AUBURN, NY (607NewsNow) – A local leader and longtime public servant has died.
On November 24, Karen Hill, President and CEO of the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn, passed away.
Over a 30-year career, Hill worked in underserved communities with a focus on housing development and equity. According to her obituary, her experience led to a federal appointment to implement the court’s order to desegregate the City of Yonkers. The landmark case changed housing policy and civil rights in America.
During her tenure with the Tubman Home, she helped establish it as a National Historic Park. It was the first national park honoring an African American woman. Additionally, she played a key role in the Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act and secured vital funding to safeguard and maintain the 32-acre property.
She was later appointed to the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commission by Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
Hill was 72.
In a related story, Pauline Copes Johnson has died. She was the great-great-great grandniece of Tubman. Johnson, whose death was announced Monday, Dec. 8 by the Harriet Tubman Memorial AME Zion Church, was 98.
