National Harriet Tubman Historical Park Wins Final Approval

A national park dedicated to iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman has finally been approved.

This past Tuesday the Obama administration gave the final sign off on a project that will turn Tubman's former home in Auburn, New York, into a new national park.

According to a report by Syracuse.com, the U.S. Department of Interior has completed a land transfer agreement that will now allow the National Park Service to establish what will inevitably become the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park. The park will not only include the site of Tubman's old home but the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church that Tubman attended too.

U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is expected to sign the documents that will approve the project, before President Obama leaves office later this month.

"As a New Yorker and an American, I'm deeply proud to see Tubman Park finally become a reality," Senator Charles Schumer said. "The Tubman Historic Park in Auburn will be a magnet for visitors that will tell the amazing story of Harriet Tubman's life, an extraordinary American, and her story deserves to be shared with our children and grandchildren. This park will serve that solemn purpose and preserve her legacy for countless generations to come."

Aside from being immortalized with her own national park, Tubman is also one of the standout characters for this upcoming second season of TV show Underground. The Underground Railroad hero will be portrayed by Aisha Hinds, and by the looks of trailers that have been released in anticipation of the season's premiere, Hinds is doing Tubman justice.

A film on Tubman is also in the works. Titled Harriet, the biopic will be spearheaded by TV director Seith Mann (whose credits include The Wire, Entourage, Heroes, Dexter, Homeland, The Walking Dead and many others). No other information on Harriet is known.