 | Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all the Underground Railroad's "conductors." During a ten-year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger." Tubman was born a slave in Maryland's Dorchester County around 1820. At age five or six, she began to work as a house servant. Seven years later she was sent to work in the fields. While she was still in her early teens, she suffered an injury that would follow her for the rest of her life. Always ready to stand up for someone else, Tubman blocked a doorway to protect another field hand from an angry overseer. The overseer picked up and threw a two-pound weight at the field hand. It fell short, striking Tubman on the head. She never fully recovered from the blow, which subjected her to spells in which she would fall into a deep sleep. Around 1844 she married a free black named John Tubman and took his last name. (She was born Araminta Ross; she later changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother.) In 1849, in fear that she, along with the other slaves on the plantation, was to be sold, Tubman resolved to run away. She set out one night on foot. With some assistance from a friendly white woman, Tubman was on her way. She followed the North Star by night, making her way to Pennsylvania and soon after to Philadelphia, where she found work and saved her money. The following year she returned to Maryland and escorted her sister and her sister's two children to freedom. She made the dangerous trip back to the South soon after to rescue her brother and two other men. On her third return, she went after her husband, only to find he had taken another wife. Undeterred, she found other slaves seeking freedom and escorted them to the North. Tubman returned to the South again and again. She devised clever techniques that helped make her "forays" successful, including using the master's horse and buggy for the first leg of the journey; leaving on a Saturday night, since runaway notices couldn't be placed in newspapers until Monday morning; turning about and heading south if she encountered possible slave hunters; and carrying a drug to use on a baby if its crying might put the fugitives in danger. Tubman even carried a gun which she used to threaten the fugitives if they became too tired or decided to turn back, telling them, "You'll be free or die." By 1856, Tubman's capture would have brought a $40,000 reward from the South. On one occasion, she overheard some men reading her wanted poster, which stated that she was illiterate. She promptly pulled out a book and feigned reading it. The ploy was enough to fool the men. Tubman had made the perilous trip to slave country 19 times by 1860, including one especially challenging journey in which she rescued her 70-year-old parents. Of the famed heroine, who became known as "Moses," Frederick Douglass said, "Excepting John Brown -- of sacred memory -- I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than [Harriet Tubman]."
And John Brown, who conferred with "General Tubman" about his plans to raid Harpers Ferry, once said that she was "one of the bravest persons on this continent." Becoming friends with the leading abolitionists of the day, Tubman took part in antislavery meetings. On the way to such a meeting in Boston in 1860, in an incident in Troy, New York, she helped a fugitive slave who had been captured. During the Civil War Harriet Tubman worked for the Union as a cook, a nurse, and even a spy. After the war she settled in Auburn, New York, where she would spend the rest of her long life. She died in 1913. Image Credit: Moorland-Spingarn Research Center
| FAQs
Facts About Harriet Tubman
During the Civil War, she became the first woman to lead an armed military raid in June 1863. She was also a Union scout, spy, and nurse. She was a suffragist who fought for women's rights. She established a nursing home for African Americans on her property in Auburn, NY.
What was Harriet Tubman's greatest achievement answers? ›
Her biggest accomplishment was her assistance in the Combahee Ferry Raid, where she helped Union troops gain leverage on a Confederate camp where over 700 enslaved people were being held. It was hazardous, and Harriet could have been killed easily, but she never hesitated and helped free all 700 people.
What happened to Harriet Tubman when she was 13? ›
At 13 years old, Tubman suffered a traumatic injury that almost killed her when a two-pound weight missed its intended target and hit Tubman in the head instead. Though her mother was able to nurse her back to health, Tubman suffered from epilepsy for the rest of her life.
Why was Harriet called Minty? ›
Myth: Harriet Tubman's birth name, Araminta, is an African name. Fact: Araminta is a centuries old English Puritan name. During Tubman's time, there were many women, both black and white, in Maryland and other places with the name “Araminta” or “Minty” for short.
How many slaves did Harriet save? ›
Fact #3: After escaping from slavery, she returned to Maryland in 1850 as an Underground Railroad “conductor.” She chose to do so after hearing her niece was soon to be auctioned off. She would go on to rescue over 70 other slaves until the outbreak of the Civil War, and did not fail a single rescue.
What are 5 facts about Harriet Tubman? ›
15 Facts about Harriet Tubman
- In the early to mid-19th-century, a massive network of safe houses and people helped guide escaped enslaved people from the South to Canada. ...
- Harriet Tubman was born Arminta Ross around 1822. ...
- rescued around 70 of her friends and family over 13 trips.
In 1913, at the age of 91, Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia in the Home for the Aged & Indigent Negroes. In her final words, Tubman called upon her faith and made reference to John 14:3 in the Bible. She stated, “I go away to prepare a place for you, that where I am you also may be” (Larson 2004, p. 289).
Why did Harriet Tubman change her name? ›
During her time working in the marshlands at Parson's Creek she married her first husband, John Tubman, who was a free man. She changed her name from Araminta Ross to Harriet Tubman, perhaps in honor of her mother. In Dorchester County, free and enslaved African Americans lived and worked in the same community.
How did Harriet Tubman help slaves? ›
Harriet Tubman is perhaps the most well-known of all the Underground Railroad's "conductors." During a ten-year span she made 19 trips into the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her journeys she "never lost a single passenger."
Did Harriet Tubman ever marry? ›
As a result, she would experience periodic blackouts for the rest of her life. In 1844, at the age of twenty-five, she married a free black man named John Tubman. As a married adult she changed her name to Harriet. Five years after her marriage, fearing she would be sold farther south, Tubman made her escape.
Most of her early childhood was spent with her grandmother who was too old for slave labor. At age six, Araminta was old enough to be considered able to work. She did not work in the fields though. Edward Brodas, her master, lent her to a couple who first put her to work weaving she was beaten frequently.
Is Harriet a true story? ›
The new biopic is mostly true to what we know of the real Harriet Tubman, though writer-director Kasi Lemmons (Eve's Bayou) and co-writer Gregory Allen Howard (Remember the Titans, Ali) take some considerable liberties with both the timeline of events and the creation of several characters.
What song did Harriet Tubman sing? ›
Harriet Tubman used code songs as signals, instead of verbal directions, to direct the groups of freedom travelers that she led. She sang a hymn called “Hail, Oh Hail, Ye Happy Spirits” to communicate her return to the woods where a group hid while she went to get food (Larson, 231).
What was Harriet Tubman's real name? ›
Harriet Tubman , born Araminta Ross(1822-1913)
After marrying John Tubman, who was a free black man, she adopted the name Harriet Tubman and escaped to freedom on September 17, 1849. Tubman returned to Maryland many times to rescue her family and dozens of others who were enslaved.
What happened to Harriet Tubman's daughter Gertie? ›
It is believed Tubman did not have biological children of her own, and she adopted a baby girl named Gertie when she was already middle-aged in 1874. This adopted daughter died relatively young, but Tubman also helped to raise her siblings' children and grandchildren.
Why did Harriet Tubman do what she did? ›
Tubman discovered that Brodess's financial troubles were likely to lead to the sale of her and her brothers, Ben and Henry (Wickenden 2021). Even Brodess's death in 1849 did not alleviate Tubman's fear of the sale and Tubman sought to make her dreams of freedom a reality.
Why is Harriet Tubman a hero? ›
Tubman is best known as a conductor for the Underground Railroad, and her legacy is awe-inspiring. She liberated about 70 people on more than a dozen dangerous missions to slave-holding states in the decade prior to the Civil War, and she assisted many others with her knowledge of safe spaces and escape routes.
What is a Tubman? ›
English (northern):: occupational name from the Middle English personal name Tub(b)e (see Tubb ) + -man 'servant of Tub(b)e'. nickname from Middle English tub(be) 'tub large wooden vessel formed of staves and hoops' + -man for a cooper or someone who made or used tubs.
