Araminta “Minty” Harriet Ross, or better known as Harriet Tubman, was one of the leading abolitionists prior the American Civil War. They exact year of Harriet’s birth is unknown due to poor record keeping during that time, but it is believed that she was born in Dorchester County, Maryland between 1820 and 1825 (The Harriet Tubman Biography, Biography.com, 2015) . Harriet was born unto enslaved parents along with her 9 siblings. Her childhood was a tough one; full of violent lashings, beatings and various hardships, as well as having to watch as several of her sisters were taken from the family and sold to other plantations. Harriet would carry around the scars, emotional as well as physical, from her early years throughout the rest of
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Then is 1849, after suffering from a traumatic brain injury her owner’s decided to sell her. It was then that her and two of her brother’s escaped enslavement, leaving her husband behind, because they feared their family would be torn even more apart if they were sold, but once news got back that her owners were offering a reward for their return, her brothers lost their nerve and Harriet returned them home. She, however, had made up her mind that she would not become an enslaved woman again and made use of the underground railroad to travel the nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. When she crossed the state line she was later quoted recalling the day saying, “When I found that 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 field, and I felt like I was in Heaven” (The Harriet Tubman Biography, Biography.com, 2015). That feeling is what brought upon her mission to rescue her enslaved family and many others from slavery. It is estimated that she guided hundreds of slaves into freedom. Her endeavors earned her the nickname “Moses”, because of her ability to guide and lead the slaves to freedom using the underground rail road. She was also well known for always carrying a pistol on her right side and her firmness in her …show more content…
The law basically stated that former black slaves living in the free north could be captured and returned to their owners (Harriet Tubman, civilwar.org, 2014). This put a hiccup in Harriet’s plans, so she rerouted the underground rail road system so it would lead to Canada, instead of the United States, therefore cancelling out the power installed by the Fugitive Slave Law. During her travels she met many other important abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, John Brown and many other activists (Harriet Tubman, civilwar.org, 2014). It was after this that she became more involved in the political side of the abolition
Then is 1849, after suffering from a traumatic brain injury her owner’s decided to sell her. It was then that her and two of her brother’s escaped enslavement, leaving her husband behind, because they feared their family would be torn even more apart if they were sold, but once news got back that her owners were offering a reward for their return, her brothers lost their nerve and Harriet returned them home. She, however, had made up her mind that she would not become an enslaved woman again and made use of the underground railroad to travel the nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. When she crossed the state line she was later quoted recalling the day saying, “When I found that 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 field, and I felt like I was in Heaven” (The Harriet Tubman Biography, Biography.com, 2015). That feeling is what brought upon her mission to rescue her enslaved family and many others from slavery. It is estimated that she guided hundreds of slaves into freedom. Her endeavors earned her the nickname “Moses”, because of her ability to guide and lead the slaves to freedom using the underground rail road. She was also well known for always carrying a pistol on her right side and her firmness in her …show more content…
The law basically stated that former black slaves living in the free north could be captured and returned to their owners (Harriet Tubman, civilwar.org, 2014). This put a hiccup in Harriet’s plans, so she rerouted the underground rail road system so it would lead to Canada, instead of the United States, therefore cancelling out the power installed by the Fugitive Slave Law. During her travels she met many other important abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, John Brown and many other activists (Harriet Tubman, civilwar.org, 2014). It was after this that she became more involved in the political side of the abolition