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Analysis Of Harriet Tubman Conductor Of The Underground Railroad

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Harriet Tubman. We all know her as the woman that conducted the Underground Railroad, but there is much more to the story than just that. Each trip to Canada has its own story to tell. In the passage “ Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad”, Ann Petry tries to convey that idea through the eyes of Harriet herself, as she goes on a trip through the Underground Railroad, moving through obstacles in her path. In my opinion, Petry did a great job of explaining why she took the risks she did and the motives behind them.

Harriet Tubman took many risks along the Underground Railroad, and the essay takes a pretty good care of explaining why. First of all, she became a conductor. Conductors had the most dangerous jobs on the Underground Railroad. While slaves were taken back to their owners and punished for escaping, the conductors would most of the time be hanged (“If they were caught, the eleven runaways would be whipped and sold South, but she-she would probably be hanged.”, Page 212).
Secondly, Harriet was bringing along many slaves. In the passage, Harriet brings over 11 slaves, which was a large number of slaves to bring. At some point along the Underground Railroad, a slave tried to break away from the group. At this point, Harriet pointed a gun at him and said: “Go on or die.”. The only reason she did this was that she knew that if the slave was captured, he would have to tell their master (and the police) about the hiding points and all the other slaves

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