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Harriet Tubman And The Underground Railroad

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Even at a young age Harriet Tubman realized that there was something wrong with enslaving people just because of their skin color. Harriet Tubman was born around 1820. No one knows the exact date of her birth because it was not recorded. Most slaves did not know how to read or write and therefore they did not record when their children were born. Despite being a hardworking slave and not being treated fairly, Harriet Tubman went on to become a world famous conductor on the Underground Railroad helping hundreds of slaves escape slavery. Harriet had a tough life even when she was young. Slave children had to start working when they were five years old, they did not have a very long childhood (Schraff 15). When Harriet was old enough to be a slave, …show more content…

There she visited the Philadelphia Vigilance committee offices, which was one of the main stations for the Underground Railroad (Schraff 38). Harriet learned many things about the Underground Railroad there. She realized she wanted to help people escape slavery and began to use the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape. For seven years Harriet took two trips a year to go rescue slaves in the South. She brought them North by using safe houses when they were available, but if not they had to hide in drainage ditches, abandoned sheds, and barns (Schraff 50). Harriet had many people who helped her on all these journeys. Thomas Garrett was one of them. He and Harriet were very close friends and he would hide the runaway slaves in a false wall in his shoe store (Schraff 51). He not only helped Harriet but he also helped lots of other runaway slaves as well. Sometimes, a house that was supposed to be a safe house was no longer safe. This was a major obstacle because Harriet never knew if the safe houses or trails were actually safe. Tubman’s attitude was that praying and believing in god was key in tough situations like these (Schraff 58). “The whites can not catch us for I was born with the charm, and the lord has given me the power,” Harriet said. She believed that god would help guide her to keep her runaway slaves safe and lead them to freedom. She also used her smarts and thinking on the go to protect her and her parties. Harriet did not allow anyone who was with her turn back to the plantation they had escaped from. She did not want the secrets of the Underground Railroad to be revealed to the slave owners. Someone who is too scared to escape might be tortured into saying what they saw and she would rather kill someone than let them go back. Harriet was tough, but effective in her work. Harriet became known as Moses of the Underground Railroad because of all her great work. Harriet

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