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Harriet Tubman The Underground Railroad was a secret system of individuals who assisted fugitive slaves in their quest for freedom prior to the Civil War. The term, used between 1830-1860, refers to the swift, “invisible” way in which the slaves escaped. Usually they hid during the day and moved at night. Coffin says: “fugitive slaves relied heavily on fellow slaves and free blacks, who rarely betray them.” (Coffin, 2006). The most famous black leader in the movement was Harriet Tubman, a nonliterate runaway slave who became the “Moses” of her people. Bay Back Books stated: “Harriet Tubman had been a liberator, a woman who stood up to slave power, and a warrior whose actions spoke louder than words”. Clinton says that her
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She had a closely knit band, included several men and women and they became an official scouting service for the Department of the South. Their confidence led to the Combahee River in June of 1862, a military operation that marked a turning point in Tubman's career. Ceinton said “All of her attacks upon the Confederacy Had been purposefully clandestine. She didn’t remain anonymous with her prominent role in that military operation” The raid up the Combahee River was a twisting waterway approximately 10 miles north of Beaufort where Tubman and her comrades were stationed. They were commenced when the Federal gunboats Harriet A. Weed and John Adams made their way into the river shortly before midnight of June 2nd, 1863. Tubman accompanied 150 African-American troops from the second South Carolina Infantry and their white officers aboard John Adams, the black soldiers were particularly relieved that their lives had been entrusted, not only to Colonel Montgomery, but also to the famed “Moses”. Meanwhile, a company of the second South Carolina Capitan Carver landed and deployed at Tar Bluff, 2 miles north of Fields Point. Civil War Times said he 2 ships steamed upriver to the Nichols Plantation, where Harriet A. Weed anchored. She also guided the boats and men to designated shoreline points where fugitive slaves were hiding out. Once “all clear” was
Harriet Tubman was a poor slave girl who ran away from her plantation at the age of 28. Throughout the course of her life many people and many things challenged her. Each situation she was faced with tested either her mental or physical strength, usually both. She persevered through all of her trials stronger and wiser, and was willing to always help others through their own. Not one to instigate unless extremely necessary, Harriet was known for her quick thinking and her reactions to each ordeal she was faced with. She responded to them with a sharp mind, and strong faith in deliverance through the Lord.
Harriet Tubman was among the greatest fighters for justice in her time and was an inspiration to others to fight for what they believe in, but she along with many others who fight experienced it themselves. When she was younger, “She knew that her brothers and sisters, her father and mother, and all the other people who lived in the quarter, men, women and children, were slaves. At the same time, someone had taught her where to look for the North Star, the star that stayed constant, not rising in the east and setting in the west as the other stars appeared to do; and told her that anyone walking toward the North could use that star as a guide. She knew about fear, too. Sometimes at night, or during the day, she heard the furious galloping of horses, not just one horse, several horses, thud of the hoofbeats along the road, jingle of harness. She saw the grown folks freeze into stillness, not moving, scarcely breathing, while they listened. She could not remember who first told her that those furious hoofbeats meant the patrollers were going past, in pursuit of a runaway. Only the slaves said patterollers, whispering the word” (Petry). Living with her family as a slave, she learned all the things she needed to know to do her job in the future as the conductor of the Underground Railroad, she learned about the North star, and she learned about how you should not get caught by the patrollers. Perturbed by the thought of the fate of her family and her future, she escaped to Philadelphia but “Rather than remaining in the safety of the North, Tubman made it her mission to rescue her family and others living in slavery via the Underground Railroad” (Biography.com editors). She made it her mission to save others and take
What were the greatest achievements of Harriet Tubman? Many may think it’s just helping people escape slavery by the underground railroad, but she did more than that. The greatest achievements of Harriet Tubman were the underground railroad, being a spy, and a caregiver. In 1822 a little girl named Araminta Rose was born into slavery. Years passed when she started to do work everyday, but once she got married to John Tubman she decided to take her mother's name and that’s how she became Harriet Tubman. In 1849 after her master died Harriet made a really big decision she decided to run. That is when are her achievements were made away from slavery.
In 1849, Tubman set her mind of escaping to the north. On September 17, 1849, Tubman with her two brothers, Ben and Harry, left Maryland. After seeing runaway notice offering $300, Ben and Harry had reconsiderations and returned to the plantation. Tubman, with her strong will, continued to escape nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia for her freedom using the secret network known as the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was neither a rail road nor underground. The routes taken at night to were called “lines” and at places they stopped to rest were called “stationed”. “Conductors” such as Harriet Tubman and Quaker Thomas used their knowledge and luck to securely free slaves from slave states to the Free states. (Biography, 2017) As she cross the state line into Pennsylvania she recalled “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven”
During the Civil War, which began in 1861, Tubman served as a nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army in South Carolina. She helped cook and prepare food for the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, which was made up of all black soldiers and was better known as the Glory Brigade. She later received an award for her efforts, but no pay.
Because she was an abolitionist, had other jobs doing good things, and nothing stopping her from doing anything, Harriet Tubman sets a heroic example. Harriet wasn’t necessitated to free slaves or work for the Union Army, she decided to do that on her own. Harriet always had a job to do and every job she had basically helped someone else in some kind of way. In 2016, The U.S Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman will soon appear on the $20 bill replacing Andrew Jackson. Thanks to her, many people were able to live their lives free and well. We also now know what it is to fight for what we think is
Harriet Tubman is a woman of faith and dignity who saved many African American men and women through courage and love for God. One would ponder what would drive someone to bring upon pain and suffering to one’s self just to help others. Harriet Tubman was an African American women that took upon many roles during her time just as abolitionist, humanitarian, and a Union Spy during the American civil war. Her deeds not only saved lives during these terrible time’s but also gave other African Americans the courage to stand up for what they believe in and achieve equal rights for men in women in the world no
Harriet Tubman is the most widely recognized symbol of the underground railroad. When she escaped on september 17, 1849, Tubman was aided by members of the underground railroad.
When we think of African American history we often forget about the people before the civil rights movement. The people who paved the way for future leaders. Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and Rosa parks are often who we think of. We forget about individuals that made a significant impact that led us to the present place we are today. Harriet Tubman's contribute to history was that she was the conductor of the Underground Railroad, which helped bring slaves to freedom. Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist and was part of the woman's suffrage move.
Harriet Tubman is probably the most famous “conductor” of all the Underground Railroads. Throughout a 10-year span, Tubman made more than 20 trips down to the South and lead over 300 slaves from bondage to freedom. Perhaps the most shocking fact about Tubman’s journeys back and forth from the South was that she “never lost a single passenger.”
The second contribution of Harriet Tubman is that she was a conductor in the Underground Railroad, a network of antislavery activists who helped slaves escape from the south. On her first trip in 1850, Tubman bought her sister and her sister’s two children out of slavery in Maryland. In 1851, she helped her brother out of slavery, and in 1857 she returned to Maryland to guide her old parents back to freedom. Overall Tubman made about nineteen trips to the south and guided about three hundred slaves to freedom. But during those travels Tubman faced great danger in order not to get caught she would use disguises and carries a sleeping powder to stop babies from crying and also always carried a pistol in case one of the people back out once the journey has begun( Strawberry 1).
"Oppressed slaves should flee and take Liberty Line to freedom." The Underground Railroad began in the 1780s while Harriet Tubman was born six decades later in antebellum America. The Underground Railroad was successful in its quest to free slaves; it even made the South pass two acts in a vain attempt to stop its tracks. Then, Harriet Tubman, an African-American with an incredulous conviction to lead her people to the light, joins the Underground Railroad’s cause becoming one of the leading conductors in the railroad. The Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman aided in bringing down slavery and together, they put the wood in the fires leading up to the Civil War. The greatest causes of the Civil War were the Underground Railroad
A strong and powerful lady said these wise words: “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; for no man should take me alive; I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me”. The brave women who said these words were Harriet Tubman and she was one of the leaders of the Underground Railroad that helped slaves reach freedom. “Although not an actual railroad of steel rails, locomotives and steam engines, the Underground Railroad was real nevertheless” (encyclopedia The Civil War and African Americans 329) The term “Underground Railroad” referred to the
To start off, Harriet Tubman was extremely selfless. She risked her life to save her family. She rescued her parents and brought them to the north where they would be safer. Not only did she save her parents from the harsh reality of slavery, but Tubman risked being placed back into slavery in order to free innocent strangers. She did this not only once, but nineteen times, each becoming more dangerous to do. Her last trip to free slaves being during a time where she was wanted. Yet, her selflessness doesn’t stop there. Not only did she save the lives of so many people, she also served as a nurse during the civil war. Tubman was able to help many of the injured Union soldiers. She did this not for herself, but for the cause of helping the Union win the Civil War.