Today’s musical selection is in honor of Harriet Tubman Day, which is today, March 10. (It is also my youngest brother’s birthday, his 60th this year, so shout out to him. However, he is visiting Vietnam and Cambodia for his celebration, so he has better things to do than read my blog. Still, I’m sending celebratory vibes to the other side of the planet.)

But, back to Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman Day is a Congressionally Approved celebration, although not a legal holiday EXCEPT in the state of New York, which is where she lived once she escaped slavery. It’s also apparently a fairly big deal in Maryland, the state from which she escaped her enslavement, and returned many times to help others do so as well. It is set for March 10 because that is the anniversary of her death. Usually we celebrate people on their birthdays, but in Harriet Tubman’s case, we don’t know when that was (although supposedly in was sometime in March). Keeping records of the births of children of slaves was not a priority back then.

March is also Women’s History Month, and not far removed from February’s Black History Month, so March 10th seems like a good time to recognize this incredible woman, who not only led around 70 slaves to freedom via the Underground Railroad without losing a single “passenger,” but was a nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army during the Civil War, worked tirelessly to support newly-freed African Americans after the war, and was also an avid advocate for female voting rights.

Harriet Tubman is someone who inspires me when I start to get discouraged or feeling like I’m too tired or busy to deal with things that are not right in our society at this moment (in my opinion). We have achieved the gains we have due to heroes like her from our past. So I for one want to spend this day honoring the trails she forged and doing my best to follow her example.

So of course, what could today’s Motivational Monday Music selection be but the wonderful song “Stand Up” by the magnificent Cynthia Erivo. In case you forgot, before Erivo was Wicked, she was Harriet.

Here is her song:

May we all honor Harriet Tubman today by doing something to Stand Up to something we believe in that we believe is threatened or under attack.