Biogrpahy of Underground Railroad Heroine Harriet Tubman
Biogrpahy of Underground Railroad Heroine Harriet Tubman
Harriet Ross was born in Dorchester County, Maryland Plantation in 1820. Her parents were from the Ashanti tribe of West Africa, and they worked as slaves on the Brodas plantation. Their master was very abusive at nights she had to sleep on the kitchen floor, to keep warm she would put her feet in the fireplace ashes. Harriet was hired out as a laborer by the age of 5. Harriet did not like to work indoors, and her masters routinely beat her. By her early teens, Harriet was no longer allowed to work indoors and was hired out as a field hand. She was a hard worker but considered defiant and rebellious.
When she was 15 years old, Harriet tried to help a runaway slave. The overseer hit her in the head with a lead weight, which put Harriet in a coma. It took months for her to recover, and for the rest of her life, Harriet suffered from blackouts.
In 1844, Harriet married a free black man named John Tubman. (She was born Araminta Ross; she later changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother.). Harriet remained a slave, but she was able to stay in Tubman's cabin at night. Although she was married, Harriet lived in fear of being shipped to the Deep South, a virtual death sentence for any slave. In 1849, her owner of the Brodas plantation died and many of the slaves were to be sold. After hearing of her fate, Harriet planned to escape that very night. She knew her husband would expose her, so the only person she informed was her sister She set out one night on foot. With some assistance from a friendly white woman, Tubman was on her way.
This was a strong and self-willed woman, Harriet made the 90mile trip to the Mason-Dixon line with the help of contacts along the Underground Railroad. She had to hike through swamps and woodland. Harriet's trip was successful, and she settled in Philadelphia. She worked as a dishwasher and made plans to rescue her family. The next year, Harriet traveled back to Maryland and rescued her sister's family. Tubman returned to the South again and again. She devised clever techniques that helped make her "forays" successful, including using the master's horse and buggy for the first leg of the journey. Leaving on a Saturday night, since runaway notices...