Discrimination and slavery filled our nation in the mid 19th century. African Americans were discriminated and seen as “property,” not human beings. Having been born as a slave, Harriet Tubman was no stranger to the harsh reality of slavery. Tubman’s childhood included working as a house servant and later in the cotton fields. With the fear of being sold, Tubman decided to escape for a better life. Harriet Tubman spent her life trying to save others from slavery, becoming one of the most famous women of her time who was able to influence the abolition of slavery, and effect the lives of many African Americans.
Harriet Tubman was born in 1820 as Aranminta Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland. She later changed her name to Harriet after her mother, and when she married a free black man named John Tubman in 1844, she took his last name. As a child since she was born into slavery, she had jobs such as working as a house servant and later on she worked in the cotton fields. “Physical violence was a part of daily life for Tubman and her family. The violence she suffered early in life caused permanent physical injuries” (Harriet Tubman Biography). At the age of twelve, Tubman has an incident that effected her severely. She had narcolepsy, also known as sleeping spells, which would make her be able to fall asleep at any time or place, that was caused by a severe hit to the head by a two pound iron weight that was thrown at another slave. The weight hit Tubman in the head though, disabling her. “The line between freedom and slavery was hazy for Tubman and her family. Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben, was freed from slavery at the age of 45, as stipulated in the will of a previous owner. By the time Harriet reached adulthood, around half of ...
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..., she was able to bring over three-hundred slaves to freedom. Even with her life on the line she stopped at nothing to save her family and others. On Harriet Tubman’s tombstone in Fort Hill Cemetery it reads, “Servant of God, Well Done.”
Works Cited
"Harriet Tubman." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
"Harriet Tubman Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
"Harriet Tubman - Leading Slaves into Freedom." Harriet Tubman - Leading Slaves into Freedom. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2013.
"30 Facts about Harriet Tubman." 30 Facts about Harriet Tubman. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
"Abolitionist Movement." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.
"John Brown's Harpers Ferry." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
"Fugitive Slave Acts." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
He implies that her sudden fame of her tremendous efforts to overcome her racial oppression was strategically planned to help support the movements for equality in labor and civil rights. Tubman gave these social fighters a symbol for their cause. For Tubman, McPherson also investigated the level of truthfulness in her legend, as discussed by her biographers. The author grappled with her medical history of seizures documented through her dictations to those around her who were literate and also through the accounts of others working close to her, saying that these extreme medical issues conflict the writings on her physical and mental strength. Furthermore, comparing Tubman’s seemingly miraculous ability not to get caught with another fugitive slave of the time, Harriet Jacobs, McPherson further suggests that the legend of Harriet Tubman may be nothing more than that. Questioning the validity of Tubman’s “primary” sources allows McPherson to show that her popularized image could feasibly have been exaggerated for political
Consequently, Harriet Tubman was born a slave into a slave family. As a slave, at five years old, Tubman was "rented" to families where she was put to work winding yarn, checking animal traps, cleaning the houses and nursing children among many more laborious tasks. When she was older, she decided she prefered to work outside of the house as opposed to laboring inside the house with domestic chores. As a teenager, she would upset her owners and often was reprimanded and sent home because of her rebellious attitude. Later on in Tubman’s life, she married a free man and also found out that her mother was freed by her owner, but her mother was never informed of her freedom. This directly affected Tubman because her mother’s freedom also meant that Tubman was b...
Harriet Tubman was originally named Araminta Ross. She was one of 11 children born to Harriet Greene and Benjamin Ross on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. She later took her mother's first name. Harriet was working at the age of five. She was a maid and a children's nurse before she worked in the field when she was 12. A year later, a white guy either her watcher or her master smacked her on the head with a really heavy weight. The hit was so hard it left her with permanent neurological damage. In result of the hit she had sudden blackouts during the rest of her life.
“ I had reasoned this 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 the other.”~Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman sacrificed her life and freedom as well. She organized the Underground Railroad, and freed hundreds of slaves. As if the journey wasn’t difficult enough,stated by the book, Who Was Harriet Tubman, “But the trip was even more dangerous after 1850. That was because the Fugitive Slave Law had been passed.”(pg.56) The Fugitive Slave Law meant that runaway slaves who made it to the free states had to be sent back to their masters. People were allowed to beat the slaves and sell them back into the South too. Even though the situation was tough, Harriet Tubman never gave up on what she thought was
“I freed thousands of slaves, and could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves.” (History.com) This Harriet Tubman quote is a great representation of the kind of person she was. Harriet Tubman was a great woman, not only did she escape slavery; she went back several times to save more people. She conducted the Underground Railroad and did great things that have changed our history in one of its darkest times in our history. Being a slave was not easy but that didn’t stop her.
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.
In the year 1825 in Maryland a true hero was born. This hero did the impossible. This hero dared to do what no one else would do. This hero devoted her life to making America better. This hero overcame something that no one at the time thought would ever be overcame. This hero is Harriet Tubman. No one since Harriet has devoted their whole life to one thing and overcoming it and making a huge difference, which was slavery. From being a toddler to the day of her death she devoted all of it to making a difference in slavery, and she sure did make quite a difference. From being a slave herself to freeing over one thousand slaves Harriet Tubman is a true hero. Imagining America without having Harriet Tubman in it is a hard thing to do. Harriet changed America into a better place and was one of the main reasons that slavery came to an end. Harriet Tubman overcame slavery by escaping persecution, risking her life, and refusing to give up.
Servitude has been present in America since 1619 and has affected the lives of countless Americans. Slavery was the underlying cause to the American Civil War, which led to tremendous consequences within the United States. Slaves were being sold to work on cotton farms in the southern parts of the United States where cash crops generated money. Many of these slaves tried to escape from slavery, and were unsuccessful. However, Harriet Tubman was one of the few people to individually accomplish freedom and escape the horrors of enslavement. She is a remarkable individual who accomplished incredible tasks through her own bravery, intelligence, and strength. She is acknowledged as one of the most influential and passionate women in American history. Motivated by her own unjust past, Harriet Tubman became an active abolitionist, a respected conductor in the abolitionist movement known as the Underground Railroad, and served as a nurse and a spy in the American Civil war.
She was well respected among the army and was thought of as the best woman for the job. She was tasked with several mission trips where that required her to liberate multiple slaves. Prior to the war Harriet Tubman returned to Auburn, New York where she spoke at ladies’ suffrage gatherings. Other great women in American history were also present at these meetings. For example. Susan B. Anthony was a speaker at several of these suffrage meetings. Youthful Harriet Tubman was harmed when master tasked with her long errands that were suited for someone ways past her age and ability. The flashback of her two sisters being taken away from her and sold off in a slave trade remained in Harriet Tubman’s mind for the rest of her life. As an adolescent, Harriet Tubman had a hardship brought upon her. She was accidently struck with a 20 pound weight tossed by her furious master on her forehead. This event caused her to suffer a serious recuperation as she lived with the inability to remember simple things for the remainder of her life. For the duration of her life she endured deep sleeps, or uncontrolled rest that conquered her all of a sudden as an aftereffect of the damage received by the weight. Rather than conceding to the reality of the unfavorable situation and giving up hope, young Harriet Tubman elected to turn to God, building up a solid
The first contribution of Harriet Tubman is that she served as a spy for the union army, because she wanted freedom for all the people who were forced into slavery not just the people she could help by herself. One day Tubman took one of the most dangerous and dramatic roles she helped Colonel James Montgomery plan to free slaves from a plantation along the Combahee River in South Carolina. They helped seven hundred and fifty Negroes into the free lines. The river is now known as the “Jordan River” it is the symbol of bondage and freedom. It is also a sign of significance of the military in America...
...rica. Harriet not only accomplished to lead the people who were hungry for freedom into the arms liberty, but gave herself self-contentment to feel that she did something for her people. Harriet Tubman was a very noble, warm hearted and extremely brave person. For the fact that she was willing to not only risk her life leading the slaves into freedom even though she had already reached liberty. She decided to risk her life various times by going back into the danger of getting captured while she was guiding all the other 300 slaves into liberty. Harriet Tubman’s life was one of the harshest and one of the gloomiest ever known. It’s astonishing to realize that besides the fact her life was so devastating and filled with tragic happenings she managed to do something about her imprisonment as a slave, and not only that, but also help out all the other salves as well.
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.
“I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more, if only they had known they were slaves.” Harriet Tubman was a woman known for her important role during the time that led up to the Civil War. She was a woman of incredible strength, courage, and determination. And while Harriet Tubman is credited for giving the slaves an option as to what way they shall spend the rest of their life, the sad truth lies within the quote above. While many people like to believe that slavery was a horrendous act that happened only with small minded people from the south many years ago, that isn’t the case in all honesty. In fact, the idea of slavery was highly debated about and troubled more minds than many are led to believe. While there are
Harriet Tubman was a selfless woman, who devoted her life to save others. Many other slaves from the South escaped to freedom in the North like Tubman. Many of these people stayed where they were free, frightened to go anywhere near the South again. However, that was not Tubman, she was different. She wanted everyone to have the feeling of freedom that she had newly discovered. Harriet was known “to bring people of her race from bondage to liberty,” (S Bradford et al 1869). Harriet Tubman was known as a hero to lots of people during the Civil War.
Harriet Tubman is most known for conducting the Underground Railroad,but was that all she achieved?Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester country,Maryland.The year was about 1822.Harriet was born into slavery.Harriet was a runaway slave herself.She wanted liberty for others and herself.What was Harriet Tubman’s greatest achievement?Harriet Tubman did important work for example being a nurse during the civil war,conducting the Underground Railroad,and being a caregiver,but her greatest achievement was conducting the Underground Railroad.