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DC wax museum adds Harriet Tubman to collection

A wax likeness of the renowned abolitionist and conductor of the Underground Railroad Harriet Ross Tubman is unveiled at the Presidents Gallery by Madame Tussauds in Washington in celebration of Black History Month, Tuesday, February 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

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The Associated Press 9:26 AM Wednesday, February 8, 2012

WASHINGTON — Descendants of famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman have unveiled a wax statue of the woman who led hundreds of slaves to freedom at The President's Gallery by Madame Tussauds in Washington.

Tubman's great-great-great-grand-nephew Charles E.T. Ross and Tubman's great-great-grand-niece Valery Ross Manokey visited the wax museum Tuesday with eight others as the statue joins a collection of presidents and historical figures. At 76, Manokey of Cambridge, Md., is Tubman's oldest living descendant on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

Students from Washington's Harriet Tubman Elementary also attended.

Tubman was born into slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore. After escaping in 1849, she led countless slaves out of the South to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Artists from Madame Tussauds spend months creating each new lifelike figure, relying on photographs, historical accounts and paintings.

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February 08, 2012 02:23 PM EST

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