New Harriet Tubman Museum Opens In Cape May, N.J.; Juneteenth & Questions of The Future

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Last edited Sun Jun 20, 2021, 02:14 PM - Edit history (1)

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'Juneteenth Brings Joy, A New Tubman Museum And Questions Of The Future.' NPR, June 20, 2021. - Excerpts, Ed.

A Juneteenth celebration in Cape May, N.J., yesterday doubled as the grand opening day of the new Harriet Tubman Museum. About 200 people gathered in Rotary Park for the city's first significant Juneteenth celebration, organized by the museum. The event of African drumming and speeches by town leaders drew some for their first taste of Juneteenth as it becomes a national holiday.

"I thought the event was very inspirational," said Shirlene Darby, of nearby Whitesboro, who had never celebrated Juneteenth before. "Just knowing that we're going to be getting together every Juneteenth as a national holiday, I just think it's something good. It's a long time coming." Some celebrants in other cities had a mixture of enthusiasm and challenging questions for the federal government. "It's a day of excitement and exuberance, but we have to temper it," said the Juneteenth commissioner in San Antonio, Texas. Tempered, Byron E. Miller said, because full justice has yet to emerge.



- Harriet Tubman was a leader in the Underground Railroad & during the Civil War she worked as a scout & spy for the U.S. Army in Union- occupied areas of the South.

Back in Cape May, N.J., many came to Rotary Park on Juneteenth specifically to celebrate the opening of the Harriet Tubman Museum. The Smithsonian magazine had listed it as one of the most anticipated museums of 2020, but its opening was delayed for a year because of the pandemic. Tubman's time in Cape May was short. It is known she spent a summer there – maybe 2 summers – working in the resort hotels to raise money to fund her work with the Underground Railroad. She later came back through Cape May to shepherd 9 escaped former slaves up to Canada.

The small museum in a restored 19th c. parson's house tells the story of Tubman, and also that of the once-vibrant African American community in Cape May. One wall is filled floor-to-ceiling with a list of all the Black-owned businesses in Cape May since the 1930s. The opposite wall features a timeline of Black activity in the town, from the founding of the first free Black community in the 1820s, to the first Black resort hotel – the Banneker House – in 1845, and up to today...

Full Article,
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/20/1008403303/juneteenth-brings-joy-a-new-tubman-museum-and-questions-of-the-future

- Harriet Tubman Museum, https://www.harriettubmanmuseum.org/about

- Philly Voice, Harriet Tubman Museum Opens In Cape May
https://www.phillyvoice.com/harriet-tubman-museum-opens-cape-may-juneteenth/

- Cape May's Role In History,
https://www.capemay.com/blog/2001/09/cape-mays-role-in-history-pathway-to-freedom/

- Harriet Tubman Museum in Cape May.