University Press - Harriet Tubman: The Biography

Harriet Tubman was named Araminta "Minty" Ross when she was born. No one knows the exact date of her birth. In fact, she herself listed the year of her birth on different documents as 1820, 1822, and 1825, suggesting that even she did not know. This is just one example of how the institution of slavery disrupted family histories. Recently a document was uncovered that showed a payment for a midwife to deliver a slave child that many historians believe was Harriet. If this is true, her birth date would have been in February or March of 1822.

Aramintas mother, Harriet Rit Green, and her father, Ben Ross, were both slaves on Maryland plantations. Rits mother, Modesty, had been brought to the United States from Africa. Araminta had heard that Modesty came from what is now Ghana, but no records survive to support this story. Rit was held by Mary Pattison Brodess, and was a cook for that family. Ben was a woodsman for his slave owner, Anthony Thompson. Brodess and Thompson married after Brodesss husband died. Marys son, Edward, would soon turn 21, and when he did, he would take ownership of Rit and her family, but not Ben.

Ben and Rit had at least nine children together. Minty came along fifth. After Edward turned 21, he split up the family. Later, he sold Mintys sister, Mariah Ritty, to a Mississippi slave trader. The family would never see Ritty again. Edward sold two of her other sisters, Linah and Soph. When he tried to sell Mintys youngest brother, Moses, Rit hid him as long as she could. When Brodess found the child, Rit told him she would split his head open is he came for the child. Thus, Minty got her first exposure to the idea of standing up to a slave master.

When Minty was about five or six, Edward sent her away to work on another landowner's plantation. This was common practice, especially for a landowner like Edward, who had more slaves than he needed. Her first job was with the James Cook family, learning to weave. Cook also sent her out to check his muskrat traps, a cold, wet job that he forced her to do even when she was ill. Cook often beat her. She never learned to weave. When she came down with the measles, she was no longer useful to Cook at all, so he sent her back to Edward Brodess.

Later on, Minty went to work for a slave owner she knew as Miss Susan. Although little Minty did her best, she had never been taught how to take care of a house. Miss Susan whipped her, often several times a day. At night, Minty had to rock Miss Susans babys cradle. If she fell asleep and the baby cried, Miss Susan would grab the whip she kept under her pillow and beat her again.

Minty ran away from Miss Susan after her mistress saw her taste her first lump of sugar. She ran for miles, but there was nowhere for her to go, no one to take her in. She ended up hiding in a barn, fighting for the scraps that were put out for the pigs. Hungry, weak and alone, Minty went back to Miss Susans, where she was beaten fiercely with a knotted rope. Thin, weak and injured, Minty once more needed her mother to nurse her back to health before she would be of use. Each time she recovered, she was sent off to work away from her mother. However, the worst was still to come.