill was reported out of committee with bi-partisan support including the support of Chairman Bingaman and Ranking Member Murkowski. I look forward to working with the Committee's new Chairman, the Senior Senator from Oregon in reporting this bill quickly for the full Senate's consideration.

The establishment of the Harriet Tubman Historical Parks has been years in the making and is long overdue. The mission of the National Park Service has evolved over time from not only preserving natural wonders across the U.S. for recreational purposes but also commemorating unique places of significance to historical events and extraordinary Americans that have shaped our nation.

The woman, who is known to us as Harriet Tubman, was born in approximately 1822 in Dorchester County, MD and given the name Araminta, Minty, Ross. She spent nearly 30 years of her life in slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She worked on a number of different plantations on Maryland's Eastern Shore and as a teenager was trained to be a seamstress. As an adult she took the first name Harriet, and when she was 25 years-old married John Tubman.

In her late twenties, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849. She fled in the dead of night, navigating the maze of tidal streams and wetlands that, to this day, comprise the Eastern Shore's landscape. She did so alone, demonstrating courage, strength and fortitude that became her hallmarks. Not satisfied with attaining her own freedom, she returned repeatedly for more than 10 years to the places of her enslavement in Dorchester and Caroline counties where, under the most adverse conditions, she led away many family members and other slaves to freedom in the Northeastern United States. She helped develop a complex network of safe houses and recruited abolitionist sympathizers residing along secret routes connecting the Southern slave states and Northern Free States. No one knows exactly how many people she led to freedom or the number of trips between the North and South she led, but the legend of her work was an inspiration to the multitude of slaves seeking freedom and to abolitionists fighting to end slavery. Tubman became known as ``the Moses of her people'' by African-Americans and white abolitionists alike. Tubman once proudly told Frederick Douglass that in all of her journeys she ``never lost a single passenger.'' She was so effective that in 1856 there was a $40,000 reward offered for her capture in the South. She is the most famous and most important conductor of the network of resistance known as the Underground Railroad.

During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union forces as a spy, a scout and a nurse. She served in Virginia, Florida and South Carolina. She is credited with leading slaves from those slave states to freedom during those years as well.

Following the Civil War, and the emancipation of all black slaves, Tubman settled in Auburn, NY. There she was active in the women's suffrage movement, and she also established one of the first incorporated African-American homes for aged to care for the elderly. In 1903 she bequeathed the Tubman Home to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Auburn where it stands to this day. Harriet Tubman died in Auburn in 1913 and she is buried in the Fort Hill Cemetery. Fortunately many of the structures and landmarks in New York remain intact and in relatively good condition.

Only recently has the Park Service begun establishing units dedicated to the lives of African-Americans. Places like Booker T. Washington National

Monument on the campus the Tuskegee University in Alabama, the George Washington Carver National Monument in Missouri, The Buffalo Soldiers at Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the National Historical Trail commemorating the March for Voting Rights from Selma to Montgomery Alabama, and most recently the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial on the National Mall are all important monuments and places of historical significance that help tell the story of the African-American experience.

As the National Park Service continues its important work to recognize and preserve African-American history by providing greater public access and information about the places and people that have shaped the African-American experience, there are very few units dedicated to the lives of African-American women, and there are no National Historical Parks commemorating African-American women.

I cannot think of a more fitting hero than Harriet Tubman to be the first African-American woman to be memorialized with National Historical Parks that tell both her personal story and her lifelong fight for justice and freedom starting with her fight against the cruel institution of slavery and work of the Underground Railroad she led to her work in the women's suffrage movement.

I hope that my colleagues will support my effort to honor Harriet Tubman and support passage of my bill to authorize the creation of the Tubman National Historical Parks in New York and Maryland. These parks will hopefully pave the way for the Park Service to develop more National Historical Park commemorating the lives of many other important African-American women in our history.

The vision for the Tubman National Historical Parks is to preserve the places significant to the life of Harriet Tubman and tell her story through interpretative activities and continue to discover aspects of her life and the experience of passage along the Underground Railroad through archaeological research and discovery.

The buildings and structures in Maryland have mostly disappeared. Slaves were forced to live in primitive buildings even though many slaves were skilled tradesmen who constructed the substantial homes of their owners. Not surprisingly, few of the structures associated with the early years of Tubman's life remain standing today. The landscape of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, however, is still evocative of the time that Tubman lived there. Farm fields and loblolly pine forests dot the lowland landscape, which is also notable for its extensive network of tidal rivers and wetlands that Tubman, and the people she guided to freedom, under the cover of night. In particular, a number of properties including the homestead of Ben Ross, her father, Stewart's Canal, where he worked, the Brodess Farm, where she worked as a slave, and others are within the master plan boundaries of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

Similarly, Poplar Neck, the plantation from which she escaped to freedom, is still largely intact in Caroline County. The properties in Talbot County, immediately across the Choptank River from the plantation, are currently protected by various conservation easements. Were she alive today, Tubman would recognize much of the landscape that she knew intimately as she secretly led black men, women and children to freedom.

There has never been any doubt that Tubman led an extraordinary life. Her contributions to American history are surpassed by few. Determining the most appropriate way to recognize that life and her contributions, however, has been exceedingly difficult. The National Park Service determined that designating a Historical Park that would include two geographically separate units would be an appropriate tribute to the life of this extraordinary American. The New York unit would include the tightly clustered Tubman buildings in the town of Auburn. The Maryland portion would include large sections of landscapes that are evocative of Tubman's time and are historically relevant.

Harriet Tubman was a true American patriot. She was someone for whom liberty and freedom were not just concepts but values she fought tirelessly for. She lived those principles and so selflessly helped hundreds of other people attain freedom. In doing so, she has earned a nation's respect and honor.

Harriet Tubman is one of many great Americans that we honor and celebrate every February during Black History Month. In schools across the country, American History curriculums teach our children about Tubman's courage, conviction, her fight for freedom and her contributions to the greatness of our Nation during a contentious time in U.S. history. Now it is time to add to Tubman's legacy by preserving and commemorating the places evocative of Harriet Tubman's extraordinary life.

Every year, millions of school children, as well as millions of adults, visit our National Historical Parks gain experiences and knowledge about our Nation's history that simply cannot be found in history books or on the Internet. Our Nation's strength and character comes from the actions of the Americans who came before us and the significant events that shaped our Nation. The National Park Service is engaged in the important work of preserving the places where American history was made and providing a tangible experience for current and future generations to experience and understand. It is one thing to learn about Harriet Tubman from a book, and it is yet a completely different and fulfilling experience to explore, see, listen to and feel the places where she worked as a slave, where she escaped from and where she lived out her life as a free American.

The National Park Service is uniquely suited to honor and preserve these places of historical significance and I urge my colleagues to join me in preserving and growing the legacy of Harriet Tubman by establishing the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks in her honor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, this week, specifically June 19, people all across the Nation are engaging in the oldest known observance of the ending of slavery, Juneteenth Independence Day.

It was on June 19, 1865, when African Americans in the Southwest received the news from Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, that the enslaved were free. This was 2\1/2\ years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January, 1, 1863, and months after the conclusion of the Civil War.

For more than 145 years, descendants of slaves have observed this anniversary of emancipation as a remembrance of one of the most tragic periods of our Nation's history. The suffering, degradation and brutality of slavery cannot be repaired, but the memory can serve to ensure that no such inhumanity is ever perpetrated again on American soil.

Today, 42 States, the District of Columbia, and several other countries, including Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, recognize Juneteenth Independence Day with special activities in commemoration of the emancipation of all slaves in the United States.

We also celebrate Juneteenth across the country in large measure because of the efforts of Lula Briggs Galloway, of Saginaw, MI, whose efforts to promote recognition of Juneteenth played a major role in the passage of the first resolution on Juneteenth Independence Day by the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, in 1997.

Already, Congress has observed an important moment today in honoring the history of the fight for justice and equality. The unveiling of a statue depicting Frederick Douglass in Emancipation Hall, on this day, June 19, 2013, means visitors to the Capitol from now forward will be reminded of this man's immense contributions to the moral and intellectual foundations of our Nation's drive for justice. Douglass escaped from slavery and became a leading writer, orator, publisher and one of the most influential advocates for abolitionism, and equality of all people.

Today, I am very pleased that the Senate will unanimously adopt a resolution, S. Res. 175, recognizing the historical significance of Juneteenth Independence Day, which I jointly sponsored with Senator Cornyn, and is cosponsored by Senators Landrieu, Cowan, Harkin, Gillibrand, Cardin, Mark Udall, Leahy, Brown, Stabenow, Durbin, Schumer, Hagan, Murray, Pryor, Cochran, Sessions, Coons, Whitehouse, Shaheen, Kaine, Warner, Boxer, Cruz, Rubio, Risch, Mikulski, Wicker, Baldwin, Casey, Begich, Nelson, Tom Udall and Warren.

The resolution expresses support for the observance of Juneteenth Independence Day, and recognizes the faith and strength of character demonstrated by former slaves, that remains an example for all people of the United States, regardless of background or race.

All across America we also celebrate the many important achievements of former slaves and their descendants. We do so because in 1926, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, son of former slaves, proposed such a recognition as a way of preserving the history of African Americans and recognizing the enormous contributions of a people of great strength, dignity, faith, and conviction--a people who rendered their achievements for the betterment and advancement of a nation once lacking in humanity towards them. Every February, nationwide, we celebrate African American History Month. And, every year on June 19 we celebrate ``Juneteenth Independence Day.''

Lerone Bennett, Jr., writer, scholar, lecturer, and acclaimed Executive Editor for several decades at Ebony Magazine, has reflected on the life and times of Dr. Woodson. Bennett tells us that one of the most inspiring and instructive stories in African American history is the story of Woodson's struggle and rise from the coal mines of West Virginia to the summit of academic achievement:

At 17, the young man who was called by history to reveal

Black history was an untutored coal miner. At 19, after

teaching himself the fundamentals of English and arithmetic,

he entered high school and mastered the four-year curriculum

in less than two years. At 22, after two-thirds of a year at

Berea College [in Kentucky], he returned to the coal mines

and studied Latin and Greek between trips to the mine shafts.

He then went on to the University of Chicago, where he

received his bachelor's and master's degrees, and Harvard

University, where he became the second Black to receive a

doctorate in history. The rest is history--Black history.

In keeping with the spirit and the vision of Dr. Carter G. Woodson, I would like to pay tribute to two courageous women, claimed by my home State of Michigan, who played significant roles in addressing American injustice and inequality. These are two women of different times who would change the course of history.

The contributions of Sojourner Truth, who helped lead our country out of the dark days of slavery, and Rosa Parks, whose dignified leadership sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the start of the civil rights movement, are indelibly etched in the chronicle of the history of this nation. Moreover, they are viewed with distinction and admiration throughout the world.

Sojourner Truth, though unable to read or write, was considered one of the most eloquent and noted spokespersons of her day on the inhumanity and immorality of slavery. She was a leader in the abolitionist movement, and a groundbreaking speaker on behalf of equality for women. Michigan has honored her with the dedication of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Monument, which was unveiled in Battle Creek, MI, on September 25, 1999. In April 2009, Sojourner Truth became the first African American woman to be memorialized with a bust in the U.S. Capitol. The ceremony to unveil Truth's likeness was appropriately held in Emancipation Hall at the Capitol Visitor's Center. I was pleased to cosponsor the legislation to make this fitting tribute possible. Sojourner Truth lived in Washington, DC for several years, helping slaves who had fled from the South and appearing at women's suffrage gatherings. She returned to Battle Creek in 1875, and remained there until her death in 1883. Sojourner Truth spoke from her heart about the most troubling issues of her time. A testament to Truth's convictions is that her words continue to speak to us today.

On May 4, 1999, legislation was enacted which authorized the President of the United States to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks. I was pleased to coauthor this tribute to Rosa Parks--the gentle warrior who decided that she would no longer tolerate the humiliation and demoralization of racial segregation on a bus. I was also pleased to be a part of the effort to direct the Architect of the Capitol to commission a statue of Rosa Parks, which was recently placed in the United States Capitol, making her the second African American woman to receive such an honor.

Her personal bravery and self-sacrifice are remembered with reverence and respect by us all. Over 55 years ago, in Montgomery, AL, the modern civil rights movement began when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus. The strength and spirit of this courageous woman captured the consciousness of not only the American people, but the entire world. The boycott which Rosa Parks began was the start of an American revolution that elevated the status of African Americans nationwide and introduced to the world a young leader who would one day have a national holiday declared in his honor, the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition, the overwhelming majority of my colleagues in the Senate joined me in sponsoring legislation authorizing the Congressional Gold Medal to be presented to Dr. King, posthumously, and Coretta Scott King in recognition of their contributions to the Nation. Companion legislation was led in the House by Representative John Lewis.

We have come a long way toward achieving justice and equality for all. We still, however, have work to do. In the names of Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and many others, let us rededicate ourselves to continuing the struggle of civil rights and human rights.

In closing, I would like to pay tribute to the Juneteenth directors and event coordinators throughout my State of Michigan. They have worked tirelessly in the planning of intergenerational activities in observance of Juneteenth, heading up a wide range of activities over several days in Detroit, Flint, Holland, Lansing, Saginaw, and other areas around the State.

Mr. President, 148 years ago today Union troops arrived in Galveston, TX, to take possession of the State and enforce the promise of the Emancipation Proclamation.

It had been 2 months since General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Courthouse and more than 2 years since President Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation, but word of the proclamation's promise was only now reaching those held in bondage in Texas.

With the reading of General Order No. 3 to the people of Galveston, the last remaining slaves in the United States were officially free.

The date, June 19, 1865, has gone down in history as ``Juneteenth.'' It is a day to celebrate the end of legalized slavery in America and to rededicate ourselves to continuing the struggle for true equality.

I can not think of a better day to welcome to the United States Capitol--at long last--a statue of Frederick Douglass.

The statue of the great abolitionist leader was welcomed in a dedication ceremony earlier today. The statue now stands, appropriately, in Emancipation Hall, the great hall of the Capitol Visitors Center.

The Frederick Douglass statue is only the fourth carved likeness of an African American to be displayed in the United States Capitol. It joins busts of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Douglass' fellow abolitionist leader, Sojourner Truth, and a statue of Rosa Parks, which was dedicated 2 months ago.

Importantly, the Douglass statue is the first statue accepted by Congress from residents of the District of Columbia for display in the United States Capitol.

A federal law gives each State the right to display in the Capitol two statues of its distinguished residents. Although District of Columbia residents pay federal income taxes and serve in our Armed Forces, they have no voting member in Congress and they had no statue in the Capitol, not one, until today.

By accepting the Frederick Douglass statue, Congress honors a great man and, I hope, moves closer to recognizing the rights of Washington, D.C. to be represented fairly in Congress.

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is Washington, D.C.'s only elected representative in either House of Congress and is a distinguished champion of freedom and equality in her own right.

She has been fighting for a dozen years for Washington, D.C.'s right to display two statues in the Capitol, the same as every State.

I was proud to include language in the fiscal 2013 Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill allowing the District to display the Douglass statue in the Capitol. I hope that America's capital city will have a second statue in the Capitol soon.

I can not think of a better or more distinguished choice for the District's first statue than Frederick Douglass.

He was called ``the Lion of Anacostia,'' after the section of Washington where he lived for the last 23 years of his life.

He was a social reformer, a brilliant orator and writer, a statesman and a leader in the movement to abolish slavery in America.

Frederick Douglass knew that evil institution well. He was born into slavery as Frederick Bailey in Talbot County, MD, in 1818. Like many enslaved children at that time, he met his mother only a few times in his life. His father was likely his mother's white owner.

When Frederick Douglass was 8 years old, he was sent to live with his owner's relative in Baltimore. She taught him the first letters of the alphabet but quit when she learned that it was illegal to teach a slave to read.

When he was 15, he was returned to his owner's farm, where he risked his life to educate other slaves.

At the age of 20, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery. Disguising himself as a sailor, he boarded a train from Baltimore to New York City.

It was in New York that he changed his name to Douglass, to avoid being captured.

In the north, Douglass began speaking publicly about the horrors of slavery. He carried his message throughout the country and to other nations.

He published a book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, describing his life as a slave and his efforts to gain his freedom. The book helped transform the debate over slavery--but it also forced Douglass to flee to Europe to avoid being recaptured under the Fugitive Slave Act.

He continued to speak about equal rights for all people in England, Scotland and Ireland. Supporters in Great Britain were so deeply moved that they purchased Douglass' freedom, allowing

him to return to the U.S. after more than 2 years abroad.

Upon returning, he settled in Rochester, NY, and began publishing The North Star, an uncompromising and highly regarded abolitionist newspaper.

When the Civil War broke out, Douglass recruited African American soldiers to fight for the Union Army.

His passionate writing and speeches are widely credited with influencing President Lincoln's evolving aims for the war--from simply preserving the Union to ending slavery in America for all time.

After the war, Frederick Douglass moved to Washington, D.C. He was appointed by Presidents to posts as U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia, Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia, U.S. Minister to Haiti and Charge d'Affaires to the Dominican Republic.

Frederick Douglass was a firm believer in the equality of all people, regardless of race or gender, whether Native American or immigrant.

He famously said: ``I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.'' He also fought for voting rights and home rule for residents of the District of Columbia

I hope that the new statue will encourage Members of Congress to finish Frederick Douglass' fight for District residents to have self- government and Congressional representation.

I will end with a story of the last time Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln saw each other.

It was Inauguration Day 1865. After hearing President Lincoln deliver his Second Inaugural Address at the Capitol, Frederick Douglass went to the White House for a reception in the President's honor.

Police officers refused him entry at first. But President Lincoln got word that Douglass was at the door and instructed that he should be welcomed in.

When President Lincoln saw Frederick Douglass, his face lit up and he said in a booming voice for all to hear: ``Here comes my friend Douglass.''

As we welcome the statue of this revered American to the United States Capitol, we say: ``Here comes our friend Douglass.'' We are very glad you are finally here.

Mr. President, I rise today as an original co-sponsor of Senator Levin's resolution celebrating the 148th anniversary of Juneteenth, the oldest commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, TX, to inform the slaves that they were free. Although the Emancipation Proclamation had taken effect on January 1, 1863, nearly 2\1/2\ years passed before the message reached slaves in Texas and the Union troops enforced the President's order. Nearly 90 years after America's Independence Day, Africans in America finally obtained their independence from slavery. Juneteenth is a day when all Americans can celebrate Black Americans' freedom and heritage.

The House of Representatives and Senate passed resolutions by voice vote in 2008 and 2009, respectively, apologizing for the injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow laws. The resolutions acknowledged that African-Americans continue to suffer from the complex interplay between slavery and Jim Crow long after both systems were formally abolished. This suffering is both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity.

On this day, it is fitting to remember our Nation's painful history. Millions of Africans were torn from their homeland and brought to the Americas as chattel. While it is unknown how many died during the Middle Passage, it is estimated that 645,000 arrived in the United States. My own State of Maryland had slaves. In 1790, more than 100,000 slaves, which would have been about one-third of the State's total population, lived in Maryland. Seventy years later, the 1860 Census indicated that there were more than 4 million slaves nationwide.

Despite Maryland's history of slavery, many Marylanders led the fight for abolition. The Underground Railroad was a secret network that helped enslaved men, women, and children escape to freedom. Its route through Maryland took passengers by boat up the Chesapeake Bay. Ships departed from the many towns located directly on the Bay and from cities on rivers that flowed into the bay, including Baltimore. Many ships' pilots risked their own lives and livelihoods by hiding passengers' and helped them on their way.

Another route led slaves by land up along the Eastern Shore of Maryland and into Delaware, where they could cross into Pennsylvania and go north to freedom in Massachusetts, New York, and Canada. This was the route used by Harriet Ross Tubman, a native of Dorchester County, MD. Tubman not only guided herself and her family to freedom through the Underground Railroad, she also made more than 19 trips to the South to lead more than 300 slaves to freedom. She never lost a ``passenger'' along the route.

Harriet Tubman's legacy lives on. She and the other brave men and women who manned the Underground Railroad are remembered as enduring symbols of America's commitment to equality, justice, and freedom. They fought for the ideals that this country was founded upon despite the fact that their conditions were far from ideal. I have introduced the S. 247, the Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks Act, to create a national park in Maryland that would extend north to New York, along the path Tubman traveled to freedom. This legislation, when enacted, will stand as a monument to all that Harriet Tubman risked her life for. The tenacity with which she fought not only for her freedom but for the freedom of her brothers and sisters is certainly something we should remember and commemorate.

Juneteenth marked both the end of slavery in the United States and the beginning of a long and arduous civil rights movement. In the years since the first Juneteenth, our Nation has no doubt made considerable progress, but many challenges remain. Discrimination, disparities, and racially motivated hate persist. We must confront these issues. We cannot ignore the disparities in health care that result in higher premature birth rates and reduced life expectancy for minority populations. We cannot ignore discriminatory sentencing in our courts or discriminatory lending practices by financial institutions. Racially motivated police brutality and hate crimes cannot stand. We must continue to pursue justice in each of these areas, and for all Americans.

We owe it to the legacy of our predecessors in the battle for racial equality to keep fighting injustice until the declaration that ``all men are created equal"' rings true. We cannot be complacent. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'' We must continue to strive toward elimination of inequality so we can truly honor the spirit of Juneteenth.