Harriet Tubman

Biography by: Kate Hartley

May 2, 2017

INTRODUCTION

“If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more” this is one of Harriet Tubman's most famous quotes during her lifetime. Harriet was one of many people who were slaves that had a big impact on the world. Her birth name was Araminta Ross, her nickname was minty, when she made it to Pennsylvania (a free state) her free name became Harriet after her mother.

Harriet was a nurse in the Civil War, and was born in 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She died on March 10 1913, in Auburn, New York. She was best known for her bravery in the Underground Railroad.

EARLY LIFE

When Harriet was younger she was a slave. She was born into slavery and lived in a one room cabin with her family. Harriet was never able to do as much work as other slaves because of allergies, but their masters didn't care. She bounced from many different masters and homes. When Harriet was 13 years of age she received a terrible head injury that caused her to have dizziness and blackouts for the rest of her life. When Harriet had blackouts she had visions about things

that no one knows about. She would never mention it throughout her life. She would be in the middle of talking and would fall asleep for about 10-15 seconds and would carry on with her sentence like nothing happened. She never knew that she had blackouts and visions which made it hard on her family.

FAMILY

Harriet was a part of a big family that had eleven people. There names were: Ben, Linah, Mariah Ritty, Soph, Robert, Araminta, Ben Jr., Rachel, Henry, Moses, and Rittia. That’s a big family. Mariah Ritty and Soph were sold down south early in their lives. The rest of the Ross Family remained in Maryland. Then later on, Harriet rescued them from slavery and to become free. They lived in a one room cabin for many, many, many years until they were freed by Harriet.

THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

When people think of the underground railroad, they think of a train track, but it is actually an underground tunnel that leads to many different places. The tunnels go from house to house, and the houses had people that hated slavery. The homeowners were willing to help slaves and end slavery. When Harriet went to these houses they would sleep and eat at their homes. Harriet went back and forth on the dangerous mission to free slaves to the northern United States territory. But that started to be harder because slave trackers began to raid the northern area and the free slaves had to escape to Canada. The hard thing was the underground railroad ends in northern territory and that meant they had to hitchhike a train, and had ride to Canada to be free. Harriet freed over 200 slaves using the underground railroad.

THE CIVIL WAR

Harriet Tubman participated in the Civil War as a nurse, scout,and spy. She started this job after she freed hundreds of people from slavery. The Civil War was different than any other one, because northern US and southern US had a war to declare freedom for all slaves. But people still disliked black Americans even though northern US won the battle, Civil Rights were not a thing at the time.

BIRTH AND DEATH

Harriet was born in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1820. No one knows the actual date she was born on. She died on March 10 1913, that was almost exactly 104 years ago. Harriet died of Pneumonia, she was 93 when she had passed.

PNEUMONIA

Pneumonia is when bad bacteria is brought into your lungs, and can cause trouble breathing, most of the time people who have pneumonia are able to recover. When Harriet had it, that wasn't the case at all. She had bacteria in both lungs which makes it even harder to breathe. When 1 lung is infected it is called single pneumonia. When 2 lungs are infected it is called double pneumonia. My dad has had pneumonia several times in his life and has recovered from all of them. It is very rare to have a double pneumonia and is rare to die from it. Pneumonia is pretty much not being able to breathe.

RESOURCES

Hale, Nathan. Underground Abductor: An Abolitionist Tale. New York: Amulet, 2015. Print.

Google Images. Google, n.d. Web. 02 May 2017.