‘The power of this place is undeniable’: Harriet Tubman School reopens as cultural center, museum

It’s been 60 years since Bessie Bordenave graduated from the Harriet Tubman School in Columbia, Maryland, but the place still feels like a part of her. “We were just like a big, happy family here,” said Bordenave, 78, a 1962 graduate of Howard County’s last segregated public school, an all-Black high school that operated from 1949 to 1965. Bordenave, president of the nonprofit Harriet Tubman Foundation, has worked with many others in the county to preserve the school’s legacy for two decades. On Saturday, under blue skies, the building officially reopened as the Harriet Tubman Cultural Center, dedicated to highlighting the history of Black Howard County residents.