PDA Event: Meet Harriet Tubman

Presenter: Kathryn Harris

If you could step back in history, with whom would you like to have a conversation and lunch?  
 
If Harriet Tubman is your choice, please join Kathryn Harris as she presents her first-person presentation as "Harriet Tubman". Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most famous Conductor on the Underground Railroad and Ms. Harris tells her life story, including not only her own escape to freedom, but also the trips she made back South to free her family and others so that they could also experience the "sweet taste of freedom".

About Kathryn Harris:

A native of Carbondale, IL and a graduate of Southern IL University—Carbondale, Kathryn M. Harris is the first woman and the first African American to serve as the President of the Abraham Lincoln Association since its inception in 1909.  Harris served in this capacity from February, 2016 to February, 2018.  She received her Masters of Library Science degree from the University of IL at Champaign-Urbana, and retired in 2015 as the Library Services Director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, formerly the IL State Historical Library, after more than 25 years of service. She began her library career at the Lincoln Library, Springfield’s public library before moving to Florida and serving in a supervisory capacity at Florida International University, Miami.  

She has held managerial and supervisory positions at the IL State Library and the SIU School of Medicine Library in Springfield. She has served on the Board of the IL Library Association and the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI); in addition she is a Past President of the Sangamon County Historical Society and is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the IL State Historical Society.   The Illinois State Historical Society called has called her “The First Lady of Illinois History”.  In 2015, she was recognized by the Springfield Rotary Club as a Paul Harris Fellow and she was honored as a Woman of Influence by the Springfield Business Journal.  She was also recognized by the Illinois Society of Public Administrators as an Outstanding Public Administrator.   She was named the 2020 State Journal –Register First Citizen from a field of more than twenty nominations.

Harris has also served on the Board of the IL Humanities Council (now IL Humanities) and has served as a Road Scholar.  She also serves on the Board of the Springfield and Central IL African American History Museum. 

Harris presents one woman first-person performances which honor four historic 19th century African American women:  Harriet Tubman, Underground Railroad Conductor; Jarena Lee, the first female preacher in the African Methodist Episcopal Church; Phoebe Florville, wife of William Florville, Abraham Lincoln’s barber; and Elizabeth Keckley, seamstress and confidante of First Lady Mary Lincoln.   Harris makes these presentations to school children, civic, church and social groups; her favorite character to introduce to audiences is Harriet Tubman. 

Register for this free Zoom event.

Sponsored by CARLI