Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman  was born in Dorchester County, Maryland in the United States. In the early 1900’s. As an African American woman who was extremely brave, she took slaves from the southern states to the northern states. She would take them at night, and they would have had to be extremely quiet, because if the plantation owner heard them,  she and the people who were with her would get arrested and incarcerated. Harriet helped approximately 70 slaves get across to the North. Did you know that the slaves would sing to send messages to each other?

Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate overseer threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another enslaved person, but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. These experiences, combined with her Methodist upbringing, led her to become devoutly religious.

In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, only to return to Maryland to rescue her family soon after. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other enslaved people to freedom. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she helped guide fugitives farther north into British North America (Canada), and helped newly freed enslaved people to find work. Tubman met John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry.
 
Harriet Tubman should be remembered by us all because she has shown bravery, demonstrating that just because she is a woman doesn't mean she can’t do dangerous things. Whether you are man or woman, poor or wealthy, you should do what is right, not take a path that someone else has chosen for you.