Harriet Tubman, whose birth name was Araminta Ross and who died on March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York, was an American bondwoman who escaped from slavery in the South and went on to become a prominent abolitionist before the start of the American Civil War.
She was born around 1820 in Dorchester county, Maryland, in the United States. She was responsible for guiding a large number of persons who had been enslaved to freedom in the North through the route of the Underground Railroad, which was an intricate covert network of safe homes built specifically for this purpose.
A New Name And An Escape Plan
Edward Brodess, the owner of Tubman in 1849, had to sell slaves to pay off his obligations. It was rumoured that Minty and her brothers will be sold. According to the history of Harriet Tubman by Sarah Hopkins Bradford, Minty started pleading for his owner to alter his mind.
“Until the first of March, I prayed nonstop for my lord.” “Oh Lord, if you ain’t never going to change than man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and remove him out of the way,” she amended her plea after it failed.
Edward Brodess passed away a week later. Tubman was regretful and filled with guilt. Her and her brothers’ prospects became even more uncertain after the death of their lord. She was not going to let that happen to them because they had already witnessed the sale of three of their sisters.
She came to the conclusion that trying to flee, even if they were discovered, was preferable to being sold to the south. Tubman was equipped. She knew folks who ran the Underground Railroad and had enough savings to hire labour. She was adamant that God would lead her.
She changed her name to Harriet, after her mother, and took on her husband’s last name, Tubman, in preparation for her escape. A popular practise among runaway slaves was to switch their first and last names. All they want was an end to their lives of servitude; they didn’t want to leave any evidence.
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The Great Escape
Harry and Ben, Minty’s brothers, were gathering, and Minty persuaded them to join her in her flight. They left the Poplar Neck Plantation on September 17, 1849, but Harry and Ben later changed their minds and decided to go back. After ensuring her brothers’ safety and making the decision to set herself free, Harriet headed north. Later, she would return to get the rest of her family and release them.
She had been farmed out to Anthony Thompson at the time of her escape, and her owner, Eliza Brodess, was unaware of it until roughly two weeks later. On October 3, 1849, a notice of their escape appeared in the Cambridge Democrat, along with a $300 reward for their safe return.
Because she wanted to avoid being seen by slave catchers, Harriet Tubman travelled at night. She followed the North Star that led her north, just as other fugitives like Frederick Douglass.
A white Quaker woman was the first to assist her; she gave her refuge for the first night and guidance on what to do next. The unnamed Quaker woman was a part of the network of safe houses and transportation for runaway slaves known as the Underground Railroad.
It is uncertain how exactly she managed to flee, as well as where she got the assistance she needed to get to Pennsylvania. Her route is thought to have taken her across Delaware, along the Choptank River, and into Pennsylvania. Although she travelled almost 90 miles, it is unknown how long it took her. She remembered it later, Bradford reported in Tubman’s biography.
“When I found 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 fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven”
Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman By Sarah Hopkins Bradford.
The Mason Dixon Line, which established the legitimacy of slavery, was the “line” to which she was alluding. The free states were located north of that boundary.
She travelled to Philadelphia, where she was able to save money by working in clubs and hotels before moving to Cape May. She intended to return and save her family.
“I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land; and my home after all, was down in Maryland; because my father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were there. But I was free, and they should be free.
Harriet Tubman, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman By Sarah Hopkins Bradford.
How Old Was She When Escaped
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1822, and she remained a slave for her whole life. She was a slave in Maryland, where she worked as a house servant and a nursemaid. Her place of residence was in the state of Maryland. Around the age of 27, Tubman managed to free herself from slavery in the year 1849.
She was able to get away to Pennsylvania by using something called the “Underground Railroad,” which was a network of people who assisted slaves in their escape from the South to free states or to Canada.
She did not go on her journey alone; rather, she made multiple trips back and forth through the Underground Railroad in order to free her family members who were still being held as slaves.
She would prepare for each journey by reading maps, coming up with a strategy for what she would say and how she would behave, and studying maps so that she wouldn’t be captured by slave catchers or bounty hunters. During her travels, she hid her identity by donning a variety of guises, one of which was that of a male slave.
Her face was frequently scarred as a result of being beaten or burned while she was in disguise. Harriet Tubman travelled back to Maryland in 1850 with the intention of rescuing her family and friends.
However, upon her arrival, many people were furious with her for assisting slaves in escaping from their owners because they worried it would diminish the value of their property. After bringing her family and friends to safety, Harriet Tubman eventually established them all in New York City, where she ran a hotel that catered to African-American guests.
