 I'm Reverend Paul Gordon Carter and I'm the resident manager here at the Harriet Tubman home in Auburn, New York. Harriet Tubman was a woman who was willing to put her life on the line to go back to help her family become free. She ended up in the Auburn area where she lived for approximately 55 years of her life. She was able to acquire 32 acres of land on which she had her residence, which the original one burned down in 1880. And then she had the brick house built on the same foundation where the wood framed house was destroyed. It was built by a second husband, nephews and brothers who were brickmasons in the area and they built the brick house. And then there's the barn behind the house, but she also established a home for the aged on some property that she purchased in 1896. Her original home was purchased by her with the help of William Seward in 1859. But her home for the aged and the infirmary that she named after John Brown were established on the property that she purchased in 1896 through a land auction. And now the property is owned by the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church and has been so since 1903 and they've conducted tours here since 1953. She was a woman who had tenacity and courage and had the mindset that she understood that freedom was something that everybody should have and that it was against the dictates of God for someone to capture someone and then hold them hostage and not allow them to have their freedom. So she was a woman who was willing to put her life on the line, go back through slavery and free all of those who could because freedom was important to her as well as family and faith and things of that sort. Many people don't realize that Harry Tubman was not a very big woman. She was only four feet, 11 inches tall. Many know that she was illiterate, could not read or write, but though she was not able to read and write, I always like to remind people that just because she was what we consider illiterate does not mean that she was ignorant. She was able to learn things from her parents and other people that she came across to such a point that she was able to parlay it into a 32-acre estate with her own home, a home for the age, the hospital, a pig farm, vegetable garden and a small apple orchard that she used to generate income for the rest of her life. Also people are not aware of the fact that Harry Tubman was the only woman that we are aware of who was able to lead, of any color I should say, who was able to lead soldiers into battle during the Civil War. She went on several raids and it has been said that on the raids she led, none of the men who served with her were killed during the times that they served with her. So just that fact in itself is a very important fact as it relates to her life and some of the things she did with it. Well Harry Tubman is buried here in the city of Auburn in upstate New York. She is buried at the Fort Hill Cemetery which is located off of Fort Street here in the city of Auburn and she has been there since her death in 1913 and her grave marker that is there now is not the original marker but that was one that was placed there by the Empire State Federation of Women back in the 30s. She is well known and well noted in the community. Most people that come want to go to her grave and they go there and many people leave items that are important to them. Some people just stand there and cry but she is located here in the city of Auburn at Fort Hill Cemetery which is approximately two miles three minutes from her home. Well if you know anything about Harriet you know that she was an extraordinary woman and for those of you who want to know something about Harriet I truly believe that Harriet was a woman who believed it was better to live for a cause rather than living just be cause and so when you get that mindset as it relates to her you will understand that sometimes you have to have a cause that's greater than yourself if you expect to make a difference in the world.