In Boston, etched in the granite of one of the sculptures in Harriet Tubman Park, are four quotes from three people.
The park is located at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Warren Avenue, on the south side of the intersection.
The sculpture is located at one corner of the park. The sculpture features Harriet Tubman in full 3D walking out from the sculpture, with other people in bas-relief in the background. In back of the monument, etched in granite, are several quotes,
1. Harriet Tubman (first quote:
"There are two things I've got a right to, and these are death or liberty. One or another I mean to have. No one will take me back alive.
-Harriet Tubman"
According to HarrietTubman.org, the following is a longer extract and its source:
"“There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are, Death or Liberty – one or the other I mean to have. No one will take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty, and when the time has come for me to go, the Lord will let them, kill me”.
Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman By Sarah Hopkins Bradford"
2. Quote 2 for Harriet Tubman:
"Tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good old ship of Zion comes along to be ready to step aboard.
-Harriet Tubman"
I found a source through Google Books that provides more context. The statement was part of a letter that she dictated (she could neither read or write, herself) to freed man Jacob Jackson, which was a coded message to two of her brothers who were to be sold off at an auction that they should prepare themselves to run away with her (she being the ship of Zion).
Source:
Speak a Word for Freedom: Women Against Slavery, Janet Willen and Marjorie Gann, Tundra Books (Penguine-Random House), 2015.
3. Frederick Douglas
The text is as follows:
"The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witness of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism."
Frederick Douglass"
The Wall Street Journal has the quote in the text of a letter that Frederick Douglass sent to Harriet Tubman on August 29, 1868. The full text is as follows:
"Dear Harriet: I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been written by a kind lady, and that the same is soon to be published. You ask for what you do not need when you call upon me for a word of commendation. I need such words from you far more than you can need them from me, especially where your superior labors and devotion to the cause of the lately enslaved of our land are known as I know them. The difference between us is very marked. Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You on the other hand have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day—you in the night. I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction that comes of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scarred, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt “God bless you” has been your only reward. The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown—of sacred memory—I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have. Much that you have done would seem improbable to those who do not know you as I know you. It is to me a great pleasure and a great privilege to bear testimony to your character and your works, and to say to those to whom you may come, that I regard you in every way truthful and trustworthy.
Your friend,
Frederick Douglass"
Source: WSJ - (
visit link)
4. Sarah Bradford:
"She expected deliverance when she prayed, unless the Lord ordered otherwise.
Sarah Bradford"
Sarah is an author.