Life of a Slave on Southern Plantations

Harriet Ross Tubman and the underground railroad

Harriet Tubman Tubman, Harriet Ross (1820?-1913) African American who fled slavery Guided runaway slaves to freedom Later years she continued to work for the rights of blacks and women.

Early Years Araminta Ross Put to work at the age of five and served as a maid and a children's nurse Becoming a field hand when she was 12. A year later, her white overseer hit her on the head with a heavy weight.

Later Years … married John Tubman, a free black man Amid rumors that the family's slaves would be sold to settle the estate, Tubman fled to the North for freedom In 1849 Harriet Tubman moved to Pennsylvania In Pennsylvania, Harriet joined the abolitionist cause working to end slavery She decided to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad Network of antislavery activists who helped slaves escape from the South

Underground Railroad A loose network of antislavery northerners that illegally helped fugitive slaves reach safety in the free states Begun in the 1780s under Quaker guidance It is thought that more than 100,000 slaves gained their freedom in this way

… Because of its proximity to the North, the upper South supplied a high proportion of the fugitives Traveled by night to avoid detection, escapees used the North Star for guidance They sought isolated "stations" (farms) or "vigilance committee" agents in towns, where sympathetic people to the cause could effectively conceal them When possible, "conductors" met them at such border points as: Cincinnati, Ohio, and Wilmington, Delaware. The lake ports of Detroit, Michigan; Sandusky, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Buffalo, New York; were terminals for quick escape to Canada Now a little more about the U.R.!

Over a period of ten years Tubman made an estimated 19 expeditions into the South and personally escorted about 300 slaves to the North Tubman became active in promoting the rights of women, particularly those of black women

Owners could give their slaves to the Confederate Army for a promissory note of payment at a later time. They were assigned to menial labor tasks. They would make the redoubts and do other battle preparations. They would do the laundry and cook the food for the Confederate troops. They would even clean off the battle fields piling up the corpses of the deceased and then bury them.

They were heavily recruited by the Union Army after the Emancipation Proclamation of The North will use them much like the South used them. Menial labor tasks. They will train them to fight, but were very hesitant to allow them to do so. They were paid $10 for their service in which $3 was deducted for clothes, and whites were paid $13 with no charges for clothes. They were poorly equipped with improper uniforms. They were also given impossible tasks like attacking Fort Wagner. 180,000 African Americans will join the fighting in the North in the Civil War.

African Americans faced racism from both sides in this war. The South had put a bounty on runaway slaves before the war, however slaves were very much apart of everyday life. The North discriminated and segregated free blacks. When the Emancipation Proclamation is passed the South made a law that any captured black Union soldier would be killed and any white officer commanding them would also be killed. (Fort Pillow, Nathan Bedford Forrest) They are treated poorly in both armies. After the war African Americans will have to face many more instances of racism in daily life with the formation of the KKK and Black Codes (Jim Crow Laws) in the South