Harriet Tubman has been posthumously recognized as a one-star brigadier general in Maryland’s National Guard. At a ceremony on Veterans Day, officials in the abolitionist’s home state honored her military service during the Civil War.

Harriet Tubman, like most Black women of her era and many Black women today, was often dismissed, underestimated and ignored. That’s what made her such an effective spy and scout. It’s also the reason that it took our nation 160 years to honor her properly for her military service.

The legendary Underground Railroad conductor was the first woman to lead a wartime military action in the U.S.