Harriet Tubman Day Act would create federal holiday to honor the abolitionist
Tubman died in 1913; should a federal holiday be enacted in her honor in 2022?
Context
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, escaped to freedom, and helped other slaves escape using the Underground Railroad. Now considered an icon of the abolitionist movement, her face is supposed to adorn the front of the upcoming redesigned $20 bill, replacing President Andrew Jackson. And as represented in popular culture, Cynthia Erivo earned an Academy Award Best Actress nomination for playing Tubman in 2019’s biopic Harriet.
The first new federal holiday in almost four decades, Juneteenth (June 19), was enacted in 2021. Buoyed by that success, Congress members have introduced a higher-than-average number of federal holiday proposals in the subsequent months. GovTrack Insider has covered several, including Rosa Parks Day, September 11th, Lunar (a.k.a. Chinese) New Year, the Hindu festival Diwali, and Gold Star Families Day.
What the bill does
The Harriet Tubman Day Act would create a new federal holiday to honor the bill’s namesake.
When exactly would this holiday take place? The bill doesn’t say. Rather, it specifies that the holiday shall be created but fails to specify a date, only specifying that it be listed in the U.S. Code right after President’s Day. (And thus, implicitly, right before Memorial Day, the next holiday currently listed in the U.S. Code.)
That leaves approximately three months between late February and late May when the holiday could theoretically take place. Tubman’s birth date isn’t much help in narrowing down a potential date either, because not only is her birth date unknown, so is her birth year.
It was introduced in the House on March 9 as H.R. 7013, by Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA2).
What supporters say
Supporters argue that Tubman is no less a towering figure than other individuals who have been honored with federal holidays, such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, and Christopher Columbus.
“Our federal holidays must be a mirror of the American experience while at the same time reflecting our country’s history and diversity,” Rep. Boyle said in a press release. “Harriet Tubman’s brave humanitarian efforts more than a century ago continue to resonate with us today.”
“Ms. Tubman worked day and night to battle the scourge of slavery that had infected our democracy. She saved countless lives and even contributed to several victories in the Civil War,” Rep. Boyle continued. “I feel that enacting a federal holiday in her name is a fitting tribute to someone who did so much for so many.”
GovTrack Insider was unable to locate any explicit statements of opposition, though some may counter that this proposal seems quite similar in its anti-slavery theme to the Juneteenth holiday that was just enacted.
Odds of passage
The bill has attracted five cosponsors, all Democrats. It awaits a potential vote in the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
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This article was written by GovTrack Insider staff writer Jesse Rifkin.
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