Harriet Tubman Essay Research Paper Sarah H

Harriet Tubman Essay, Research Paper

Sarah H. Bradford describes as being: the future deliverer of hundreds of her

people; the spy and scout of the Union Armies; the devoted hospital nurse; the protector

of hunted fugitives; the eloquent speaker in public meetings; the cunning eluder of

pursuing man-hunters; the heaven guided pioneer through dangers seen and unseen; and

“The Moses of her People”.

Harriet Tubman was an African American woman who escaped from slavery and

repeatedly made about 19 trips back to the South. Her brave actions led her to help about

300 slaves escape to freedom. She led them to the Underground Railroad, which helped

slaves flee to the free states and Canada.

By the early 19th century, white and black abolitionists, African American slaves,

American Indians, and members of religious groups including Quakers, Methodists, and

Baptists, had established the Underground Railroad. From my understanding, the

Underground Railroad was consisted of paths through woods, fields, ships, trains, and

crossing rivers, that would somehow lead you to your destination. This was a secret route

that slaves would use to escape into places like Indiana, Ohio, Pennslyvania, and Canada.

Stations were where runaways would hide during the day and the conductors would help

them escape. The Underground Railroad was also used for shelter. The travel was safe

from the South to the North, and Harriet became its most successful conductor. From the

very beginning, people tried to escape from slavery with varying measures of success.

The Underground Railroad was one of the causes leading to the Civil War.

Harriet Tubman was born in 1820, in Dorchester County, Maryland to Benjamin

Ross and Harriet Green, who was usually called Old Rit . There were no records made

of the date that Harriet Tubman was born, for the simple fact that neither of her parents

could read or write. She was one of 11 children who were all born to slave parents that

were from the Ashanti tribe of West Africa and worked as slaves on the Brodas

plantation. As a child, she was called Araminta, but later took her mother s first name,

Harriet. The nickname for Araminta was Minty. Young Harriet mostly worked inside of

the house, was considered to be a laborer out in the fields by the age of about seven. Her

family was owned by the Andrew Brodas, which also owned the plantation that they lived

on. . Ever since her early childhood, she constantly heard stories about escaping and how

some people were secretly taken up to the North, through what is known as the

Underground Railroad. When Harriet was thirteen, something tragic happened to her.

Harriet was told to capture an escaped slave, but she refused. In fact, she interfered by

trying to save the slave from being punished. For doing that, she was bashed over the

head with a two pound weight. Slowly, but shortly, she recovered from her injury, but

suffered severe headaches and blackouts for the rest of her life.

Throughout Harriet s childhood she worked harder and harder everyday. Harriet

never had a day of schooling. She was suddenly ripped out of infancy and placed into

slave labor. (Conrad, p.7) Despite all of her hard labor, she still thought that nothing was

better than having freedom. She knew that it was definitely time to do something about

that. But still, she never lost faith in herself and in God. Her parents taught her and quoted

bible verses while she was young. By reading, it seemed like Harriet always felt that the

prescence of God was with her and whenever she felt the need for prayer, she prayed.

In 1844, Harriet married a free black man, John Tubman. Back then, slaves and

freed blacks were allowed to get married, but anyone that was a slave had to stay one.

Even if they would ve had children, they would be turned over to the slave owners. .

They were married for about five years. She was taken away from her husband and sold

her to a slave trader.

After thinking long and hard, she finally decided that it was her time to escape.

She tried to get her brothers to join her on the journey, but they were scared and felt that it

was very dangerous. So one night she snuck into the dark woods, by herself, with a plan

to go to Pennsylvania. Her only guide was the North Star. She said, I had reasoned dis

out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty, or death; if I could

not have one, I would have de oder; for no man should take me alive; I should fight for

my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when de time came for me to go, de Lord

would let dem take me”. ( Bradford, p. 29 It took her many days to reach her destination,

but she made it. There, she had jobs ranging from a seamstress and a scrubwoman to a

cook until December of 1850. Then the law put a $40,000 reward out to find her.

In 1793, The Fugitive Slave Law was passed to protect the rights of slave owners

by

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