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Harriet Tubman

Born around 1820 - Died in 1913


Harriet Tubman<BR>
Harriet Tubman was born around 1820 in Maryland. Her parents were slaves, so she also was a slave when she was born. She had to work even when she was a little child. When she was twelve years old, she suffered a serious injury when an overseer threw a heavy weight which hit her in the head. After that incident she slept a lot. This condition remained with her the rest of her life. People with narcolepsy will suddenly fall asleep wherever they happen to be.

When she was 25, she married John Tubman who was not a slave, but a free African American.

Harriet was afraid she was going to be sold and sent to the South, so she decided to run away. A white neighbor gave her some names of people she could contact to help her. She was about to escape through the Underground Railroad.

To understand the story of Harriet Tubman we first need to learn something about the Underground Railroad. It was not a railroad, and it was not under the ground. It was a network of "safe houses" where slaves could flee from one house to the next until they made their way to the Canadian border. The people helping them had to do it secretly, so it was an "underground" or covert* operation.

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The safe houses were called "stations" or "depots". The owners of the houses were called "stationmasters". A compassionate* religious group of Quakers were stationmasters as well as certain free blacks who were sympathetic to the slaves.

The people who traveled with the slaves to help them escape were called "conductors".

The slaves knew they had to go north to find freedom. They used the North Star, Polaris,* as their guide. They would use the coded words in the song "Follow the Drinking Gourd" to find their way. (The drinking gourd was the Big Dipper in the sky from which they could locate the North Star.)

During a forty year period about 100,000 slaves escaped from the South through the Underground Railroad.

Harriet contacted a person her friend had recommended, and through a series of safe houses made her way to Canada where she became a free woman. Her next concern was to help her family also become free. She returned to Maryland again and again freeing her sister and her sister's two children, her brother and two other men. When she went to rescue her parents who were seventy years old, she had to arrange for a wagon because they were too frail to make the trip on foot.

She made a trip to free her husband, John, only to find that he had married another woman! It made her very sad that he had rejected her and chosen another to be his wife, but she decided to devote herself to helping others gain freedom. She later married Nelson David, a former slave who was a Union soldier.

Harriet made nineteen trips as a "conductor", risking her life every time, and successfully freed about 300 slaves. She carried a gun and threatened any slave who wanted to turn back.

A reward of $40,000 was offered to any bounty hunter who brought Harriet in to the authorities, but she managed to avoid capture. She was such a brave woman! Harriet became known as "Moses" because she was freeing her people just as Moses freed the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery.

She made friends with many influential* people including abolitionists* John Brown and Frederick Douglas. She befriended Senator William H. Seward from New York. He and his wife provided a house where she moved her parents down from Canada. She later was able to buy the home and stayed there when she was not on the road helping slaves escape.

During the Civil War Harriet worked for the Union Army. Sometimes she worked as a cook, sometimes she served as a nurse, and even worked as a spy! After the war she returned to her home in Auburn, New York.

Harriet Tubman died at the age of 93. After her death she received many honors. A ship was named for her; the Liberty Ship Harriet Tubman, and in 1995 the federal government issued a commemorative* postage stamp in her honor.

Fergus M. Bordewich, the author of "Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the War for the Soul of America" states that myths grew up around the Underground Railroad. He says one fact that can't be substantiated is that quilts with secret code in the squares were displayed to indicate safe houses. View excerpts from the book.

(When you get to Amazon view the "Search Inside" to see the contents of the book.)

This biography by Patsy Stevens, a retired teacher, was written in 2006.

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Dictionary

From Word Central's Student Dictionary
by Merriam - Webster

(Pronunciation note: the schwa sound is shown by ə)

covert
Pronunciation: 'kO-'vərt, 'kəv-ərt
Function: adjective
not openly made or done as in a covert military operation

compassion
Pronunciation: kəm-'pash-ən
Function: noun
sorrow or pity caused by the suffering or misfortune of another
: SYMPATHY
com pas sion ate /-'pash-(ə-)nət/ adjective

Polaris
Pronunciation: pə-'lar-əs, -'lahr-
Function: noun
the North Star

influential
Pronunciation: in-'floo-'en-chəl
Function: adjective
having influence

abolitionist
Pronunciation: ab-ə-'lish-(ə-)nəst
Function: noun
a person who is in favor of abolishing especially slavery

commemorative
Pronunciation: kə-'mem-ə-'rət-iv
Function: adjective
intended to commemorate a person, thing, or event
as a commemorative postage stamp


Research Links

My Own Books
personalize an online story about Harriet Tubman
by inserting your name in the story

Harriet Tubman
at Teacher Vision

Harriet Tubman
from PBS

Harriet Tubman
America's Story

Harriet Tubman
Heroes for a Better World, picture to color

Follow the Drinking Gourd
explanation of the song lyrics

The Underground Railroad
information at PBS

The Underground Railroad
from the History Channel

Underground Railroad Timeline

Underground Railroad Lesson Plan
Lesson Snips.com
(You must register to access lessons.)

The Abolitionists
American Experience

Women Spies
biography with audio version

Antebellum Slavery
resources describing slavery in early America

Abolition of Slavery
Condition of Slaves
video lessons
(Click on the topics "Interactive Media Files", be sure volume is turned up.)


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Books
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Library

A LIBRARY OF
ONLINE BOOKS and BOOK PREVIEWS


Order the following books from Amazon.

Harriet Tubman: Hero of the Underground Railroad
by Lori Mortensen (selected pages) Order here

Learning about bravery from the life of Harriet Tubman
by Kiki Mosher (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman (First Biographies)
by Randy T. Gosda (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad
by Patricia Lantier (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
by Dan Stearns (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman: Riding the Freedom Train
by Rose Blue, Corinne J. Naden (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman: Moses of Her People
by Carole Marsh (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman: Childhood of Famous Americans
by Kathleen V. Kudlinski (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman: the life and the life stories
by Jean McMahon Humez (selected pages) Order here

Harriet Tubman
by M. J. Cosson (selected pages) Order here

The Underground Railroad: Bringing Slaves North to Freedom
by Judy Monroe (selected pages) Order here

Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction (Look for Harriet Tubman)
by Hallie Quinn Brown (public domain, 1926, full view) Order here


Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
by Sarah Hopkins Bradford (public domain, 1869, full view) Order here

Unsung Heroes (Harriet Tubman page 87)
by Elizabeth Ross Hayes (public domain, 1921, full view)

Credits and Solutions

Public domain picture from the Library of Congress

Portrait courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

Coloring picture courtesy of Wikipedia.

Puzzles on these pages courtesy of
Songs of Praise and Armored Penguin

* Word Match Solution

Page Comments
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2021-06-04
I luv luv luv harriet tubman!!!! i have a book about her at my home i luv her
abi
2020-05-11
so cool it helped me!
ally
2013-01-15
this website is amazing and harriet tubman is a mazing !!!! i luv this website !!!
jessie
2011-05-18
luv ths website
2011-04-06
i like this website it helps u rsearch important people
55667
2011-03-23
Harriet Tubmano is so amazing! I have to do a project on someone and i just had 2 pick her :)
Destinae
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