harriet tubman’s no-nonsense badassness continues to inspire freedom fighters over 100 years after her death

When you think of the abolition of slavery, and those who led the charge, Harriet Tubman should be one of the first to come to mind. Tubman learned from her own escape from slavery, but she didn’t stop there. Taking matters into her own hands, The Civil War spy and Underground Railroad conductor dedicated her life to freeing others, and over a century after her death, movement workers fighting for Black liberation are still learning lessons from her, and still have many more to learn.

In about a decade of conducting the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes guiding slaves to freedom, Tubman made 19 trips, freeing 300 Black people. This required a type of fearlessness and tenacity that only comes with a deep love for Black people. Because of this and other parallels between hers and the biblical story, Tubman was often referred to as “Moses.”

“Her ability to capture the imagination begins with the fact that she demonstrated that one person can make such a difference,” One of her biographers, Catherine Clinton, told the Washington Post.

On the 100th anniversary of her death in 2013, officials debuted the Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. The same day, Maryland designated a 125-mile driving tour, dubbed the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.

We haven’t forgotten you, freedom fighter!