Nadia L. Hohn - Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter

Harriet Tubman was no ordinary hero.
As a woman and a slave,
she had no rights and was not taught
how to read or write.
She also had a disability.
None of that stopped her from
leading many people to freedom.

Harriet Tubman was born enslaved
in 1822 in Maryland.
Everyone in her family was enslaved.
As a slave, Harriet could be sold
like an animal or a house
by a white slave master.

Slaves had to work for no pay.
Many slaves lived and worked
on small farms and plantations.
They were treated badly.

We know her as Harriet Tubman,
but when she was born
her name was Araminta Minty Ross.
When Minty was a girl in the 1800s
slavery was no longer allowed
in the northern states in America,
but Maryland was a southern state.

When Minty was three,
her sister Mariah Ritty was sold.
And soon after that,
Mintys sister Linah was sold, too.
They were taken away from the family.

Soon after, Minty was loaned out
to work at other plantations.
Once she had to rock a baby
all night so it wouldnt cry.
If the baby cried, Minty was whipped.

Another time Minty had to take
muskrats out of a trap
while wading in an icy marsh,
even though she was sick.
Minty knew that slavery was wrong.
As she grew older, she started
to think about escape.

One day Minty went to the store.
A slave master threw a heavy weight
at a slave who was trying to flee.
Instead, Minty was hit on the head.
She fainted and bled a lot.

Minty woke up weeks later.
But this injury caused a disability.
Minty had seizures and headaches
for the rest of her life.
Minty started having vivid dreams
in which God gave her guidance.

When Minty was a young adult,
her slave master died.
The slaves on his farm knew
that they might be sold far away.
For Minty, this meant that
her family that she loved so much
might be separated
and never see each other again.

Harriet Tubman,
as she then called herself,
and two of her brothers
tried to escape but turned back
because the punishment would
be huge.

Harriet decided to escape again.
Alone and with no map,
she prayed that God would lead her.
Harriet traveled north
through the Underground Railroad.

The Underground Railroad
didnt have trains.
It was a group of people,
both black and white,
who helped freedom seekers escape.
Sometimes the help
was a safe place to hide.
Hiding places were called stations.
The helpers were called conductors.

When Harriet got to Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, she was free.
For months she worked in the city.
She missed her family,
who were still enslaved.
So she saved all her money
and used it to go back south
to help free her family.

The trip south was dangerous.
If found by slavecatchers,
slaves were returned to slavery,
hurt, or killed.
Despite the enormous danger,
Harriet kept going back.

When the Fugitive Slave Act
was passed in 1850,
Philadelphia became too unsafe
for Harriet and her family.
So they went all the way to
St. Catharines, in Canada, to live.

But Harriet still returned
to the United States to free
more slaves.
She moved by foot, boat, train,
and wagon.
She often wore disguises.
She was never caught.

In 1861, the Civil War began
between the North and the South.
The North formed the Union Army
and the South formed
the Confederate Army.

The Union Army fought
to keep the United States
from breaking apart.

Wanting to help end slavery,