Harriet Tubman & the Underground Railroad

Tribute to Harriet Tubman by artist Sam Donovan is located in the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This mural is a tribute to the great works and sacrifices of abolitionists, freedmen and freedwomen like Harriet Tubman and others who risked their lives so that others could live free.

The mural is located across from the Historic Fair Hill Burial Ground, and inspired by the reformers who are buried there. Historic Fair Hill is a 300-year-old Quaker burial ground where many who worked to end slavery and promote equality are buried. This National Historic Site on the Underground Railroad Network is located at the 2900 block of Germantown Ave in North Philadelphia. The Fair Hill Burial Ground, established in 1703, was part of a tract of 16 acres, given by William Penn to George Fox, founder of Quakerism, who left it to Quakers for a meeting house, a burying ground and a school. The present burial ground was laid out in 1843, enlarged in 1854, providing almost 5 acres of open green space in this urban neighborhood. Most of the persons buried at Fair Hill are Quakers, many of them participants in the early abolitionist and women’s rights movements. Some of the more renowned include Lucretia Mott, James Mott, Thomas and Mary Ann McClintock, Sarah Pugh, Ann Preston and Edward Parrish. Some colleagues in the anti-slavery movement, not Friends, are also buried there, most notably Robert Purvis, an African-American known as the President of the Underground Railroad, and his family.