Rare Harriet Tubman Photo Was Auctioned Off For A Whopping $161,000

Remember that rare photo of a young Harriet Tubman that was discovered recently?

On Thursday, Swann Galleries sold it at auction to the highest bidder. The Harriet Tubman photo went for $161,000. That amount was much higher than the pre-auction estimate of $20,000-$30,000 the auction company anticipated making on the photo. Check out this video about the photo:

Now, the photo has been acquired by the Library of Congress and Smithsonian's new African-American history museum.

The photo depicts Harriet Tubman as a young woman, which is much different than the previous photos which show Tubman as an older woman, after her work liberating  enslaved people as a prolific operator of the Underground Railroad. This photo depicts Harriet Tubman in her early 40s. The photo was found in an album that belonged to abolitionist Emily Towland who knew Harriet when they both lived in upstate New York.

Some were disappointed that the photo was not purchased by the Harriet Tubman Home Museum which honors Tubman in Auburn, New York, the upstate town she once called home. The museum worked hard to raise $29,000 to bid on the photo, but in the end it was not nearly enough. Those disappointed by being outbid probably did not realize that the photo was purchased by the museum in Washington D.C.

Just this year, the Harriet Tubman Historic National Park opened near Auburn. There has also been talk of Harriet's portrait going on the twenty dollar bill, replacing Andrew Jackson, the United States president with a racist legacy.

We are glad the rare Harriet Tubman photo made it to the African-American history museum and that she landed in a place that will do justice to her important legacy in Black history.