Emmett McKnight
Miss. Rieder
English 9B
9 March 2018
Harriet Tubman: Mini Biography Essay
Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was originally named Araminta “Minty” Ross (“Harriet Tubman Facts and Quotes.”). Around 1844 Harriet married a black man named John Tubman, she took his last name and also changed her name to Harriet, after her mother. She is most known for the Underground Railroad which was a way for slaves to escape to freedom. She was one of its most famous conductors especially for trying not to leave any slaves behind when she could have just stayed in the North safe and sound. She was known as the “Moses” of her time because she did work to help slaves escape from the South she was born into slavery in 1820.
SECTION 1: EARLY LIFE AND CHILDHOOD
Harriet Tubman’s life growing up was hard she was literally born into slavery so that was the main thing she knew (“Harriet Tubman Facts and Quotes.”). It is not known her exact birth date but we know it was between 1820 and 1825 (1). Both of Harriet’s parents were pure African American descent and she was put in extremely harsh conditions growing up. Harriet Tubman’s early life was hard she had three of her sisters sold to far away plantations at a young age. Physical Violence was a part of the daily life of Tubman and her family some in which were permanent physical injury (“Harriet Tubman Biography”). But the worst she had ever had was when she saw a slave that left the fields without permission. The slave’s owner wanted Harriet to help hold the runaway. But she said no to it because he knew it was wrong and the owner threw a rock at her head for this. Tubman had really bad seizures along with really bad headaches for the rest of her life mainly because of this incident.
SECTION 2: ADULT LIFE
Harriet Tubman’s owner became sick in 1849 so she decided to escape slavery in Maryland for Philadelphia(“Harriet Tubman Biography”). Tubman used the Underground Railroad and traveled about 90 miles to get to Philadelphia. Pennsylvania was a free state and when Harriet got there she felt relief and amazement at what she was seeing. It is stated that she said “the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.” (“Harriet Tubman Biography”) While Harriet could have easily stayed on a free state up North she couldn’t leave friends and family behind in slavery so she used the Underground Railroad to save them. She had heard that her niece Kessiah would be sold along with her two children. Harriet made an winning effort to save her and the children taking them via Underground Railroad to Philadelphia. This was the beginning of many trips using the Underground Railroad for Tubman, a true leader also guiding her siblings, parents, and more to freedom.
While Harriet Tubman helped fugitive slaves out of slavery, she was a fugitive slave herself. She was in just as much danger as any other slave while not losing or leaving a slave behind. She was a comrade of another famous conductor, William Still. William Still was often referred to as the father of the Underground Railroad, and helped about 800 slaves to freedom . The Underground Railroad was definitely illegal due to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 permitted the recapture of runaway slaves and one of the provisions of this Act was fines and prison sentences on those who helped runaways.
In 1844, She married a free black man, John Tubman changing her last name from Ross to Tubman after the marriage. It isn’t known if they had any children or not but in 1869 she married a Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis and in 1874 they adopted a girl named Gertie.
SECTION 3: CULTURAL IMPACT/LEGACY
The main thing Harriet Tubman is known for is the Underground Railroad, I would say mainly because she tried her best to not leave a single person behind. She could have stayed in the North the first time but she went back over 19 times for other people to solely help them. She didn’t have to help any slaves at all the first time but she did it anyways and I think that is why her legacy lives on.
I also her legacy lives on the most because she helped so many people help escape back to their homes to freedom. She had the nickname “Moses” because he led his people to freedom and so did Harriet. And you have to remember she put her own life on the line for those of others. She was a fugitive on the run considered a criminal back then, she also put herself back in those situations to help other slaves when she was already in the North and could have stayed there like most would probably do.
Underground Railroad conductors and just a person in history. She was extremely brave for doing this and also donated 25 acres of land to the church for a shelter of poor and homeless African Americans.
An abolitionist senator William H. Seward sold Harriet a small piece of land in Auburn, New York in her later life. (“Harriet Tubman Biography”) She let her family and friends live there and they loved it. This is where Tubman spent her final days of life. She was never really financially stable ever in her life she used the little money she had for others. She still was putting others in front of herself in her last days in her life. When Harriet die the city of Auburn, New York put up a plaque on the courthouse in honor of her.
Works Cited
A&E Television Network. “ Harriet Tubman Biography. “Biography.com. A&E Television LLC, 19 Jan. 2018. 1 Feb 2018.
“Harriet Tubman.” History.com, A+E Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman.
“Harriet Tubman Facts and Quotes.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/harriet-tubman/.