(1820?–1913). An outstanding figure in U.S. history, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery and then helped many other runaway slaves to freedom. She was known as the “Moses of her people.” Although only 5 feet tall and slight of build, she was not afraid to fight for the rights of African Americans. Early life and marriageHarriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in about 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was one of 11 children of a slave couple, Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene. Later she took her mother's first name. From early childhood Harriet worked as both a house servant and a field hand. She grew up in a loving family with a strong religious faith and a love of African American folklore. In about 1844 she married John Tubman, a free African American. After her master died, she heard rumors that she was to be sold. In 1849 she fled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, without her husband. She returned for him in 1851 but found that he had remarried. Underground RailroadIn Pennsylvania Tubman met other people who wanted to end slavery. She began work as a “conductor” for the Underground Railroad. The railroad was a secret network of safe houses organized for helping slaves escape. Tubman led hundreds of escaped slaves to freedom over a period of some 16 years. By 1857 she had freed much of her own family, including her parents. Slave owners were constantly on the lookout for her and offered large rewards for her capture. But no one was able to seize her or any of the slaves she helped escape. Tubman worked to raise money for her trips into the South and to support her parents. In about 1858 she bought a small farm near Auburn, New York, where she settled her aged parents. During the American Civil War Tubman served the Union Army in South Carolina. She nursed and laundered for white soldiers and also for sick and starving African Americans. She acted as both a scout and a spy, often leading raiding parties into Confederate territory. She won the respect of many Union officers. Later yearsAfter the Civil War Tubman settled in Auburn with her parents. She became involved with women's rights groups because she believed that gaining freedom and equality for African Americans and for women were closely linked. She also worked to help orphans and older people. In 1908 she opened a home for aged and poor blacks. It continued to operate for some years after Tubman's death. In 1869, after John Tubman's death, Harriet married Nelson Davis, a former slave who had served in the Union Army. In the late 1860s and again in the late 1890s she applied for a federal pension for her Civil War services. She was finally granted a pension, not for her own achievements but for being Nelson's widow. Harriet Tubman died in Auburn on March 10, 1913. She died of pneumonia after living her last two years in her own home for the aged poor. She was buried in Ohio with military honors. A year later a tablet in her memory was unveiled in Auburn. |