The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the height of European colonial activity in the Middle East. This was a period during which the British were involved in the affairs of Egypt and the Sudan as they formed alliances in the region for economic purposes. In 1820 the British and the Gulf-region sheikhs established economic pacts that would guarantee the British access to Gulf-region resources and in 1839 they annexed Aden. The British went to war with Iran in 1856 over rights of way to India and China through Iran and later, in 1907, England and Russia would vie for power in Iran and divide it for their interests. The Italians entered the Middle East also at the beginning of the 20th century, establishing presence in Libya through a series of campaigns over a twenty year period.

The French, in turn, gained control over Algiers in 1830 and also pressed into Lebanon in 1860. In 1881 the French established a protectorate in Tunisia and would through the northern gateway of Africa establish a presence in what are today the modern nations Senegal, Mauritania, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Niger, Guinea, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, and Benin. France’s intention was to establish a firm east-west axis of control across the African continent in opposition to the British Empire’s north-south axis of power. The two imperial powers were at odds, though by 1904 the two had reached a series of agreements under the Entente Cordiale which eventually led the way for Britain to support France’s grab for Morocco as a French protectorate. Previously, in 1869, the French and British had collaborated with their financing to assist the Egyptians in construction of the Suez Canal.

The colonies of the Middle East were exploited for their resources and their strategic location as well as for the wealth of their artistic traditions, brought back to Europe in the antiquities trade. Sometimes with the assistance of their hosts, the British and other European powers returned to their countries with cultural treasures

destined for the museums of the future. This is how the Parthenon’s treasured “Elgin Marbles” were taken from their place of origin at the Acropolis, at the time an Ottoman military fort, to the British Museum. The colonial era in the Middle East also led to greater European travel in the region and a fascination for all things from Africa and the Near East.

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March 10, 1913 saw the death of the one of America’s most inspiring women. A civil rights leader, a freedom fighter, a risk taker and a former slave, Harriet Tubman’s life is commemorated each year on the anniversary of her death. Not only a great woman and an African American icon, Tubman is an American inspiration.

Born into slavery in 1820, Tubman escaped a stifling existence in 1849 when she ran away from the fields to save for a life with the free man she married five years earlier. Tubman traveled night and day by foot all the way to Philadelphia where she found work and set up home.  After saving her money for a year, Tubman journeyed back to Maryland to pick up her sisters and escort them to freedom.

Tubman returned to the south again to pick up her brothers. When she returned once more to the South to get her husband, Tubman discovered he had become a bigamist, remarrying in her absence. Instead of bringing him north to start their life together, Tubman took the rejection in her stride, found other slaves in need of assistance and conducted their safe passage to Pennsylvania. Tubman would make a total of 19 recorded trips to the south to rescue approximately 300 slaves.

Wanted poster’s dotted the south, calling for Tubman’s capture. The reward reached a staggering $40,000, showing the impact of Tubman’s bravery. Others were inspired by her work and her determination and the Underground Railroad blossomed.

The Underground Railroad was one of the first national social networks and consisted of both former slaves and northern abolitionists. Tubman did not start the network but became the poster child for its success. Her work as a conductor (one who entered a plantation posing as a slave and encouraging and guiding others in their escape) led her into danger time and again, but it seemed nothing could stop her efforts.

Running for decades, the railroad conductors and their assistants led thousands of former slaves to freedom.  Conductors acted as guides taking the former slaves from house to house (safe houses were often lit with a single candle in the front window) along well established routes. Tubman conducted both friends and family as well as total strangers to the safety of large northern cities where freed slaves could hide, find work and begin new lives.

10 years passed and Tubman retired from actively conducting slaves to working as a spokeswoman and abolitionist in the north. After all her work and a truly inspiring life, Harriet Tubman became known as a “Moses of the people,” leading folks out of drudgery and imprisonment to freedom and self determination.

During the Civil war, Tubman did not rest on her laurels but worked as a nurse, a cook and a spy for the Union Army. Her work was commemorated by civil rights leaders, American presidents and even in 1990, an act of Congress that declared March 10 Harriet Tubman Day in honor of all that she did for the progression of human rights in America.

When Tubman met up with the escaped slaves who feared recapture, she would always tell them “you’ll live free or die.” Tubman’s words express what it was to be a true American during the violent and trying times of slavery. And whether black, white, former slave or modern American, the words still find resonance today.

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