Harriet Tubman
Born: c. 1820, Dorchester County, Maryland
Died: March 10, 1913, Auburn, New York
harriet tubmanHarriet Tubman was a runaway slave from
Maryland who became known as the "Moses of her people." Over the
course of 10 years, and at great personal risk, she led hundreds of slaves to
freedom along the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses where
runaway slaves could stay on their journey north to freedom. She later became a
leader in the abolitionist movement, and during the Civil War she was a spy
with for the federal forces in South Carolina as well as a nurse.
Although not a traditional railroad, the underground
railroad was a critical system of transporting slaves to freedom in the
mid-1800s. One of the most famous conductors was Harriet Tubman. Between 1850
and 1858, she helped more than 300 slaves reach freedom.
Harriet Tubman's Early Years and Escape from Slavery
Harriet Tubman's name at birth was Araminta Ross. She was
one of 11 children of Harriet and Benjamin Ross born into slavery in Dorchester
County, Maryland. As a child, Ross was "hired out" by her master as a
nursemaid for a small baby, much like the nursemaid in the picture. Ross had to
stay awake all night so that the baby wouldn't cry and wake the mother. If Ross
fell asleep, the baby's mother whipped her. From a very young age, Ross was
determined to gain her freedom.
As a slave, Araminta Ross was scarred for life when she
refused to help in the punishment of another young slave. A young man had gone
to the store without permission, and when he returned, the overseer wanted to
whip him. He asked Ross to help but she refused. When the young man started to
run away, the overseer picked up a heavy iron weight and threw it at him. He
missed the young man and hit Ross instead. The weight nearly crushed her skull
and left a deep scar. She was unconscious for days, and suffered from seizures
for the rest of her life.
In 1844, Ross married a free black named John Tubman and
took his last name. She also changed her first name, taking her mother's name,
Harriet. In 1849, worried that she and the other slaves on the plantation were
going to be sold, Tubman decided to run away. Her husband refused to go with
her, so she set out with her two brothers, and followed the North Star in the
sky to guide her north to freedom. Her brothers became frightened and turned back,
but she continued on and reached Philadelphia. There she found work as a
household servant and saved her money so she could return to help others
escape.
Harriet Tubman During the Civil War
During the Civil War, Tubman worked for the Union army as a
nurse, a cook, and a spy. Her experience leading slaves along the Underground
Railroad was especially helpful because she knew the land well. She recruited a
group of former slaves to hunt for rebel camps and report on the movement of
the Confederate troops. In 1863, she went with Colonel James Montgomery and
about 150 black soldiers on a gunboat raid in South Carolina. Because she had
inside information from her scouts, the Union gunboats were able to surprise
the Confederate rebels.
At first when the Union Army came through and burned
plantations, slaves hid in the woods. But when they realized that the gunboats
could take them behind Union lines to freedom, they came running from all
directions, bringing as many of their belongings as they could carry. Tubman
later said, "I never saw such a sight." Tubman played other roles in
the war effort, including working as a nurse. Folk remedies she learned during
her years living in Maryland would come in very handy.
Tubman worked as a nurse during the war, trying to heal the
sick. Many people in the hospital died from dysentery, a disease associated
with terrible diarrhea. Tubman was sure she could help cure the sickness if she
could find some of the same roots and herbs that grew in Maryland. One night
she searched the woods until she found water lilies and crane's bill
(geranium). She boiled the water lily roots and the herbs and made a
bitter-tasting brew that she gave to a man who was dying-and it worked! Slowly
he recovered. Tubman saved many people in her lifetime. On her grave her
tombstone reads "Servant of God, Well Done."
Harriet Tubman : Conductor of the Underground Railroad
A reward poster for runaway slaves from 1847
A reward poster for runaway slaves from 1847
After Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery, she returned to
slave-holding states many times to help other slaves escape. She led them
safely to the northern free states and to Canada. It was very dangerous to be a
runaway slave. There were rewards for their capture, and ads like you see here
described slaves in detail. Whenever Tubman led a group of slaves to freedom,
she placed herself in great danger. There was a bounty offered for her capture
because she was a fugitive slave herself, and she was breaking the law in slave
states by helping other slaves escape.
If anyone ever wanted to change his or her mind during the
journey to freedom and return, Tubman pulled out a gun and said, "You'll
be free or die a slave!" Tubman knew that if anyone turned back, it would
put her and the other escaping slaves in danger of discovery, capture or even
death. She became so well known for leading slaves to freedom that Tubman
became known as the "Moses of Her People." Many slaves dreaming of
freedom sang the spiritual "Go Down Moses." Slaves hoped a savior
would deliver them from slavery just as Moses had delivered the Israelites from
slavery.
Tubman made 19 trips to Maryland and helped 300 people to
freedom. During these dangerous journeys she helped rescue members of her own
family, including her 70-year-old parents. At one point, rewards for Tubman's
capture totaled $40,000. Yet, she was never captured and never failed to
deliver her "passengers" to safety. As Tubman herself said, "On
my Underground Railroad I [never] run my train off [the] track [and] I never
[lost] a passenger."
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