Activist Pushing For Harriet Tubman Statue At State House
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Civil War-era statues in Maryland continue to generate controversy. Some state lawmakers who want to remove the Taney Statue on the State House lawn met strong opposition in the General Assembly this year.
Now, WJZ's Pat Warren reports, they're being asked to consider an alternative.
This latest proposal doesn't come from Annapolis, it comes from the same College Park student who led a successful campaign to rename the University of Maryland football stadium.
The statue of Roger B. Taney on Maryland's State House lawn poses a problem for some Marylanders -- Taney wrote the Dred Scott Decision, declaring African-Americans born in the U.S. had no rights. A bill to remove the statue failed to get traction in the General Assembly this year.
"I think that the place for the statue is in a very dark corner of a room of shame inside a museum," said Del. Jill Carter, (D) Baltimore bill sponsor.
An alternative approach comes from Colin Byrd, who inspired the move to take Harry Clifton Byrd's name off the University of Maryland football stadium because Byrd refused to allow black students to enroll at the university.
Colin Byrd, who testified in favor of the Taney removal bill, is now with a group proposing the state add a statue of Harriet Tubman.
"His story was one of bigotry and hate. Her story is one of sacrifice, one of the struggle for freedom," Byrd said.
Harriet Tubman was born a slave on the Eastern Shore and led many to freedom through the Underground Railroad.
"I think this is one way to get people to understand that there's two sides to these historical debates, and there are people who did good and there are people who did wrong," Byrd said. "We need to be able to distinguish between right and wrong and call balls and strikes accurately."
Warren: "So it's safe to assume you'll be back in Annapolis next year?"
Byrd: "We'll be back, and we'll be back strong."
But others have tried and failed. Bills to put Tubman and Frederick Douglass statues alongside Taney failed in 2012 and 2013.
Supporters are hoping the U.S. Treasury's decision to put Tubman on the $20 bill will provide some momentum for a Tubman monument.
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