Best known for her work with the Underground Railroad which led hundreds of slaves to freedom, Harriet Tubman is a celebrated figure in North American history. Her commitment and diligence to help all who needed it and her continued contribution to the civil rights and suffragette movements until her death have made her an unforgettable icon of perseverance and bravery.
Tubman was born into slavery as Araminta Harriet Ross in Maryland. The exact date of her birth is unknown because the birth date of babies born into slavery was almost never recorded, so most slaves went through their lives without knowing how old they were or when their birthday was. Tubman’s estimated year of birth is sometime between 1820 and 1925.
She was the fifth of nine children and her three older sisters were sold to another owner never to be seen again. When her owner tried to sell Harriet’s youngest brother, Harriet’s mother hid him for a month with the help of freed slaves before threatening to kill the first man who tried to take her son away. Her ferocity led to the sale being cancelled and many believe that this was what led Harriet to see that it was possible to resist slavery.
She escaped slavery in 1849 on her second attempt, travelling mostly by night and using the North Star as guidance. She made use of an informal network of slaves, freed men and abolitionists called the Underground Railroad and became a freed slave when she crossed the border from Maryland into Philadelphia.
Even though Harriet was now free, her entire family was still enslaved, so she started slowly bringing her family up North with the help of the Underground Railroad. She became known as “Moses” and had a reputation for never losing a passenger. Unfortunately, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 forced people in the United States to turn in runaway slaves, so Harriet started helping people escape into Canada where slavery was illegal.
Still, Tubman remained in the States and even worked for the Union Army during the Civil War first as a cook and nurse, then as an armed scout and spy. She also was the first woman to lead an armed expedition where more than 700 slaves were freed in South Carolina.
After the war, Harriet lived in New York with her aging parents and became heavily active in the women’s suffrage movement until she became too ill to continue. She spent her last days living in a home for eldery African Americans which she helped found only a few years earlier. She died of pneumonia in 1913.