She may not be on a dollar bill yet, but one famous Auburnian will soon appear on a new stamp.
As part of the United States Postal Service’s Underground Railroad series, ten men and women who escaped slavery and/or helped others escape will be commemorated on stamps.
Harriet Tubman will be one such abolitionist to appear on the Forever stamps. Born into slavery on a Maryland plantation, Tubman would escape to freedom in Philadelphia in 1849. She would become a conductor on the Underground Railroad, being dubbed the “Moses of her people.” During the Civil War, she served as a nurse, spy, and scout for the Union Army.
Tubman purchased a farm in Auburn from the Seward family in 1859. Following the war, she would become active in the women’s suffrage movement as well as create the Home for the Aged on her Auburn property. Following her death in 1913, she was laid to rest in Fort Hill Cemetery.
Other abolitionists featured on the stamps include Frederick Douglass and Reverend Jermain Wesley Loguen. Douglass lived in Rochester from 1847-1872 where he is buried. Loguen taught in Syracuse and Bath while also ministering in Ithaca and Troy.
The other seven men and women appearing on the stamps are Catherine Coffin, Thomas Garrett, Laura Haviland, Lewis Hayden, Harriet Jacobs, William Lambert, and William Still.
Tubman was previously featured on stamps in 1978 and 1995. The photo used for the most recent Tubman stamp was taken by Auburn photographer Benjamin Powelson.
There have been plans to put Tubman on the $20 bill since 2016. Earlier this year, three commemorative coins bearing her image were issued by the US Mint.
The stamps will be available for purchase on March 9.
