CHURCH CREEK, Md. — Revered abolitionist Harriet Tubman, the first woman to oversee an American military action during a time of war, was posthumously awarded the rank of general on Monday for Veterans Day.

Dozens gathered at Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park in Maryland’s Dorcester County for a formal ceremony making Tubman a one-star brigadier general in the state’s National Guard.

Gov. Wes Moore called the occasion not just a great day for Tubman’s home state but for all of the United States.

“Today, we celebrate a soldier and a person who earned the title of veteran,” Moore said. “Today we celebrate one of the greatest authors of the American story.”

Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and settled in Philadelphia. Intent on helping others achieve freedom, she established the Underground Railroad network and led other enslaved Black women and men to freedom. She then channeled those experiences as a scout, spy and nurse for the Union Army during the Civil War, helping guide 150 Black soldiers on a gunboat raid in South Carolina.

Nobody would have judged Tubman had she chosen to remain in Philadelphia and coordinate abolitionist efforts from there, Moore said.

“She knew that in order to do the work, that meant that she had to go into the lion’s den,” he said. “She knew that leadership means you have to be willing to do what you are asking others to do.”

The reading of the official order was followed by a symbolic pinning ceremony with Tubman’s great-great-great-grandniece, Tina Wyatt.

Wyatt hailed her aunt’s legacy of tenacity, generosity and faith and agreed that Veterans Day applied to her as much as any other service member.

“Aunt Harriet was one of those veterans informally, she gave up any rights that she had obtained for herself to be able to fight for others,” Wyatt said. “She is a selfless person.”

Mexico judicial reform: Officials laid out five easy steps Monday for registering online as a candidate for one of nine spots on Mexico’s Supreme Court or any one of hundreds of federal judgeships.

If you’re a Mexican citizen, all you need is an ID, a law degree, a grade-point average of 3.2, and five letters of recommendation from neighbors or friends.

Write a three-page letter saying why you want to sit on the Supreme Court and you’re good to go.

Don’t speak much Spanish? Don’t worry. Candidates who speak one of Mexico’s approximately five dozen Indigenous languages can apply too.

President Claudia Sheinbaum has pushed through a controversial reform to make thousands of judges stand for election.

The judiciary was previously named through a complicated civil service type of system.

Starting next June, that’s all gone: People will have to go to the polls to choose among thousands of lawyers whose names they’ve probably never heard before.

COP29 meeting: For the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan sent a delegation Monday to the United Nations climate talks, called COP29, to get help with global warming.

Matuil Haq Khalis, who’s head of the country’s environment protection agency, said Afghanistan needs international support to deal with extreme weather like erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and flash floods.

“All the countries must join hands and tackle the problem of climate change,” Khalis said, speaking through a translator at the talks, taking place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Afghanistan has been hard hit by climate change, with a recent ranking as the world’s sixth-most climate-vulnerable country.