The name Harriet Tubman is legendary, evoking both deep nostalgia and admiration for her rare form of bravery in the face of some of the worst adversity that could befall any tribe, race, or people. She was born in 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland, U.S.
Until her passing on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York, Harriet Tubman was an American bondwoman who escaped from slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War. She led dozens of enslaved people to freedom in the North along the route of the Underground Railroad—an elaborate, secret network of safe houses organized for that purpose.
Araminta Ross, later known as Harriet Tubman, adopted her mother’s first name. At about age five, she was first hired out to work, initially serving as a nursemaid and later as a field hand, cook, and woodcutter. Around age 12, she reportedly refused to help an overseer punish another enslaved person and was severely injured when he threw an iron weight that struck her head. She subsequently suffered seizures for the rest of her life. In about 1844, she married John Tubman, a free Black man.
In 1849, after hearing rumors that she was about to be sold, Tubman fled to Philadelphia, leaving behind her husband (who refused to leave), parents, and siblings. In December 1850, she traveled to Baltimore, Maryland. By then, her mission had already begun, and she was gaining recognition among locals. She led her niece Kessiah Jolley and her niece’s two children, James Alfred and Araminta, to freedom. That journey was the first of about 13 increasingly dangerous forays into Maryland, during which she conducted roughly 70 enslaved people along the Underground Railroad to Canada. (Due to exaggerated claims in Sara Bradford’s 1868 biography of Tubman, it was long believed she made 19 trips and freed over 300 people.) Tubman displayed extraordinary courage, persistence, and iron discipline. If anyone considered turning back—thus endangering the mission—she reportedly threatened them with a gun, saying, “You’ll be free or die.” She also employed inventive strategies to ensure success, such as escaping on Saturday nights, since newspaper notices wouldn’t appear until Monday. Known as the “Moses of her people,” Tubman became the Underground Railroad’s most famous conductor. It is said she never lost a single fugitive she led to freedom.
As her name grew among those she had helped, so too did opposition from slaveholders, who placed rewards for her capture. While abolitionists praised her courage, slave owners plotted to stop her efforts. John Brown, who consulted her about his planned raid on a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), referred to her as “General Tubman.” Around 1858, she purchased a small farm near Auburn, New York, where she settled her elderly parents (whom she had brought from Maryland in June 1857) and later lived herself. From 1862 to 1865, she served the Union Army as a scout, nurse, and laundress in South Carolina. For the Second Carolina Volunteers under Colonel James Montgomery, Tubman gathered intelligence on Confederate territory. With her information, Montgomery’s troops launched strategically coordinated attacks. However, her compensation was so minimal that she supported herself by selling baked goods and providing nursing and midwifery services.
After the Civil War, Tubman remained in Auburn, where she took in orphans and the elderly, leading to the establishment of the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes. Tubman herself was a patient there from 1911 until her death in 1913, residing in a building known as John Brown Hall. The home later received support from former abolitionist allies and Auburn residents and remained operational until the early 1920s. Tubman also became active in other causes, including the women’s suffrage movement. In the late 1860s and again in the 1890s, she applied for a federal pension for her Civil War service. About 30 years later, Congress passed a private bill granting her $20 per month—a precedent that influenced future pension norms.
Morals from Harriet Tubman’s Life and Legacy:
- Despite being married to a free man with a relatively comfortable life, she chose a grueling path to fight for others’ freedom.
- In some cases, tough love is necessary, as shown by her firm stance against those who risked the mission’s success.
- Her perseverance and achievements during one of history’s most difficult periods remain deeply inspiring.