On March 8, 2007, Joyce King received the Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award. The inscription reads:

“Presented to Joyce Tekahnawiiaks King for her Championing and Service on Behalf of Improving Upon the Quality of Life Available to The Poor, The Powerless and The Persecuted. You are Truly Extraordinary. With all our respect and admiration, Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Award Jubilee, Inc. at Wilborn Temple First Church of God in Christ, Albany, NY March 8, 2008”

The plaque was presented to Joyce “in honor of a great American, Harriet Tubman, and to honor 13 Great Americans of our time.” In the Spirit of Harriet Tubman the Executive Board honors contemporaries, who, by their selfless sacrifices, great deeds and outstanding achievements on behalf of THE POOR, THE POWERLESS, and THE PERSECUTED, have proven that their hearts are home to the Spirit of Harriet Tubman.

The thirteen 2008 Honorees are:

Deacon Sondra R. Townsend - Browne (Director of Operations at the Economic Opportunity Commission of Nassau Country, Inc.)

Stevie Lacy Pendleton (Deputy Editorial Page Editor and a senior news columnist at the Advance)

Grace Green, Ph.D., in Loving Memory (Project Love; Board of Directors of the Albany Symphony Orchestra and Black Dimensions in Art; Area Director of Christian Education of the Albany-Kingston Region of the Western New York Area of the AME Annual Conference; professor at Payne Theological Seminary; officer/member/volunteer of the Albany District Chapter of The Links and a member of Delta Mu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Yvonne Williamson (Legislative Aid to New York City Councilman Thomas White Jr.)

Pastor Ebony Kirkland (President and CEO of Ebony Marketing Research, Inc.)

Pastor Derida Deflorimonte

Joyce Tekahnawiiaks King (Director of the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force; member of National Tribal Operations Committee; member of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council and advisor to the NYS DEC Environmental Justice Committee)

Earnestine Russell (BayChester Youth Council)

Virginia Brown (Concerned Parents of Children with Special Needs, Inc.; Read to Me Program; Community Outreach Show; self-help parenting support groups)

Carl Clay (BST Founder and Executive Producer -Black Spectrum Theatre) (Honoree of the Trail Blazer Award)

Arlette Miller Smith, Ph.D. (Associate Provost and Dean of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Diversity Programs at St. John Fisher College in Rochester NY; Professor of English Literature and Dean)

Perletter Wright, Ed.D (Principal Washington-Rose Elementary School)

Maria Rosado (Bureau of Program and Community Development in NYS Office of Children and Family Services)

Joann Hsieh (President Chinese American Business Women Association)

Barbara Cody (Civil Rights)

Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns (Honoree of the Take it to the Hill Award)

Harriet Tubman was born a slave in 1820 or 1821 in Maryland. She escaped from the bonds of slavery in the summer of 1849 traveling by night through Maryland, Delaware to Philadelphia to New York to Canada. To her, there was one of two things: Liberty or death. Then began what she knew must be done. She made nineteen trips South, rescuing more than three hundred slaves. Most of her traveling was done at night through the “Underground Railroad,” a flexible but effective method of spiriting slaves out of the South by an ever-shifting series of hiding places. Harriet Tubman became famous as its “Number One Conductor,” “The Moses of Her People” and “General Tubman.” Despite a $40,000 reward on her head in the 1860's (equivalent to about $800,000 today), she returned to lead slaves north to freedom. The secrets of the “Underground Railroad” were so well kept that, even today, not too much is known about it.

Harriet Tubman settled in Auburn, NY where she lived. On March 10, 1913, she died in her 90's and was buried in Auburn. On this day, March 10th, Auburn citizens unveil the Harriet Tubman Plaque which still stands at the entrance to the Cayuga County Court House in Auburn.

To commemorate her extraordinary life, in February of 2000, the Honorable Arthur O. Eve (D) the Deputy of the New York State Assembly and the Honorable Micheal R. Nozzolio (R) Chairman of the New York State Committee on Crime, Crime Victims and Corrections; introduced a Bill that would establish March 10, as an official state holiday, in honor of Harriet Tubman.

This statewide consortium has also established The Harriet Tubman Humanitarian Achievement Awards Jubilee Inc., a non-for-profit corporation. The purpose of this corporation is to establish the tradition of holding an annual event on March 10th, wherein women, who in emulation of the life of Harriet Tubman, have lived their lives in service to “The Poor, The Powerless, and The Persecuted” are honored.

Because all women who live their lives in the spirit of Harriet Tubman, regardless of their race, color, religion or region of residence in the state, are eligible to receive this award, it is already well on it's way to becoming the premier award a woman can receive in New York State.

The award was given to Joyce at 7th Annual Harriet Tubman Achievement Awards Jubilee, Inc. Albany, New York. Attending with Joyce were two of her children: Karole Mitchell and Leah Mitchell; her granddaughter, Iakohonwentsiawakon, and her niece, Lynda King.

Joyce would like to thank Jeanne Shenondoah (Onondaga Nation) for nominating her. Appreciation also goes to her family who supports her efforts and who were with her, in spirit, at the award ceremonies in Albany.