Black Archives displays Harriet Tubman’s pistol and saber

Shortly after the late FAMU History Professor James Eaton opened the FAMU Black Archives in the mid-1970s, the family of Harriet Tubman loaned her pistol for display in the museum. Tubman’s pistol and saber have now returned as an exhibit on FAMU’s campus.

“The pistol was one of the items that legitimized the Black Archives and solidified our national reputation as a repository for African American artifacts,” Curator Murell Dawson told the Tallahassee Democrat. “Dr. Eaton (acquired) many artifacts of slavery. But the Tubman pistol was the crown jewel.”

Alex Brickler, IV, one of Tubman’s sixth generation descendants, is currently a student in FAMU’s master’s degree in history program. His family has held Tubman’s pistol and saber ever  since she passed away in 1913.

Tubman, a legendary “conductor” of the Underground Railroad and led many dozens of African Americans who lived in slavery on southern plantations to freedom in the North. She was born in a slave in Maryland during the 1820s and escaped in 1849 by fleeing to Pennsylvania. Tubman carried the pistol by her side as she led bands of slaves to free states. She likely got the saber during the Civil War from a solider or from a battlefield.

The Carrie Meek-James Eaton Southeastern Black Archives Research Center & Museum plans to keep the Tubman exhibit until April.