the keynote address. Museums and historical sites In 1937 a gravestone for Harriet Tubman was erected by the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. The Harriet Tubman Home was abandoned after 1920, but was later renovated by the AME Zion Church and opened as a museum and education center. A Harriet Tubman Memorial Library was opened nearby in 1979. The Salem Chapel in St. Catharines, Ontario is a special place for Black Canadians. Tubman worshipped there while living in the town. The building was erected in 1855 by some of those who had escaped slavery in the United States. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1999, on the recommendation o the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Renovations are in progress and should be completed in 2023, guided by some descendants of those who found freedom in British territory. However, Tubman’s descendants live in British Columbia. Tubman herself was designated a National Historic Person after the Historic Sites and Monuments Board recommended it in 2005. As early as 2008, advocacy groups in Maryland and New York, and their federal representatives, pushed for legislation to establish two national historical parks honoring Harriet Tubman: one to include her place of birth on Maryland's eastern shore, and sites along the route of the Underground Railroad in Caroline, Dorchester, and Talbot counties in Maryland; and a second to include her home in Auburn. For the next six years, bills to do so were introduced, but were never enacted. In 2013, President Barack Obama used his executive authority to create the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Monument, consisting of federal lands on Maryland's Eastern Shore at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. In December 2014, authorization for a national historical park designation was incorporated in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act. Despite opposition from some legislators, the bill passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Obama on December 19, 2014. The Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, authorized by the act, was established on January 10, 2017. In March 2017 the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center was inaugurated in Maryland within Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park. The act also created the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland within the authorized boundary of the national monument, while permitting later additional acquisitions. The Harriet