Friday, February 27, 2009  Black History Month  African American
abolitionist Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, but escaped
to Philadelphia in 1849, and subsequently became one of the most
successful “conductors” on the Underground Railroad. Returning
to the South more than a dozen times, she is generally credited
with leading more than 300 slaves--including her parents and
brother--to freedom, sometimes forcing the timid ahead with a
loaded revolver. She became a speaker on the anti-slavery
lecture circuit and a friend of the principal abolitionists;
John Brown almost certainly confided his Harpers Ferry plan to
her.  African American civil-rights leader Julian Bond, was a a
student at Morehouse College, participating in sit-ins at
segregated Atlanta restaurants. In 1960 he founded the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee--SNCC--serving as its
communications director until 1965, when he was elected to the
Georgia assembly. Bond was denied his seat because of his
statements opposing the war in Vietna