Black History Month

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad conductor, liberator (1820-1913) Harriet Tubman was an African American whose daring rescues helped hundreds of slaves escape to freedom. She became the most famous leader of the Under-ground Railroad, which aided slaves fleeing to the free states or to Canada, Blacks called her Moses, after the Biblical figure who led the Jews from Egypt. Tubman was born a slave in Bucktown, Maryland, near Cambridge. Her name was Araminta Ross, but as a child, she became known by her mother’s name, Harriet. Her father taught her a knowledge of the woods that later helped her in her rescue missions. When Harriet was 13, she interfered with a supervisor to save another slave from punishment. The enraged supervisor fractured Harriet’s skull with a 2-pound (0.9-kilogram) weight. She recovered but suffered blackouts for the rest of her life. She married John Tubman, a freed slave, in 1844. Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and went to Philadelphia via the Underground Railroad, without her husband. She then vowed to return to Maryland and helped other slaves escape. On one rescue mission, she sensed that pursuers were close behind, so she and the fugitives got on a southbound train to avoid suspicion. On another mission, Tubman had just bought some live chickens in Bucktown when she saw her former master walking towards her. She quickly let the chickens go and chased after them before he could recognize her. In 1857, Tubman led her parents to freedom in Auburn, New York. Tubman never was caught and never lost a slave on any of her 19 rescue trips, She carried a gun and abolitionist John Browns, who told her of his plan to free the slaves. She considered Brown the true liberator of her race. Soon afterward, Tubman also became active in the women’s rights movement. In the Civil War (1861-1865), Tubman served as a nurse, scout, and spy for the union Army in South Carolina. During one military campaign, she helped free more than 750 slaves. After the war, Tubman returned to Auburn, where she helped raise money for black schools. HARRIET TUBMAN The Moses of Her People: “Dead niggers tell no tales. You go on or die!”