Harriet Tubman & The Underground Railroad |
who is harriet tubman?
Harriet Tubman was born a slave in 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her original name was Araminta Harriet Ross, but her family called her Minty. She was one of nine children born to Harriet Green and Ben Ross. During her younger years, her sisters and brothers were sold to owners at other plantations. Her family was continually being split apart. Harriet had to experience physical violence every day. The violence she suffered early in life caused permanent physical injuries. The most severe injury occurred when Tubman Harriet was little. She was sent to a store for supplies when she encountered a slave who had left the fields without permission. When Harriet assisted his escape, the slave's overseer threw a two-pound weight that struck her in the head. Because of that injury, she suffered from seizures, severe headaches and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life. She also experienced intense dream states, which she classified as religious experiences.
She dreamed of becoming free for her entire adolescent life. In 1844, Harriet married a free black man named John Tubman. Araminta changed her name to Harriet around the time of her marriage and it is possible that it was to honor her mother. Harriet escaped from slavery in 1849, fleeing to Philadelphia. She originally left Maryland with two of her brothers on September 17, 1849. Once they had left, her brothers had second thoughts and returned to the plantation. After her brothers were safely home, she soon set off alone for Pennsylvania. She used the Underground Railroad to travel around 90 miles to Philadelphia. While she was there, she made it her mission to rescue her family and others living in slavery. Harriet was able to guide her parents, several siblings and about 60 others to freedom. This earned her the nickname, Moses, for her leadership. Her husband declined to make the journey and preferred to stay in Maryland with his new wife. Things changed drastically when the Fugitive Slave Law passed in 1850. This law stated that escaped slaves could be captured in the North and returned to slavery. Harriet had to re-route the Underground Railroad to Canada. In December 1851, she guided a group of 11 fugitives northward and met more abolitionists that would become stations of the Underground Railroad.
Harriet Tubman remained active during the Civil War. She worked for the Union Army as a cook and nurse and became an armed scout and spy. She was the first woman to lean an armed expedition in the war, the Combahee River Raid, which saved more than 700 slaves in South Carolina. In early 1859, abolitionist Senator William H. Seward sold Harriet a small piece of land in Auburn, New York. The land became a haven for Harriet's family and friends and spend they years following the war on this property, tending to her family and others who had lived there. In 1869, she married a Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis. In 1874, Harriet and Nelson adopted a baby girl named Gertie. In 1903 she donated a piece of her land to the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Auburn. The Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged opened on this site in 1908. In 1913, Harriet Tubman died on pneumonia in her home surrounded by family and friends. She was buried with military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.