The Underground Railroad By Ann Petry Essay

The world was blessed with Harriet Tubman in 1822 on the eastern shore of Maryland. Unfortunately, Tubman was born into this world as a slave and lived on a plantation with her family, which consisted of four brothers and four sisters. Her parents named her Araminta “Minty” Ross but soon, with the coming of age, she changed her name from Araminta to Harriet taking after her mother, Harriett Greene. At the age of 12 Harriet Ross was seriously injured by a blow to the head, inflicted by a white overseer, or a person who supervises others, for refusing to assist in tying

     She decided to become a conductor on the infamous Underground Railroad, where people from the south would runaway to freedom in the north. She rescued her sister, her nieces, brother, and her parents.

Harriet lived from roughly 1820-1913; the exact year of her birth is completely unknown. She was born to Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross, under the name of Araminta “Minty” Ross, on the Thompson plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. The plantation was owned by Edward Brodess, son of Mary Pattison Brodess, a young widow. Mary was an awful mistress, in the sense that she enjoyed her slave’s misery. She often drove the families apart, causing extreme anguish. Although it was common for masters and mistresses to hire out the man to another plantation, Mary separated the family even more by selling two of Harriet’s sisters to a plantation in Georgia.

Araminta was born into slavery in 1820 in Dorchester Maryland. She was one of nine children born to her mother Harriet Rit Green, and her father Ben Ross. Mrs. Green was owned by Mary Brodess, and Mr. Ross was owned by Anthony Thompson, were the two owners soon married (“Harriet Tubman Biography”). At the age of only six Araminta was deemed old enough to be able to work. She was not yet old enough to work in the fields, so her owners would send her to other plantations to do housework. While at work she was beaten frequently (“Harriet Ross Tubman”). Because she was a slave Araminta did not receive the education she needed which gave her limited opportunities (“Zenitha”). Many things were different if you were a slave. Violence was also part of a daily routine. When Araminta was only a teenager around thirteen, she was sent to a goods store to get some things needed by her master. While at the store she was met by a runaway slave. The overseer ordered Araminta to help stop the young man, but

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Dorchester County Maryland in 1820. She was called Araminta Harriet Ross she was one of the 11 children of Benjamin and Harriet Green Ross. At the age of twelve Harriet Tubman was instructed to tie up a fellow slave for a whipping. Harriet Tubman refused to tie up the slave and in Harriet’s masters rage he threw a two pound weight at Harriet’s head. Harriet Tubman was in a coma for weeks and there was a dent in her forehead for the rest of her life. This resulted in headaches and episodes of narcolepsy all throughout her life. Harriet Tubman’s mother was freed from slavery by a previous owner which in result also made Harriet free. Harriet Tubman was advised not to go to court because of how long ago the freeing of her mother was. Harriet Tubman married John Tubman a free black man who lived near the Brodas Planation on which Harriet lived in 1844. Even though she was married to a free man she still was a slave

Harriet was a slave at first, but she changed her life around. She escaped to be an abolitionist in 1849. She had been treated very badly and that is the reason why Harriet had wanted to leave so badly. She became a conductor. She had memorized the routes so in case there was something wrong, she would know a different way to save the people. She had always gone out of her way to save people. Whenever she had saved people she would sometimes

Another, In her teen years harriet had ran away with her brother came back. she had ran away but this time by

Before Harriet Tubman became a vocal point in the Underground Railroad she grew up a slave. Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland in 1820. Tubman’s original name was really Araminta Ross and was usually called by her nickname “Minty”. Tubman would experience the life of slavery very quickly as she was hired to take care of an infant. She was far too young to handle the duties of housework and would be abused multiple times. Her first real incident happened when the child she was looking after was crying and was heard from one of the mistresses and was whipped around her neck. She would go on in her childhood doing more house jobs and eventually collected furs from traps.

(Harriet Tubman was originally born Araminta Ross and then later changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother.) In 1849, Tubman ran away in fear that she, along with many other slaves on the plantation were going to be sold off. Harriet Tubman left on foot. Luckily, Tubman was given some assistance from a white woman, and was able to set off on her journey to freedom. Tubman used the North Star in order to find her direction during the night, slowly inching her way to Pennsylvania. Once Tubman had reached Pennsylvania, she found a job and began to save her money. The following year after arriving to Philadelphia, Tubman returned to Maryland and to lead her family to freedom. Among the people she took was her sister and her sister’s two children. Tubman was able to make the same dangerous trips months later back to the South to rescue her brother and two other men that her brother knew. On Tubman’s third return to the South to rescue her husband, she found that he had found another wife. Undeterred by her husband’s actions, she rescued other slaves wanting freedom and lead them Northward.

Around 1820, Arminta Minty Ross was born into a slave family and was one of 8 children. When she was around five or six, she was put to work as a house servant. As she grew to be 12-13, she started working in the field with everyone else. At this point, she had become very independent. She would suffer the rest of her life due to an event that happened soon after she started working in the fields. A slave owner was very angry at a slave and was going to hurt him. Instead of being a bystander, Arminta (Harriet) blocked the doorway to protect her fellow field worker. This caused the overseer to be even more furious. The overseer then threw a two-pound weight, and it ended up hitting Arminta in the head. She never recovered from

Harriet’s first work as a slave began when she was six when a man named Mr. Brodas hired her out to a woman named Mrs. Cook who was a weaver. Harriet helped her wind the yarn because the air had fuzz and lint. Harriet couldn’t concentrate and Mrs. Cook got mad. The next woman Harriet worked for when she was seven was named Miss Susan. Harriet Tubman had to watch Miss Susan’s baby. If there were the slightest cry from the baby Miss Susan would whip Harriet. Harriet had trouble staying awake and if she fell asleep the baby would begin to cry. After this, she was hired back to Mr.

Harriet Jacobs, or Linda Brent in the book, was born in 1813 near Edenton, North Carolina as a slave. She was blessed with, in her words, “unusually fortunate circumstances(Jacobs, Pg.3)” until age six when her mother died. She stayed with her mistress, Margaret Horniblow, until she was twelve years old where on her mistress’s death she was willed to her mistress’s niece and as a result her new mistress’s father, Dr. Flint. Unlike with her previous mistress, her life with the Flints was harsh and demanding. She eventually escaped from her life with the Flint’s and hid herself away. She was free for a time but she was eventually bought once again, though with a kinder owner who allowed her to write her book while working for her.

Araminta Ross( Harriet Tubman) was born in Maryland to Harriet Greene and Benjamin Ross. As a child she was a slave. She would help plant tobacco. She hated her life as a slave. As she got older, she was hired out (sold) by Master Brodas to Mrs. Susan. One day while Mrs. Susan and her husband were quarreling, Minta (Araminta) stole a lump of sugar and Mrs. Susan saw her. Mr and Mrs. Susan chased Harriet for a couple minutes until they gave up. Minta hid in a pig pen fighting other pigs for food for a couple days. She soon got very hungry and had to go back. She was whipped very hard by Mr. Susan and got sent back to Master Brodas's plantation. One day when Minta went into a store she saw and oversee trying to whip up a slave. He told Minta to help him tie the slave, but she said no. Then the slave escaped. The oversee tried to through a weight at the slave, but the weight missed the slave a hit Minta in the

James A. McGowan and William C. Kashatus the authors of Harriet Tubman :A biography focused on telling the remarkable story of Harriet Tubman the biography tells the story about her early years as young Arminta Ross, how she escape slavery, her duties as the Underground Railroad Conductor, and her roles in the Civil War. I feel like the authors purpose of writing this books was to educate and inform readers about the times of Harriet Tubman and what she had to endure and also to give a understanding on why Harriet Tubman is so legendary amongst the time she lived and why she still is today.

(1) Toni Morrison’s Beloved takes place after the Civil War during the Reconstruction era, when the violent oppression of the black race continued, with flashbacks to the horrific trauma of the early 19th century slavery period. In Margaret Atwood’s review of Beloved in