Harriet Tubman's Life and Accomplishments

917 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: An essay on perseverance

Harriet Tubman was a history maker. She rebelled against the slavery standards and demanded her voice to be heard. Because she believed every person had a right to be free, Harriet Tubman risked her life to save others. Harriet is one of 9 children, having 4 brothers and 4 sisters. Her parents are Benjamin Ross and Harriet Green. (Ripley 222-3). Her childhood name was Araminta (nicknamed Minty), but she later chose her mother’s name. (Ripley 222-3). She is also known as “Aunt” Harriet. (Taylor 11). When Harriet was young, she was hit over the head with an iron weight due to an overseer trying to stop a slave from escaping. Because of this injury, she would randomly pass out during the day. She never received medical attention, but learned to live with it. (Allen 18). Harriet was never considered a good slave. After her head injury, a neighbor wanted to hire her as a nurse-girl, and her owner was more than willing to let her go. (Taylor 8). Harriet was required to “do all the housework, milk the cows, as well as to be at the side of the cradle every time the little darling cried.” (Taylor 8). Because she wasn't able to be at all places at all times, she was beaten and sent back to her owner with the recommendation, “She don’t worth the salt that seasons her grub.” (Taylor 8). Once Harriet was returned, her owner greeted her with “I will break you in!” (Taylor 8). “From early morn till late at night she was made to work, beaten and cuffed upon the slightest provocation.” (Taylor 8). ! Harriet married John Tubman in 1844. When she married John, she thought he could buy her freedom, but he never did. (Allen 20). Harriet said that she and her husband should leave, but he refused, and once she escaped on her own, he remarried. (Allen 30... ... middle of paper ... ...uring the Civil War. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic, " 2006. Print. Bradford, Sarah H. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. New York Public Library, 1869. Web. " Cleghorn, Sarah Norcliffe, and HathiTrust. The True Ballad of Glorious Harriet Tubman. University of Michigan, 1933. Web. "Harriet Tubman Biography Underground Railroad Kate Clifford Larson." Harriet Tubman " Biography Underground Railroad Kate Clifford Larson. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. Ripley, C. Peter et al., eds., The Black Abolitionist Papers, vol. 5, The United States, 1859-1865 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1992), 222-3. "SITES in Your Neighborhood This Fall « The Affiliate." The Affiliate RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Mar. 2014. Taylor, Robert W. Harriet Tubman, the Heroine In Ebony. Boston: [s.n.], 1901. "Timeline - Site Title." Site Title. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. "

Show More
Related

  • Harriet Tubman Essay

    550 Words  | 2 Pages

    Born in Maryland, Harriet’s original name was Araminta Ross. Tubman came from a family that included enslaved parents. She had siblings that would soon be sold into slavery and to nearby plantations. She endured physical violence throughout her childhood some, of which, led to permanent injuries. She later married a free

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Overcoming Slavery Essay

    1445 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tiffany Burkes, Jill Fandzel, Jessica Ramuno, Ady Rabie. “Harriet Tubman” csun.edu. n.d. 1, April. 2014. web.

    Read More

  • The Underground Railroad and Iowa: On the Road from Slavery to Freedom

    2243 Words  | 5 Pages

    “Harriet Tubman”. New Standard Encyclopedia. Standard Education Corporation. Volume 17. Chicago: 1994. (no author listed).

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Bibliography

    1221 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harriet Tubman was born in the year 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her parents were Harriet Green and Ben Ross. She is known by the name Harriet Tubman, but her real name was Araminta Ross. She had ten brothers and sisters who helped her with her work. Her family's nickname for her, as said by Elish, was “Minta” (9). She was born into a slave family which meant one thing: she was going to have a difficult life. She was abused and beaten by hard-hearted white people even when she was little. Her most difficult injury to overcome happened when she was only thirteen. A slave started to escape, so her master picked up a brick and threw it at him. Harriet stepped in front of the brick, trying to give the slave a chance to escape, and, in doing so, was hit in the head, knocking her out. Because of this injury, she had seizures and extremely painful headaches her entire life. When she was old enough, she was rented out to the Cook family. They disregarded her as a person or as an equal, making her sleep and share food with the dogs. The Cooks did not have enough money to keep her, so they gave her back. She was then rented to a woman named Miss Susan, who beat her mercilessly with a whip over the tiniest mistake. When she got the chance, she ran away from her, but ended up almost starving. She was returned to the plantation and started to work in the fields, gathering strength. Her father, hearing about her almost ...

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Life In Slavery

    1129 Words  | 3 Pages

    At the age of 25 in 1884 she married a free black John Tubman and changed her name to Harriet Tubman(her full name used to be Araminta Harriet Ross). Later fearing she would be sold south she made her escape, to Canada. She still had no rights and her responsibilities were to stay safe, and try to escape.

    Read More

  • Who Is Harriet Tubman's Greatest Accomplishments

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Harriet Tubman's famous last words as a slave saying, "...I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one I would have the other," led to the saving of numerous African-American slaves on many perilous missions. Minty Ross was born in 1822 in the border state of Maryland. She was born as a slave, although she did have the privilege of growing up with a mother. She was an exceptionally tough child, and did the work men usually do nowadays. She married John Tubman, a free black man, which changed her name to Harriet Tubman, taking after her mother's first name. After she escaped slavery, she was moved to help more of the enslaved Americans. Her work as a nurse, caregiver, and spy were important but her greatest achievement was the

    Read More

  • Essay On Harriet Tubman

    545 Words  | 2 Pages

    Harriet Tubman (known as Araminta at the time) was born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1819. Like many other slaves she was raised in extremely poor and harsh conditions. She was whipped and beaten from very early on in her childhood. Before she was considered old enough to work she spent her childhood with her grandmother who was too old for slave labour since her parents were always put to work and couldn’t take care of her. When she was put to work at age six she did not tend to the fields like the majority of slaves commonly did, her master lent her to neighbouring families to work doing chores like basket weaving. She was moved around a bit for work due to her being disobedient or stealing al resulting in beating or whippings. At age 11 she was considered to no longer be a child and she lost her “basket name” and was then named Harriet after her mother. Not long after she suffered severe head trauma inflicted from a white overseer after assisting a runaway slave. She suffered black outs and migraines for the rest of her life due to this incident....

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Research Paper

    601 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sometimes history gives us heroes, and one of those heroes is Harriet Tubman. She was born Araminta Ross, around 1820, to her slave parents Harriet Green and Ben Ross, later on she changed her name to Harriet(Metcalf pg.166). Harriet Tubman’s life had a great impact on making progress for blacks and women during the Civil War. Tubman’s leadership was shown through her leading hundreds of slaves to freedom using the Underground Railroad and by being a spy, cook, scout, and nurse for the Union Army.

    Read More

  • How Did Harriet Tubman Contribute To Freedom

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    Harriet believed family, and freedom were necessary in her success. Harriet was discouraged subsequent to her sister, Tilly, being sold. Harriet pursed her excursion in becoming free form slavery.Harriet realized to be free, she must begin her travel toward North, once dusk arrives; Harriet arrives at the destination of Pennsylvania, introducing her to freedom .Harriet retraced one steps to salvage her cherished parents. Harriet displayed two-hundred dollars to her owner in recovery of freedom, her owner prohibited the offer. Harriet directed around three-hundred slaves to the opportunity of freedom. Despite the label of husband and or family member, John continued to be neither.

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman

    1169 Words  | 3 Pages

    Harriet Tubman's life is one for the records with so much history and importance behind it. In 1849 she escaped from slavery and settled in Philadelphia. There, she found work as a scrubwoman. Over the next ten years she became very involved in the Abolition movement, forming friendships with one of the black leaders of the Underground Railroad, William Still, and white abolitionist Thomas Garrett. She became an inspiring conductor of the Underground Railroad putting her own life ahead of her people. Her drudgery did not stop there. During the Civil War Harriet Tubman served as a scout, a spy, and a nurse. Because of her influential involvement in the abolitionist act she came into contact with many dominant social leaders in the North. While all of her accomplishments were notable, her involvement in the Underground Railroad is one most infamous to the United States.

    Read More

  • Harriet Tubman Research Paper

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    Harriet Tubman was a heroic leader who was motivated to do the right thing for all of the enslaved African Americans. "Harriet Tubman was a very remarkable woman," states Richard Yarfurough (an English professor at UCLA) from biography.com. Tubman was a very remarkable woman. She led over 1,000 slaves across America without one being found. Tubman's motivation to leave and then later return to the plantation came from her own personal experience. She was hit on the head with a lead object and called sick because of the accident. "Tubman thought she would be sold for being sickly," says Dr. Sherrill

    Read More

  • What Is Harriet Tubman's Role In Civil Disobedience

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    To understand Harriet’s role in civil disobedience, one must first have knowledge of her personal life. Harriet was originally named Armanita Harriet Ross. She was one of nine children, her parents were Harriet Green and Ben Ross. Harriet was born into slavery because both of her parents were slaves. So she was exposed to the harmful ways of the slave life at a young age. Harriet received many punishment

    Read More

  • Essay On Harriet Tubman

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    In summary, Harriet has done too many things for families like mine to not be considered a hero in my eyes. She has walked through freezing cold, hungry and tired, but has never faltered on her journeys. She has sacrificed her own safety and well-being several times for the helpless and imprisoned, yet she never stopped her travels. She has constantly persevered through danger, prejudice, and legal limitations; even up North. For these reasons,

    Read More

  • Nelson Mandela And Harriet Tubman's Impact On American History

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tubman was a conductor on the underground railroad and saved thousands of slaves. For example, “She had been taught to say, ‘Yes, Missus,’ ‘No, Missus,’ to white women, ‘Yes, Mas’r,’ ‘No, Mas’r,’ to white men. Or, ‘Yes, sah,’ ‘No, sah.’” (Petry). This shows how she was a slave, this starts the idea in her that she wants to be free. Another quote is, “Old Rit would say a prayer that the hoofbeats would not stop. If they did, there would be the dreadful sound of screams. Because the runaway slave had been caught, would be whipped, and finally sold to the chain gang” (Petry). This shows further about how slaves were treated, and how Tubman became more upset about the way slaves were treated. Petry pointed out, “He talked about the arrival of the wild ducks, the thickness of the winter coat of muskrats and of rabbits. He was always talking about the woods, the berries that grew there, the strange haunting cries of some of the birds, the loud sound their wings made when they were disturbed and flew up suddenly. He spoke of the way the owls flew, their feathers so soft that they seemed to glide, soundless, through the air” (Petry). You can see how Ben was preparing Tubman before she even knew it. In conclusion, Harriet Tubman freed thousands of slaves and had a profound effect on

    Read More

  • Underground Railroad Thesis

    1160 Words  | 3 Pages

    She was an ex-slave herself and was born into a family of slave parents. She was born in Maryland, on the eastern shore. Harriet unfortunately grew up unable to read or write since slaves were not taught nor allowed to do so. So one day in 1849 Tubman made plans to escape. Her plan was to follow the stars and she only knew of a couple southern states in her path. Once she made it to Philadelphia she found work and saved money. When you escape your journey take a long time known can easily pan out how the trip will go. So runaways had to be smart they could not travel main roads because the hunters patrolled them. The railroad stretched for thousands of miles and took a long time to get there. They had to take the hard and forbidden routes like in the mountains and swamps. And while you are trying to escape your owner puts a reward on whoever can capture you. For Harriet her price was forty thousand dollars. But no one got her. She was a huge help in saving slaves lives and guiding them to freedom. I think that’s why she was worth so much. But she survived it all and made over twenty trips over the south and saved more than three hundred slaves escape. As time passed she worked as a cook, nurse, and spy for the civil war. Then later she settled down in New York until her death in

    Read More

More about Harriet Tubman's Life and Accomplishments

Open Document