Introduction

Harriet Tubman was a famous "conductor" for the Underground Railroad. She had an extremely hard life as a slave. She encountered multiple beatings and in 1849 escaped. She returned at least nineteen more times to help other slaves become free. She also served as a spy, nurse, and scout during the Civil War. She is known for her bravery and is considered a hero to this day.

Harriet Tubman was born on March 10, 1821 as a slave on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her original name was Aramita Rose. She took over the name of her mother, Harriet, at age thirteen.

Early Childhood:

At age 5, she was already scarred around her neck. She was responsible for an infant and received whips when the mistress heard the baby cry.

When she was 7, her job was to collect muskrats from traps. Even with the measles, she was forced to work.

At age 8 she ran away for three days because her mistress found out she tasted a teaspoon full of sugar. She hid in a pigpen and competed for scraps.

At age 12, she was working the fields. She preferred the hard labor over doing tasks for the mistress. Her faith started to develop and it helped her cope with life as a slave.

One day, she noticed a slave owner chasing a slave out of a store with a heavy metal weight. She stood in the doorway so that the slave could escape. He aimed the weight for the slave and ended up hitting her in the head instead. It took months for her to heal. Her owner tried to sell her, but no one would buy her. She never fully recovered from the episode.

Adulthood:

By the time she was a woman, all of the hard labor had made her into a strong woman. She was hired by a man to chop timber. She worked hard and longer so that she could pocket money before handing it over to her owner. She used that money later when she decided to escape.

Very little is known about her marriage to John Tubman in 1844. He was a free man and it isn't documented whether he was a slave or not. They weren't legally married which risked the chance of her being sold at any time. They didn't have any children. If they had, their children would have been born with the status of their slave mother.

Runaway Slave

1849:

In the middle of the night, Harriet Tubman left her husband and family behind in Maryland to escape slavery. She feared that she was fixing to be sold. She seeked the North Star for guidance and disguised herself in the swampy moss.

She finally made it to Pennsylvania and worked there for two years. She then decided to go back for her family. She was able to help her mother and sister escape. The route was known as the Underground Railroad.

She returned over two dozen times and helped her father and brother escape as well. She was tricky and had to use different ideas every time.

Her face became popular on "Wanted: Dead or Alive" posters. She relied on two things to help her out during her Underground Railroad journeys. Her pistol and her faith.

The Underground Railroad

By 1860, Harriet Tubman was responsible for the freedom of over 300 slaves. Not one man, woman, or child perished in their escape through the Underground Railroad.

The Civil War

Her selfless acts didn't stop after the Underground Railroad rescues. She was a nurse in the Civil War and became the first woman to lead an assault. The Combahee River Raid freed 700 slaves.

Later Life

After the war, Harriet returned to Auburn, New York. She helped poor and sick people. She married a second time to a man named Nelson Davis. They adopted a little girl named Gertie.

Gertie

In 1903, she donated her home by transforming it into the Home for Indigent and Aged Negroes. She performed speeches and sold copies of her biography.

Despite her heroism, she always was in a struggle for money. She donated and gave away everything she had to help as many people as she could.