Harriet Tubman Visits Students at LES

Millicent Sparks portrays Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who helped deliver more than 300 slaves to freedom. A grant from the LTEF brought Ms. Sparks to LES.

On Friday, February 3, the entire student body of the Lawrenceville Elementary School was transported back to the 19th century when LES received a visit from a great American hero, Harriet Tubman. This educational trip back in time was made possible through a grant provided by the Lawrence Township Education Foundation at the request of longtime district educator, Eva Bostick Fuller.

Ms. Fuller, a teacher at LES for more than 14 years, has long taught her second grade students about the Underground Railroad, the informal network which existed to help escaping slaves find their way to freedom.

“Over the years, I have always introduced some of the Underground Railroad stories to my students. This year, thanks to a grant that was awarded to me by the LTEF, I have been able to reach all the students in the school,” Ms. Fuller stated.

Harriet Tubman was portrayed by Millicent Sparks, an actress and the Education and Community Outreach Coordinator at the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum in Philadelphia. Tubman, who was herself an escaped slave, made numerous trips into the South to help deliver more than 300 slaves to freedom.

Ms. Sparks, dressed in period clothing and speaking in the dialect of a Southern slave, kept the students enthralled with her evocative and convincing portrayal of Harriet Tubman. Answering questions and telling stories, Ms. Sparks made the students feel as if Harriet Tubman was actually standing right there among them.

She urged all the students to work as hard as they can in school. “Use your freedom to get an education, ‘cause with an education, you will always be free,” Tubman exhorted the students.

The program also included a reading by LES third-grade students, Ziarah Dismukes, Dalacia Green, Tyler Hebbons, and Nakya Livingston, of Eloise Greenfield’s poem, “Ethical Reflection: Harriet Tubman Didn’t Take No Stuff.”

In addition, Bob Bostock, a trustee of the LTEF and a former LES parent, told the students about his discovery many years ago of Underground Railroad-connected artifacts in a secret room in his grandfather’s 18th century house on Cape Cod. Among the artifacts he showed the students were the remnants of an 18th century tea cup, likely used by slaves while hiding in what was known as a “Slave Closet” as they made their way north to freedom.

In addition to the Harriet Tubman program, the grant from the LTEF will also fund an opportunity for LES students to visit some area historic sites connected with the Underground Railroad. “I hope this grant will help broaden the knowledge, not just of African-American history, but also of American history, for all the students at LES,” Ms. Fuller concluded.