Category: Harriet Tubman

Tragedy and Triumph: Harriet Tubman’s Journey from Bondage to Liberation

Introduction: Journey of Hope on the Underground Railroad

A group of slaves travel through the forest alone, led by one of the most important black women to ever be on this planet, who are wanted dead or alive by slave catchers. They are traveling along the underground railroad and are looking for secret codes the woman has told them about in order to know if they are safe. This woman had been treated poorly all her life, such as when she was rented out as a child like an object, hit on the head with a brick while trying to save a slave’s life, separated from most of her family, punished with a whip for mediocre reasons, etc. Through all this tragedy, she kept her spirit and faith up and helped hundreds out of slavery. This woman is none other than the great Harriet Tubman.

The Ashanti Legacy

Harriet Tubman believed herself to be descended from the Ashanti, an African tribe of warriors that had successfully fought the British. Her grandmother, Modesty, gave birth to her mother, Harriet Green, who married Benjamin Ross. Because no one recorded the births of slaves, historians believe Harriet had 8 to 11 siblings. At first, her name was Araminta, but then she changed it to Harriet after her mother. Her descendant today, Maya Hawkins-Bailey, who admires Harriet, says, “…she went back for others…I consider her my hero.”

Trials of Childhood

Even at the age of 6, Harriet was rented out to other homes, such as a family called the Cooks. It was at these homes that she had small eating portions and occasionally shared meals with the dog. For any small mishap, she would be whipped by her master and sent to work in the fields with no shoes. “There were good masters and mistresses…” Harriet states, “I didn’t happen to come across any of them.” She would sleep on the kitchen floor, and when she got sick from the cold, she would be accused of faking it to get out of work.

The Impact of a Blow

When Harriet was only 15, a guard hit her in the head with a brick while aiming for an escaping slave Harriet knew named Will. Afterward, she had a dent in her head and suffered from sleeping fits for years. These sleeping fits caused her to spontaneously fall asleep in the middle of what she was doing three to four times a day. Nothing and no one on the plantation could wake her up from this. Her master tried to sell her, but no one would buy her for even the smallest amount. Thankfully, her sleeping fits did get better with time and eventually went away.

Harriet had a very strong religious faith in God even though she went through so much, and most of her childhood was a nightmare. She would always sing religious songs in the fields, which the other slaves enjoyed gladly. She would pray for her master to see his wrongdoings and let her and everyone else go. After a while, she got impatient and prayed for the lord to get rid of him. He soon after died from an illness. Harriet blamed herself for this and was such a good person she would have given anything, even herself, to save his life and take off her guilt.

Ever since Harriet was little, she believed she had rights, which automatically made her different from most slaves. She first heard about the underground railroad when she was eleven years old and first saw a man try to escape when she was only thirteen. She escaped in 1849 when she was twenty-nine and was never captured while helping others do the same. After that, she helped seventy others escape and led a raid that freed hundreds, so slave catchers put a twelve thousand dollar reward on her. She was called Moses because, like him, she led enslaved people into the “promised land.”

In order to escape and help others do the same, she had to use codes and signals. When sending coded letters to her four brothers, they had to pretend they couldn’t read so the master wouldn’t get suspicious. In these letters, she would describe a boat named Zion when referencing the land of freedom. When escaping, they used colored lights and the song “Go Down Moses” to signal if it was safe or not and used noise to distract guards. She even occasionally dressed in disguises such as a clumsy old lady.

In her 20s, Harriet married a man named John Tubman, who, unlike Harriet, had no interest in listening to talk about freedom. With this man, she had two kids. When she was older, she discovered she and her mother were actually supposed to be let free once her mother turned forty-five, but no judge would have taken their case anyway. She died on March 10, 1913, leaving a legacy people will remember for thousands of years.

Conclusion: A Legacy of Courage and Compassion

Harriet Tubman fought for what she believed to be right and died, having known that she helped free more than one hundred slaves. She suffered through a bad childhood but took her bad experiences and chose to help others going through the same thing. She led others along the underground railroad, upon which she used codes to hide secrets and know if they were safe. She always kept her head up and used religion to help her get through bad times. She is an inspiration to everyone, and her story proves that if you see something as wrong, you should stand up against it.

Reference:

1. Ashanti Tribe. (n.d.). African Warriors – The Ashanti Tribe. African Tribe Facts. https://african-tribe.co.za/ashanti/
2. Hawkins-Bailey, M. (Personal communication, [Date]). Descendant Perspective.
3. Larson, K. (2004). Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Ballantine Books.
4. Clinton, C., & Okenwa, L. (Eds.). (2017). Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom and the Courage to Act. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
5. Lowry, L. S. (2008). Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life. Anchor.
6. Humez, J. M. (2018). Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories. University of Wisconsin Press.
7. Tubman, H., & Bradford, S. H. (1869). Harriet, The Moses of Her People. Geo. R. Lockwood & Son.
8. National Park Service. (n.d.). Harriet Tubman Biography. Underground Railroad. https://www.nps.gov/people/harriet-tubman.htm

A Resilient Journey: Harriet Tubman – From Unfair Treatment to Heroic Liberation

Introduction:

Harriet Tubman was a hero, leader, brave individual woman, and determined hard worker. Harriet was a person who was treated unfairly, with little disrespect, and put under horrible conditions. She faced many battles growing up. Which turned her to be the woman she became and is remembered as in today’s world. All these things will never be forgotten and untold.

From Araminta Ross to Harriet Tubman: A Personal Evolution:

Harriet Tubman was not always her name. Harriet was first known as Araminta Ross as a young child. She was born in Dorchester, Maryland, in 1820. Her parents were named Harriet Ross and Benjamin Ross, which is where she got the name Harriet from her mother. She took her mother’s name as she started growing up and getting older. Sadly, she was separated from her parents. Her father was owned by a white slave owner named Anthony Thomson, and her mother was owned by a white slave owner named Mary Pattison Brodess. Harriet was owned by a man named Edward Rodgers.

Harriet’s owner was absolutely cruel and abusive to her. He gave her a head injury that ended up changing her whole life as she expected. One day, her owner abused her so badly that she hit her head. This caused her to suffer horrible conditions, such as seizures and vision problems, that she would have to live with for the rest of her life. Even though she had these horrible issues, Harriet did not let that stop her from doing what she knew was right. Harriet still worked. She had many jobs. She worked as a cook, laundress, and scrubwoman in Philadelphia and Cape May, New Jersey.

Legacy of Liberation: Honoring Harriet Tubman’s Impact:

Later on, in the year 1848, Harriet escaped slavery. With her being able to escape slavery, she decided to help others escape, too. Her first mission was to help rescue her sister and two children. After rescuing her sister and children, Harriet started helping other former slaves. In the 1850’s Harriet made over nine trips to lead over 180 slaves to freedom. Most of them were relatives and friends from plantations near Cambridge. Sadly, Harriet died on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York, from pneumonia. She died at the age of 91 years old.

Conclusion:

All of these things from Harriet’s past history show that she was a strong individual woman. Also, she’s been through so much that anybody can hardly imagine being through. There is so much more about Harriet that can be learned to better understand her life and how she came to help abolitionists. The fact that she risked her life to save many other lives is very encouraging and inspirational. Harriet was also faithful through her journey and years of being a female slave. Not many can say that about people today because many would have given up. That really shows inspiration.

References:

1. Dorchester County Historical Society. (n.d.). Harriet Tubman: A Brief Biography. https://www.harriettubmanbyway.org/harriet-tubman-biography/
2. National Park Service. (n.d.). Harriet Tubman Biography. Underground Railroad. https://www.nps.gov/people/harriet-tubman.htm
3. Larson, K. (2004). Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. Ballantine Books.
4. Brundage, W. F. (Ed.). (2007). The Oxford Handbook of African American Slavery. Oxford University Press.
5. Lowry, L. S. (2008). Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life. Anchor.
6. Clinton, C., & Okenwa, L. (Eds.). (2017). Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom and the Courage to Act. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
7. Humez, J. M. (2018). Harriet Tubman: The Life and the Life Stories. University of Wisconsin Press.

Pioneering Courage: Harriet Tubman’s Journey to Abolition and Equality

The Heroic Journey of Harriet Tubman

Slavery had left an important role in American history as it started in 1619 when nineteen African Americans arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, by Dutch traders. The effect it left on the people and the inequalities they faced their entire lives was an everyday struggle. One of the most popular slaves was Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman was born a slave, therefore leading to having no record of her birth, and no exact date of her birthday is known. She was believed to have been born in 1825 in Dorchester County, Maryland. There was no actual way to determine her age, and adding to it, her death certificate indicates she was born in 1815, and her gravestone in Auburn’s Hill Cemetery says 1820. As she was born a slave in her early childhood, she suffered the hardships she faced on the plantation, as well as having vivid dreams and hallucinations. In her early childhood, she was frail and weak; however, with the work she endured, she became a strong woman. The hard work she faced made her focused and her body stronger. At a young age, she was hired by a man named John Steward to chop wood for the shipbuilding industry in Baltimore.

Challenges of Childhood and Transformation

The challenges she faced led to her escape in 1849, and the history of her deeply religious background and her beliefs helped push her to achieve more and rescue her friends and family as well as others over and over again. The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad visitor center tells the life she once lived. It holds the importance of slavery in Maryland with the description of inequalities many faced during their lifetime and the struggles they endured on an everyday basis. The history of Harriet Tubman displays an onlook of her courage that helped free slaves with the challenges she faced, wanting to put an end to slavery. Through exploring the different viewpoints and artifacts, this paper will lay out the history and life of Harriet Tubman. It will also discuss the racial inequalities and difficulties she faced on her journey. Lastly, it will promote the impact this site has today and the importance to Maryland’s history.

The Underground Railroad and Leadership

Harriet Tubman’s whole family was living a slave life, including her and her four sisters and four brothers. The site focuses on her childhood and the experiences she faced, as well as the movement she created later in her life. At a young age, the plantation became small compared to others around the region, and slaves were extremely important as their way of income. In 1825, Harriet’s three older sisters were sold off the plantation as the farm was starting to struggle financially. Her first job as a slave at the age of five was to watch over and take care of an infant. She would work long hours at night rocking the baby’s cradle to make sure she didn’t cry, and when it was heard by Miss Susan, her mistress, “would whip her around the neck, these were the first scars, and they remained for the rest of her life.” The next job she received at the age of seven was collecting muskrats from traps, which always left her soaked in water and mud from the hip down. Over time, she developed measles and became fatigued and collapsed.

Roughly a year later, she was hired to a different household where she managed to escape for three days, finding shelter in a pigpen and scavenging for scraps of food. The site features information about their childhood and young adulthood, the way of life she lived, and the labor she faced under slavery in Dorchester County. The site features 10,000 square feet of exhibits about her life and explores the Underground Railroad with a self-guided driving tour including 36 sites. Later, she will discuss the site exhibits in the Secrets of the Underground Railroad and her own daring rescue missions. The exhibits emphasize the importance of her family, faith, freedom, community, and actions during the Civil War. The message given to the audience at the site is no matter gender, race, age, or religion, you can make choices that positively impact others in their life regardless of the circumstances.

Legacy and Impact on Equality

Tubman’s life and legacy are shown in the introduction to the guided tours and deeply reflect her work as a leader, liberator, and humanitarian. In 1849, Harriet Tubman started her movement as her owner, Edward Brodess, started to sell slaves in order to cover his debts. As she realized her brothers and her were going to be separated, she started praying, “Oh lord, if you ain’t never going to change than man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.” With her prayers coming true, Edward died a week later, and this was her way of being ready to escape. She had saved enough money to escape and start a new life, leaving no traces.

On September 17, 1849, she escaped Poplar Neck Plantation, and her brothers changed their minds about leaving and returned to the plantation. Within two weeks, her escape was noticed and published in the Cambridge Democrat, offering a $300 reward for their location. It is told to the audience she took on the role of Frederick Douglass, becoming guided by the North Star and helped by others taking shelter in safe houses. Her journey lasted 90 miles, and “When I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.”

As she crossed the Mason-Dixon line, she entered the North, which was a location for free slaves. Over this time, she managed to get a job working in houses and hotels, making sure to save enough money to return to her family and rescue them. Knowing the risks of getting caught could lead to jail time. She started her first rescue mission in 1850 by retrieving her niece and two children. With the close relationships she made, she was able to form her own network of safe houses. With her next mission to go save her brother, the Fugitive Slave Act was passed and made her journeys more jeopardizing and hazardous. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made the capture of fugitive slaves to be returned to their owners. Due to the North’s missions to return to the South to save the lives of many, the annual loss of slaves had increased over the years.

With the new act in play, it made the punishment worse for everyone involved in the movement. Under the new law,” alleged runaway slaves were subjected to a jury trial before being sent back to their owners, and local jails were not allowed to be used for fugitive slaves.” It was conceived that all blacks were runaways, which made it extremely difficult for any operation to be conducted and threatened the freedom of fugitive blacks and free men. The ones caught” could be arrested and extradited without a warrant, had no right to a jury and to defend themselves in court.” Many free blacks and fugitives fled to Canada. This act struck hardships that Harriet had to overcome to save and rescue the rest of her family and others.

With this impacting the way Harriet went on her missions, slaves had created Secret code languages. Secret code languages held the meaning of hidden messages only slaves could understand and were used in songs or letters. Singing songs was a part of the slave’s everyday life and became their own tradition and a part of their own culture. Enlisted in the songs and letters would be directions on where to escape and how the job would be done. Harriet Tubman had to plan methods that would ensure the safety of herself and others. She started by only traveling at night and telling them to escape on Saturdays as Sundays were rest days, and the owners wouldn’t come to realize anyone was missing until Monday morning. The way this was ruled led the escapees to gain a head start. Later on, Harriet Tubman started to conduct more and more journeys, gained a reputation as a liberator, and became more recognized.

The impact of the site shows great importance to American History as it briefly breaks down the movement and inequalities that were once the troubles that many lived through. The site shows and explains the leadership Harriet Tubman faced and how her actions led to her becoming a hero to many. She had a positive impact on people, making them think truly about slavery, and she managed to help hundreds of slaves become free at last. Her roles in society “also helped women’s suffrage movement to show that women can, and that has impacted us now to think twice about every woman.” Her actions of being brave and determined to free more and more parents and children made her become the woman we respect her as.

In the year 2020, her face will be displayed on the twenty-dollar bill. As in all of her journies, she put her life on the line as a conductor in the Underground Railroad; she wanted everyone to be free and wasn’t stopping till she put her own end to slavery. Her role leads others to believe that “she is seen as a symbol of how black people resisted slavery during the time before the Civil War.” Her fearless journies were only carried through the start of her life, serving the horrible treatment she faced with living and leaving her family behind. This site has opened the topic that many have hidden from speaking about for many years and the discrimination blacks faced. The lawful system was broken, which led to unequal employment, unequal education, and the horrific events that led to today’s America. Visit the site gives the audience the feel of what was lived to see it in person, and looking at the artifacts preserved, knowing the topic is sadly true and putting that blueprint in our minds.

In conclusion, the actions led by Harriet Tubman made her be seen as a hero, and she became praised for the amount of leadership and determination she possessed. Her actions changed many lives and became an inspiration to many African Americans. Tubman wanted to put an end to slavery and make all humans equal regardless of race or gender. She had fought for the freedom of herself and others, always putting her life at risk. She always watched over the backs of others and wanted to help and treat as many people as she possibly could. She would clothe and educate freed African Americans, supporting them in living a newly freed life. The woman she became was worshipped by many and “was recruited by the Union Army during the Civil war, she acted as a spy, going into Southern towns to gather covert intelligence on the movements of the Confederate Army.” Through her own expeditions, she recovered 300 slaves with the support of the military campaign and helped lead the release of 750 slaves.

Her first-person actions led her to be a highlight in the women’s suffrage movement. Her movements were “the educational efforts made by African American leaders to uplift the race” Du Bois. Pursued the act of free people and the dangerous injustices slaves faced in everyday life. The impact she left on many with her fearless determination embraced the life she lived while fighting for the struggles of racial equality. The difficulties she faced in repeatedly risking her life never stopped her actions, and it matters to American History as she is still recognized by millions today. “When the U.S Treasury Department announced that Harriet Tubman’s image will replace Andrew Jackson on the face of the $20 bill, Google ran more than 2 million searches by people seeking to learn about her.” Having this done would represent her story and the contributions of women in American history. As Tubman would state, – “I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.” leading to the point that most conductors can not compare the level of skill she possessed in her job.” She lived her life fighting for social justice and women’s rights till March 10, 1913, being buried with Military Honors.

References:

1. “Harriet Tubman.” National Park Service. https://www.nps.gov/hatu/index.htm
2. “Harriet Tubman Biography.” Biography.com. A&E Television Networks. https://www.biography.com/activist/harriet-tubman
3. “The Underground Railroad: Escape from Slavery.” The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/spotlight-primary-source/underground-railroad-escape-slavery
4. “Harriet Tubman: Escaping Slavery and Leading Others to Freedom.” National Women’s History Museum. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman
5. “The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.” National Constitution Center. https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/interpretation/article-iv/clauses/755
6. “Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom.” African American History Museum. https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/harriet-tubman-road-freedom
7. “Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.” Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/underground-railroad/harriet-tubman-and-underground-railroad/
8. “Harriet Tubman Biography.” History.com. A&E Television Networks. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman