New Photo of Young Harriet Tubman Surfaces

'This is the vibrant young Tubman just coming off her work during the Civil War'
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 8, 2017 7:03 AM CST

It's an American hero like you've never seen her before. A newly surfaced photo of Harriet Tubman shows the famous abolitionist not as the older woman seen in familiar images, but much closer in age to the woman who led enslaved families to freedom on the Underground Railroad and served as a Union spy and scout during the Civil War, the Auburn Citizen reports. The photo, authenticated by historian Kate Clifford Larson, was in an album belonging to abolitionist Emily Howland, and it's believed to show Tubman when she was somewhere between 43 and 46 years old, Mic reports. Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland in 1820. She escaped to Philadelphia in 1849 and guided her family and many others to freedom in the following years.

"What's remarkable about this photograph is that she's so proud and dignified and beautiful. She looks so young," Larson tells the Citizen. "This is the vibrant young Tubman just coming off her work during the Civil War. She's building her life with her family in Auburn." Larson, author of a Tubman biography, says that unlike dozens of other photos she has been sent over the years, she realized this photo was a genuine picture of Tubman the moment she saw it. The historic image will be auctioned off March 30 by Swann Galleries as part of an album that is expected to fetch up to $30,000. (Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the front of redesigned $20 bills, although President Trump has said he thinks the $2 would be "more appropriate.")

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