Harriet Tubman By: Morgan Sentelle

 Born in 1918 into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland as Araminta Ross.  Raised in harsh conditions -was whipped since she was small -sat close to the fire each nights and stuck her toes into the ashes to avoid frostbite.  Ate mostly cornmeal but was allowed to fish and hunt

 Started working at the age of 6.  Put her to work weaving because she wasn’t old enough to work in fields. If she slacked off she was beaten and given the duty of checking muskrat traps.  This gave her the measles.

 When she turned 11 she wore a bright bandana on her head. This meant she was no longer a child and should be treated like an adult slave.  At this age slaves are no longer known by their “basket name”, in which there parents named them. She took her mom’s name, Harriet Ross.  She began working in the fields with the older slaves.

 At the age of 12 she was injured.  A man was trying to escape and a white overseer didn’t want to tie him up.  Another white overseer tried to shoot him and got Harriet in the head.

 At the age of 25, in 1844 she married John Tubman, a free African American.  Her dream was to go to the north where she would be free.  There she wouldn’t have to worry about being separated from her husband during a slave trade.  She told her husband of her dream to go north. He said he would tell the master if she ever tried to escape.

 1849 she left her husband to escape to Philadelphia.  A white abolitionist neighbor gave her directions to the first house.  After arriving at the house they put her on a wagon and covered her with a sack to get her off to the next house.  She then got a ride with abolitionist couple who were passing by, and went to Philadelphia.  There she got a job and made money to free slaves.

 In Philadelphia she met a man named William Still, who worked as a station master in the Underground Railroad.  A slave nailed himself shut in a box and mailed himself in a train to William. He could read and write, so he recorded slaves stories who came in on the Underground Railroad.  Harriet became interested and wanted to join in.

 In 1850, Harriet helped her first slaves escape to the North.  She guided them from safehouse to safehouse in Pennsylvania until Philadelphia.  She risked many lives freeing slaves.  The Fugitive Slave Act was passed. It stated that it was illegal for any citizen to assist an escaped slave and demanded that if an escaped slave was sighted, he or she should be apprehended and turned in to the authorities for deportation back to the "rightful" owner down south.  Any person who didn’t return a runaway slave would pay a penalty of $1,000.  This caused the slaves to escape to Canada instead of the north of the U.S.

 In 1851 Harriet took her third trip to free slaves to Canada.  She went back to get her husband but he was already remarried and did not want to go.  She took escapees to Fredrick Douglas’ safe house and stayed there until he got enough money to get them to Canada.  Eleven passengers started their journey to Canada crossing over Niagara Falls on a handmade suspension bridge which would take them into the city of St. Catherine, Ontario in Canada.

 She led so many people to the north the slave's called this the "land of Egypt" - to freedom.  A bounty of $40,000 was posted.  The state of Maryland itself posted a $12,000 reward for her capture.

 1857 Harriet set out to rescue and free her elderly father, Ben Ross. She bought a train ticket for herself and traveled in daylight which was dangerous considering the bounty for her head.  She reached Caroline County, she bought a horse and some parts to make a buggy. She took this and her father and mother to Thomas Garrett who arranged for their passage to Canada.  1857 Harriet set out to rescue and free her elderly father, Ben Ross. She bought a train ticket for herself and traveled in daylight which was dangerous considering the bounty for her head.  She reached Caroline County, she bought a horse and some parts to make a buggy. She took this and her father and mother to Thomas Garrett who arranged for their passage to Canada.

 She put together a group of spies who kept Montgomery informed about slaves who might want to join the Union army  Helped Montgomery organize the Combahee River Raid.

 In 1869, she married Nelson Davis.  She died on March 10, 1913, she gave her home for the elderly to the Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.