A bronze statue of Harriet Tubman stands in Harriet Tubman Public School in St. Catharines. It is the second statue of Tubman in Canada. The first one was dedicated in 2010, also in St. Catharines, and stands near the British Methodist Episcopal Church of Canada-Salem Chapel. Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) escaped slavery in Maryland and set herself free. She then became a conductor on the underground railroad (a secret network of routes and safe houses for fugitive slaves), and returned to Maryland several times, leading hundreds of enslaved people to freedom in St. Catharines, Canada, where slavery was abolished in 1834. She also lived in St. Catharines for ten years, not far from the school that now bears her name. Read more about HerStory here. The statue was created by former Niagara artists Frank Rekrut and his wife Laura Thompson and unveiled on February 9th, 2016. It depicts Tubman sitting, holding a book titled, The Story of Harriet Tubman. Tubman couldn’t read nor write but was a great believer in the importance of education, and as a wanted fugitive, she used to act as if she was reading to undercover herself. Read more...

A bust stone statue of the abolitionist and activist Harriet Tubman stands on a pedestal outside the Salem Chapel British Methodist Episcopal (BME) Church in St. Catharines, Ontario. Upon its dedication on February 9th, 2010, it was the first statue of Tubman outside the US. It was created by the former Niagara artists Frank Rekrut. In 2016, Rekrut created Tubman’s bronze statue, which stands in the Harriet Tubman Public School in St. Catharines. Harriet Tubman (1822-1913), also known as the Black Moses, was one of the bravest conductors on the underground railroad, a secret network of routes and safe houses for enslaved people who escaped to their freedom. After escaping slavery in 1949, she helped hundreds of enslaved people escape from Maryland and the south to northern states and St. Catharines, Canada, the last stop on the underground railroad where they became free. Tubman lived for several years in St. Catharines and helped build the BME church with other freed slaves, and was a church member together with many other people who found their freedom in St. Catharines. Tubman’s bust sits on a black marble pedestal that reads, “after the passing of the USA 1850 fugitive slave law, she said, ‘I wouldn’t trust Uncle Sam with my people no longer. I brought them all clear off to Canada.’” Nearby the statue is a large plaque with information about Tubman’s life story. In October 2021, the statue was vandalized and damaged badly. Right now, the church is fundraising to recreate it. Read more...