Monica Kulling - Escape North! The Story of Harriet Tubman

Text copyright 2000 by Monica Kulling.
Illustrations copyright 2000 by Teresa Flavin. All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Childrens Books, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York. Step into Reading, Random House, and the Random House colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kulling, Monica. Escape north! : the story of Harriet Tubman / by Monica Kulling ; illustrated by Teresa Flavin. p. cm. (Step into reading. A step 4 book) Originally published: New York : Random House, c2000, in series: Step into reading. A step 3 book. summary: Surveys the life of Harriet Tubman, including her childhood in slavery and her later work in helping other slaves escape north to freedom through the Underground Railroad.

ISBN 0-375-80154-5 (trade) ISBN 0-375-90154-X (lib. bdg.)

1. Tubman, Harriet, 1820?1913Juvenile literature. 2. SlavesUnited StatesBiographyJuvenile literature. 3. African American womenBiographyJuvenile literature. 4. African AmericansBiographyJuvenile literature. 5. Underground railroadJuvenile literature.

[1. Tubman, Harriet, 1820?1913. 2. Slaves. 3. African AmericansBiography. 4. WomenBiography. 5. Underground railroad.]
I. Flavin, Teresa, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Step into reading. Step 4 book.
E444.T82 K85 2003 973.7115dc21 2002014527

eBook ISBN: 978-0-385-37479-8

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v3.1

For my mother

M.K.

To Paige Gillies

T.F.

With special thanks to Alice Adamczyk, of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, for her time and expertise in reviewing this book.

The night was dark. Cricket song filled the air. A woman hid outside a cabin. She whistled a song called Go Down, Moses. A line in the song said: Let my people go.

Inside the cabin, the slaves knew that Harriet Tubman had come to lead her people out of slavery.

It was 1851. Harriet Tubman was a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad wasnt a real railroad. It was the name people gave the route taking slaves north to freedom.

Years before, a slave had run off. He had seemed to disappear right in front of his owners eyes.

He must have gone on an underground railroad, said the owner.

The story spread. There was a way north to the free states! There were people who would help. They would hide you in their homes. These safe houses were stations on the Underground Railroad. Runaways ran from station to station until they reached a state where slavery was against the law.

That Saturday night, ten slaves answered Harriets call to freedom. Field slaves had Sundays off, so the bossman wouldnt know they were gone until Monday. Then he and his dogs would come after them. If they were caught, they would be beaten... maybe to death.

Harriet was there to make sure that didnt happen. She kept her eyes on one star in the skythe North Star. She moved quickly, and the runaways followed.

Suddenly, clouds covered the star. Harriet had to make sure she was heading in the right direction. If she didnt, they could end up back at the plantation!

Harriet ran her fingers over the bark of the tree nearest her. Daddy Ben had taught her that moss grew on the north side of trees.

Ill have to find north the way my daddy taught me, she thought.

Harriet closed her eyes and thought back to the lessons of long ago. She thought back to when she was a girl.

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in about 1820. As a child, she was called Minty. Later, she took the name Harriet, after her mother, who was called Old Rit.

Harriet was born a slave on a tobacco plantation in Maryland. She and her family were the property of a man named Edward Brodas. That meant they had little say over their own lives. They could even be sold and separated from each other.

Harriets family lived in a small cabin near the masters house. It had no windows and only a bare earth floor. The family slept on beds made of straw. They used rags for blankets. They didnt have much to eat.

Harriet didnt go to school. Slaves werent allowed to learn to read or write.

Instead, she helped her mother cook.

She carried buckets of water to the slaves working in the fields.

She picked insects off tobacco plants.

When Harriet was seven, she was sent to work for a neighbor, Mrs. Cook. Mrs. Cook made Harriet wind yarn all day. Sometimes the yarn broke. Then Mrs. Cook got out the whip.