Harriet Tubman is truly incredible. This woman is amazing in ways that most people don’t fully realize. Here we journey through her life. Starting with her early life as a slave. We see some of the injustice she had to live through. After this some time is spent with her free life. After this we travel through her work on the Underground Railroad and Civil War. Her brilliance and strength is very valuable to history. Last we end with her older life. Harriet spent her whole life fighting for bettering black lives.
Birth and Family
In 1801 the master Joseph Brodess died. He owned Harriet's mother. Her name was Harriet, but called Rit. His son Edward would inherit the slaves and the house. Until then all is owned by Joseph's wife Mary. In 1803, Mary remarried to Anthony Thompson. During this time is when Harriet parents meet. When 1824 came. Edward Brodess married Eliazbeth Anne Keene. They then moved about 10 miles away. Rit and children went with them. While Ben her husband was left.
Harriet Tubman, born Araminta “Minty” Ross. “Yet because she was born a slave, the exact year of her birth remains unknown, unrecorded in an owner’s ledger—lost even to the parents and child themselves.”1 Many believed her birth year was 1820 or 1822. Harriet didn’t agree with this though. She says her birth was in 1825. To complicate this more. When Harriet died the date on her death certificate said she was born in 1815. The date on her gravestone says she was born in 1820.
The location of her birth is also a mystery. She is said to have been born at many locations throughout 1815-1825. “But the Brodess plantation near Bucktown, Maryland, is most likely her place of birth and is certainly where she spent her earliest years, with her mother.”2
The number of brothers and sisters she had, is also a mystery. It is known that she helped care for young siblings while her mother worked. Also that she had some older siblings. Her siblings vanished away as the slave owner sold them. This left her traumatized for the rest of her life. “She had watched two of her sisters carried off weeping and lamenting.”3 They were never seen again.
Young life as a slave
The slave work she was expected to do started when she was five. Slaves were often hired out to work for someone other than their owner. A neighbor needed help with a baby. So she was sent to do this job that would continue for years.
When she was seven she escaped from slavery for a short time. After stealing some sugar she ran away from Miss Susan. She “was a merciless taskmaster who beat Tubman every day, lashing out at the girl every time the baby she tended cried.”4 She would wear thick clothing for protection. At this time her mistress grabbed the whip. So Harriet ran. She hid in a pig pen for five days. At this time she shared scraps with pigs to survive. As she got more hungry, and fearful of the adult pigs she went back.
This short escape made her become what slaveholders called truant. This someone who left for days, weeks and months. Slaves ran away to prevent punishments, and horrible treatments. These runaways run to hide in swamps and other locations. “In many cases, such runaways received support from other slaves who brought them food and supplies and who sometimes even hid the truants in their homes”5 These runaways also often escape to dance, and enjoy a social life for a while.
Once she was twelve she no longer worked in the home. Since she was growing and becoming stronger. Now she was expected to work in the fields. “By then she so resented the close company and smothering supervision of white women that she was considered unsuitable as a domestic servant.”6 So really being out in the field with people of her color was a positive change for her.
Harriet was working the harvest for someone named Barrett. A male slave left the field and was running away. The overseer of the slaves started to follow. Harriet then ran ahead to warn the runaway. All three of them ended up at a store in a small village. The runway was scared and went to run again. Harriet got in between them to block the overseer. He had picked up a weight to throw at the runaway. Since Harriet got in the way. She was the one who was hit.
She had been wearing a head cover. So when the weight hit. “it broke my skull and cut a piece of that shawl clean off and drove it into my head. They carried me to the house all bleeding and fainting. I had no bed, no place to lie down on at all, and they lay me on the seat of the loom, and I stayed there all that day and the next.”7
No punishment came to the person who injured her. No arrest. No trial. Nothing. He was just free to continue on. It is believed that narcolepsy is what she began to suffer from. For the rest of life she would randomly blackout in sleep. Then after a while I wake up with no memory of being asleep. This illness happens when the part of the brain that controls sleep is damaged.
Meeting her husband
It’s unknown how Harriet met John Tubman. The best guess is that they met when she was working for John Stewart. “Nor are there descriptions of their wedding, record of a date, nor any oral history about the event.”8 They were married around 1844. Harriet was 19 at this time. John was free. For him to marry a slave he must have loved her a lot. This was when things in her life began to change.
Towards liberation
Her husband was free. Her father was freed in 1840. Harriet paid a lawyer five dollars to research her, and her mothers freedom. A person's freedom was linked to the mother. The lawyer looked at the will of mothers first owner Atthow Pattison. He owned Harriet's mother, and grandmother. Rit was given to Marry, his daughter.
The will said she was to be freed when she became forty-five. Her mother had turned forty-five many years back. Rit should have been freed around the time she got married. Though the will was ignored, or misinterpreted. This also means, some of Harriet's siblings should have been born free.
“With the closing of the slave trade in 1808 and the increasing value of slaves, no doubt Mary Brodess’s white heirs refused to face the consequences of losing property and income.”9 Harriet and her family were worth so much money. Also the work they did made the family money. They didn’t care about being fair and respectful So they were not just going to set them free.
On the run
In 1849 She heard rumors that her, and maybe some brothers would be sold down the river. Harriet prayed. “Lord, if you ain’t never going to change that man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way, so he won’t do no more mischief.”10 She then was filled with incredible guilt when he soon did die.
With her owner dead. Her future was uncertain. Harriet didn’t know if her and her family would be inherited or sold and separated. “I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”11
The details are unknown. Though what is certain, sometime during September 1849 Harriet fled for her freedom. On October 3, 1849 the Cambride Democrat had an ad posted by her former owners. Hoping to get her back. “Readers were told she had run away on September 17 and would fetch $50 if located in Maryland, $100 if found “out of the State.”12
But she was over it. She would not be returning to slavery. The Underground Railroad was active around 1840. It’s not certain that Harriet used the Underground Railroad to find her freedom. It’s just a very logical guess. What is for sure. She left Maryland alone traveling 90 miles, and made her way to Pennsylvania to get her freedom.
Freedom
This is when she became named Harriet Tubman. She renamed herself like most freed slaves did. She took the name Harriet from her mother. Then Tubman came from her husband John Tubman. With her new name she set out her new life.
At this time most free blacks lived in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and north east Maryland. From 1890-1850 Harreit and two hundred seventy-nine slaves fled to these areas. This was causing the slave population to drop. “Slave population had shrunk to a mere 300 (down from 6,000 in 1750), which by 1830 was reduced to less than a dozen”13
Freedom was certainly better than slavery. But the new life did have its challenges. Fear of kidnapping was a big worry. Blacks were blamed for crimes they weren’t connected to. They could be thrown in jail for supposed bad conduct and language. Neighborhoods were poor and crowded. Jobs weren't always easy to find. For Harriet this world was lonely. Then this freed life became at risk of getting taken from her and all other fugitives.
Congress passed on September 18, 1850 the fugitive slave act. It was a compromise to make the south happy. Many of their slaves ran off. They want them back. This law meant that even if a slave got to the north. It no longer matters that they escaped to a free state. They can still be recaptured. It also prevented the runaway to a jury trial.
First rescues
Keziah, often called Kizzy was the daughter of one of her sisters. Kissy’s husband John Bowley sent word to Harriet. The message was that Harriet’s sister and two children would soon be sold south. This sale would happen in December 1850. The family knew that Harriet got to freedom. So they thought she would have ways, connections, and skills to help. They were very right.
The story goes, while the auctioneer stepped away to eat. John Bowley went to save his wife. He got Kizzy, and her two children. They were taken to a boat. After the journey Harreit was waiting for them. She kept them safe and hidden until the job getting them to freedom was finished.
She wanted more of her family back. So then in spring 1851. She went to free her brother. Two others also joined. They were “co workers” of her brothers. Later in summer of 1851 she went again. This time was to get her husband to come with her. This did not happen. History says he wouldn’t even go see her. He had married another woman.
The Underground Railroad
It was in December of 1851 that she did her first Underground railroad mission. The role she had was “Conductor.” She escorted her “cargo", the fugitives to freedom.
Slaves and Conductors were helped by “station masters.” They were abolitionists who worked at “stations.” These were homes and other safe places for runaways to hide for a while.
She had saved more of her family, yes. Her other brother and his love Catherine. Though This was the first time she had taken strangers to freedom. “I wouldn’t trust Uncle Sam with my people no longer, but I brought ’em clear off to Canada.”14 Starting in 1852. She planned at least one trip a year. But normally two. Moving people to freedom through Wilmington or Philadelphia.
The methods she used were very smart. She knew that coming in winter means longer nights. Making more darkness to travel in. It’s also at this time much less likely for others to be out. She would take trains south. She knew no one would question a black person going south. Fugitives were trying to escape the south. Not go there.
Saturday was the day she always planned escapes. On Sundays a slave would be with friends and family. This was their day off. No one would know these people have left until Monday. A slave owner would get a poster made. They would make a notice in the newspaper. Those things take time. Valuable time Harriet used to get people to freedom.
The daguerreotype photos became popular in the 1850s. Harriet had a collection of photos of her antislavery friends. While traveling she would show them to people. She could see their reactions. Also If a person could name people in her photos. Then she thought she could trust them.
She would rarely walk onto a plantation. She would send messengers about days and times of when everyone should be ready to go. Though she sent false information. With the goal of preventing mishaps and betrayals.
She would wear large sunbonnets and act old. Because people pay less attention to the old. She would sing gospel songs. The songs would have instructions on what slaves should do. When it’s time to go, if they should hide, and so on. Abolitionist Alice Stone Blackwell said “No one would notice what was sung by an old colored woman as she trudged along the road.”15
She was strong. Always demanding that she is the leader. Persuading everyone to do what she says. When that didn’t work. Her pistol was already. She told the story of a difficult journey. Harriet and 25 people were hiding in a swamp. All day. Night was coming and everyone was cold and hungry. A runaway slave in the group said they were going back. So she explained he must stay. If he leaves the whole group is at risk. He wouldn't walk when it was time to. So Harriet “stepped up to him and aimed a revolver at his head, saying ‘Move or die!”16
Harriet’s station master friend. Thomas Garrett said “Harriet seems to have a special angel to guard her on her journey of mercy . . . and confidence [that] God will preserve her from harm in all her perilous journeys.”17 God was often created for her success. Once she went to Thomas and told him god says you have money for me. She went on to say she needed about twenty three dollars. Thomas then realized someone donated money to help her. The amount she was given was about twenty four dollars.
She at times would stop, then go out in another direction. Then later to discover that an ambush was laid out. “When danger is near, it appears like my heart goes flutter, flutter.”18 Harriet believed these supernatural abilities were inherited from her father.
New Year's Day was the most popular time for owners to sell their slaves. So caravans of slaves being freed would go to Canada before Christmas. She would bring people to freedom. Then spend Christmas in Canada with her family. Come spring she’s back in the USA. Cooking, and doing many domestic service jobs to raise money. While working with Underground Railroad contacts to collect donations. Freeing people was costly. Having money for bribing people and traveling is important. When she got enough money. Plans on traveling south to bring more people to freedom were made.
In the winter of 1854 she went to free her three brothers. Henry, Benjamin, and Robert Ross. Before going north they went to visit their father. Though he didn’t get to see them. Because they blindfolded him. It was five years since she had seen her father. So she wanted a visit with him, but she wanted the aftermath to be easy for him. If he was asked if he saw his children run away. He truly and easily could say he hadn’t seen anyone. This worked out just as it was planned. They didn’t see their mother before leaving. It’s said she gets surprised, excited, and loud easily. Later on the parents did join the family.
The Raid on Harpers Ferry, and Harriet?
John Brown wanted slavery to end. After a while his patience vanished. He met Harriet in 1858. He needed funding to pull the raid together. Harriet enjoyed his vision. So she was ready to start doing what she could to help. The spring and through summer of 1859 she was giving speeches asking for donations. There is nothing suggesting she was directly promoting violence. Only that she thought this was a good move for change. Unlike Frederick Douglass who said this plan is sure to be a failure. He had no part in helping with this.
John Brown called her “General Tubman” since aside from fundraising. Harriet was also helping plan the raid. Though, she was not at the raid. Time and money was shrinking. The army was becoming smaller. Harriet set the date for July 4th. With the struggles John Brown was having. He moved up the raid to October 16th. Word of these changes failed to make it to Harriet in time. Even if she were to get the message. She wouldn’t have been of any help. At this time she was hospitalized. Her head injury from years ago was causing her illness. Hearing the news of Brown's death and how the raid ended she was greatly sad.
Philosopher Henry David Thoreau said “I should say that he was an old-fashioned man in respect for the Constitution, and his faith in the permanence of this Union. Slavery he deemed to be wholly opposed to these, and he was its determined foe.”19 Another philosopher at this time, Ralph Waldo Emerson said Brown was like Christ and his gallows was the cross. John Brown was called a hero by many. This was the beginning of the civil war. The war had a role for Harriet too.
Civil War
When war started she was happy thinking of how slavery may come to its end. During the war she worked as a nurse healing soldiers. Fighting malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and cholera. While also staying ready for when newly freed slaves ran to her for help and safety.
The happiness she had faded as President Abraham Lincoln didn’t end slavery yet. Throughout his life he didn’t like slavery. He agreed with the thoughts of abolitionists. He wasn’t an abolitionist though. He wanted to see it end. Lincoln didn’t think he lawfully had the right to end it though.
Harriet’s thoughts on this were much simpler. You just have to do it. “You send for a doctor to cut the bite; but the snake, he rolled up there, and while the doctor doing it, he bite you again. The doctor dug out that bite; but while the doctor doing it, the snake, he spring up and bite you again; so he keep doing it, till you kill him.”20 The problem, while keep making problems. Until it’s completely over. She never met with Lincoln. This she would later regret.
After the freeing of slaves in the Emancipation Proclamation. In July 1863 she led scouting trips through marsh, islands, and more. This knowledge was then used to advise Colonel James Montgomery. Harriet led a raid on the Combahee River plantations. Many plantations were burned and supplies taken. At this time 700 slaves were freed and put on boats to sail away. “This is the only military command in American history wherein a woman, black or white, led the raid …”21 Said by secretary of war Edwin M. Stanton.
After the war ended she stayed doing her nursing job. Then it was time to go home. In 1865 on her trip home. The train conductor wouldn’t believe a black woman would be given soldiers’ papers. It was demanded that she give up her seat. When she wouldn’t do this. She was so mighty it took four men to make her get up and go. They then threw her in the back with baggage.
Later life
Senator William Seward was a friend during her days working the Underground Railroad. (also Secretary of State appointed by President Abraham Lincoln.) He offered her a home she could pay for easily. The home was in Auburn, New York. The home was bought in 1859. With the war over she can fully join her family.
In her home lived her family, and anyone who needed help. She collected donations to help those in need. It was often that she struggled greatly having little money. Sarah H. Bradford and Harriet worked together on a biography of her life. Copies cost $1. The total sale was $1,200. Along with this she had also tried to get a pension for her work in the war. Though the process of trying to get what was owed to her wasn’t going well.
Nelson Davis who Harriet met during the war had come to live in Auburn. They were in love and married on March 18, 1869. They were married for almost 20 years when he died in 1888. Harriet again in hard times fell victim to a gold scam. The townspeople were unhappy that she was struggling. So they again started fighting for her to get what’s owed to her. The people of the town also donated food to her home.
1890 came with a glimmer of hope. Congress passed a law giving widows of war veterans a payment. She sent in information applying for the 8 dollars a month. It failed. The government struggled with who her husband was. This gets complicated. Like Harriet, and other slaves. He had multiple names. As a slave he was Nelson Charles. He used this name in the army too. When moving to Auburn his name was Nelson Davis. When they were married he was Charles Nelson Davis. Then he died as Nelson Davis. She promised this is all the same person. In 1892 they finally believed her and granted the pension payment.
Harriet, shows up at an auction in 1896. This home used to be William Seward’s father in law. The goal was to expand her charity. The auction was won by her with a price of $1,450.49. She very skillfully worked out a deal. The AME Zion Church helped to get a mortgage for $1,000. Then the rest was gotten by fundraising. All of this work was done in about a week.
Again, the townspeople pushed for her to get her own pension. In 1899 her pension was increased. Some wanted to honor her spy services during the war. Others didn't want to see a black woman celebrated as a soldier. So it was easier for them to agree on payments for her work as a nurse. So after 30, long hard years. Her wartime work was recognized. She earned a double pension raising her pay out to 20 dollars.
In 1903, the home she bought was donated to the AME Zion Church. The location was turned into a home for the old, and those that are black needing assistance. To get a room it costs 3 dollars a week, or 150 dollars for life. For the people that struggled to pay. They had Harriet asking for donations. She wasn’t going to let anyone be homeless and uncared for.
On June 23, 1908 at the opening she gave a speech. “I did not take up this work for my own benefit, but for those of my race who need help. The work is now well started and I know God will raise up others to take care of the future.”22 Throughout her life even struggled asking for help that only benefited her. Whatever she benefited from helped everyone.
In 1913, She was 90 or 91. Her life began with the horrors of slavery. Then most of her free life was spent bettering black lives. Harriet made 13 trips rescuing about 70 people from slavery. In the union army she cooked for and nursed black soldiers. In the war she also used her powers to lead in the liberation of 700 slaves. Not even in her retired life did she slow down. She was busy caring for aging and needy blacks. March 10th she died as a resident in this retirement home she helped create. Even in her dying words she was thinking about bettering lives. “I go to prepare a place for you.”23
Bibliography
Bay, Mia, Deborah Gray White, and Waldo E. Martin Jr. Freedom on My Mind: A History of African Americans, with Documents. 3rd ed., Bedford/St. Martins Macmillan Learning, 2021.
The Civil War: A Visual History. DK, 2015.
Clinton, Catherine. Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. Little Brown, 2005. Google Books.
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, and Chelsea Clinton. The Book of Gutsy Women. Simon & Schuster, 2019.
Thoreau, Henry David. Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated). Delphi Classics, 2013.
Notes
1 Catherine Clinton, Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (Little Brown, 2005. Google Books), 11
2 Clinton, 12
3 Clinton, 17
4 Mia Bay, Deborah Gray White, and Waldo E. Martin Jr. 3rd ed. (Bedford/St. Martins Macmillan Learning, 2021), 637.
5 Mia Bay, Deborah Gray White, and Waldo E. Martin Jr., 639
6 Clinton, 27
7 Clinton, 29-30
8 Clinton, 35
9 Clinton, 37-38
10 Clinton, 39
11 Clinton, 40-41
12 Clinton, 43
13 Clinton, 56
14 Clinton, 95
15 Clinton, 101
16 Clinton, 102
17 Clinton, 102
18 Clinton, 80
19 Henry David Thoreau, (Delphi Complete Works of Henry David Thoreau (Illustrated). Delphi Classics, 2013,) 1658-1659.
20 (The Civil War: A Visual History. DK, 2015,) 167
21 (The Civil War: A Visual History. DK, 2015,) 167
22 Clinton, 175
23 Clinton, 177
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