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A story of freedom

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">HARRISBURG &ndash; A powerful singing voice fills the air as a woman dressed in late 19</span><span style="font-size: small;"><sup id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1486876771900_3047">th</sup></span><span><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Century clothing and carrying a spiral walking stick comes into view, each of her steps conveying both humility and dignity.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">Harriet Tubman has arrived in the community room of the Harrisburg District Library Saturday afternoon, and begins to tell her story to those gathered in the room.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">&ldquo;Good afternoon. How&rsquo;s ye be?&rdquo; she asks the audience. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to tell you the story of how I became the conductor of the Underground Railroad.&rdquo;</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">Marlene Rivero, who portrays Harriet Tubman, has been featured throughout Illinois and surrounding states for a number of years. Her performance Saturday ties in with Black History Month.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rivero said she first began doing the historical reenactment as the result of a U.S. Forest Service talent show.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">&ldquo;I did it as part of an amateur night training in St. Louis for people that had various talents who worked for the Forest Service,&rdquo; Rivero said. &ldquo;I got up and did Harriet Tubman and I thought that the people watching it thought is was pretty good. I got a standing ovation.&rdquo;</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">About nine months later, she said, her friend and co-worker, Mary McCorvie, encouraged her to bring Harriet Tubman to life in order to share the story of the former slave who became an American icon of freedom.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">Rivero, of Grand Chain, retired from the Forest Service in 2011. Since that time, she said, she does her portrayal of Tubman and other historical figures on a full-time basis.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">As Tubman, she tells how she received a head injury as a young child, how she and her family were treated and how she decided she would escape slavery, or &ldquo;going for her freedom.&rdquo;</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">She also shares how she made repeated trips back into Maryland, a slave state at the time, to free members of her family and others.<span id="yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1486876771900_3064"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">One important tool she employed was her singing: melodies from old spirituals were modified and sung out loud to give instructions &ndash; or sometimes warnings &ndash; to escaping slaves.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">After her performance, Rivero anwered questions from the audience regarding Tubman. In one of her answers, she revealed what she called a significant coincidence.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">In 2016, the U.S Treasury announced Tubman&rsquo;s likeness would be featured on the front of the U.S. $20 bill beginning sometime in 2020.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">Tubman, in her later years, received a pension after her second husband&rsquo;s death in the amount of $12 a month. Later, she received her own pension of $8 a month.</span></span>

<p style="background: white; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica','sans-serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span style="font-size: medium;">&ldquo;I think that they chose to put her on the $20 bill is significant for that reason,&rdquo; Rivero said.</span></span>