Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman became known as “Moses” for her role as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, which was the secret network of safe houses used to shuttle thousands of slaves to freedom. Tubman was one of nine children born to enslaved parents Ben Ross and Harriet “Rit” Green between 1808 and 1832 in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her original name was Araminta Harriet Ross and it is believed that Tubman was born between 1820 and 1825. To stave off bankruptcy, her owner, a Maryland farmer named Edward Brodess, had taken to selling or hiring out his slaves. “Minty,” as Tubman was called, was hired out at the age of 6. She was beaten for not knowing how to do the housework, and she was sent to work outdoors. The North Star “I was strong as an ox, and I was good at hard labor,” Tubman told her biographer, Sarah Bradford. “By the time I was 11, master decided I was best suited for outdoors work, and let me cut wood with my father,” Tubman told Bradford. Her father taught her how to walk silently through a forest, and he explained what plants were safe to eat and which could be used for medicine. He taught her how to navigate by observing the world around her. “He also taught me how to find my way up north by looking for the North Star and finding the moss on the trees,” Tubman said. “My father knew I had a strong desire to be free, so he was teaching me how to survive if I was ever to run,” and one day, she ran. Actually, in 1849, she simply walked away. She had made preparations for her escape. When she learned that her owner was trying to sell her, she decided to leave. By this time she was married to John Tubman, a free man, but he did not understand her burning desire for freedom. He would not leave with her. She tried to escape with three of her brothers, but they lost their nerve. She left alone. Tubman returned to the South many times to lead others to freedom. She worked for the Union Army as a cook and nurse, and then became an armed scout and spy. She was first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war. After the Civil War, Tubman moved to land in Auburn, New York, that an abolitionist senator had sold to her in 1859. In 1869, she married a Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis, and in 1874, they adopted a baby girl named Gertie. Tubman died of pneumonia March 10, 1913, in the rest home for the elderly that had been built by the African Methodist Episcopal Church and named after her in Auburn. She was 93. Tubman was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn with military honors.