Harriet+Tubman+The+Freedom+Fighter

Harriet Tubman: The Freedom Fighter. By Yuri

 Once lived a women who dedicated her whole life to what she believed was right. Even knowing that capture would mean death, she risked her life at dark nights, always following the [|North Star], with soldiers carrying torches, guns, and dogs, chasing after her.

Many people today look back in history and find people whom they look as a role-model and a hero. A hero is a person who believes that anything is possible and never gives up, no matter what. A woman named Araminta Ross, or better known as Harriet Tubman, is a hero to many today. During her time she dedicated her life into helping African American slaves earn their freedom. She was a freedom fighter against slavery and [|discrimination] in the United States. Throughout her life time she served in the army, met other famous [|abolitionist], and was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, that helped fight racism and discrimination by helping other slaves escape to freedom.

Harriet Tubman was born into [|slavery] on the year of 1820 in [|Dorchester County], Maryland. Harriet and aboth of her parents were enslaved full-blooded [|Africans] and lived on the [|plantation] of Edward Brodas. (Contemporary Black Biography) Tubman's parents were Benjamin and Harriet Green Ross. She was one of their eleven children. At age seven, her slave master, Edward Brodas, hired her to work for the wife of James Cook. Mrs. Cook was a [|weaver] and needed a little girl slave to help her with the weaving. Being used to working with her father and helping him cut [|timber] in the woods, she showed little talent with the weaving. Since Mrs. Cook noticed this, she sent Harriet to work with her husband who was a [|trapper]. This was more appropriate and more enjoyable for her because she continued to learn things about nature as she had with her father. However, this did not last long because she got sick with [|bronchitis] from working at cold weathers. She recuperated after taking Old Ritas [|herbal medications]. When her health was fully restored, she returned back to the Cook home. Her return was no more successful then when she first moved there. Mrs. Cook sent her back to work at Brodas' plantation and complained that Harriet was hopelessly stupid. Harriet was soon hired out again to a new family. Her new owner required her to do house chores at day and to take care of their baby at night. With no experience as a maid, Harriet often angered her owner. When the baby's cry at night would wake up the parents, Harriet would be whipped on her back and on her neck, sometimes leaving open wounds and scars. Night, after night, this continued, Harriet soon learned to keep the baby quiet, but each the baby woke the parents up, Harriet was whipped and punished.

One day, Harriet decided that she couldn't take it anymore and decided to run away and hide in a hog pen. The little [|fugitive]was frightened and hungry, but she knew that capture would mean punishment. She spent four days there only eating food that was intended for animals. After the four days, hunger drove her back to her owner. This incident resulted in her unemployment, and her owner returned her to Brodas' plantation. At age 15, at the Brodas plantation, Harriet followed a slave escape, she chased the fugitive until he noticed and he threw a two-pound of weight at her, which hit her head and left her [|unconscious]. This accident put her in a [|coma] for four weeks. aFrom this incident, she began to have what she called a~sleeping fits,a and for the remainder of her life she would fall asleep without warning, often several times a day.(Contemporary Black Biography) Knowing that Harriet was weak and useless now, Brodas planned on selling Tubman and two of her brothers. This did not happen because Brodas died before he could sell her. After his death, word was spread that his slaves were only to be sold in [|Maryland], and that brought some comfort because slaves did not want to be sold in the deep South.

In 1844, Harriet Ross married a black man named John Tubman. He was a freed black man and lived near the Brodas Plantation. Even though she was married to a free black man, Harriet still remained in a status of being a slave. Five years after their marriage, her husband threaten to sell her. Being in fear of this, she escaped from her husband in the middle of night.

Around 1850 Harriet Tubman began to work as a conductor on the [|Underground Railroad]. The Underground Railroad was system of secret routes that helped fugitive slaves escape to freedom to the North and Canada. Isaac T. Hopper was a [|Quaker]who was believed to have started this system. He began by organizing a system for hiding and assisting fugitive slaves. Abolitionists allowed their homes to be used as a place for fugitives to stay, providing them with food and money. In 1850, Harriet Tubman becomes the most famous [|conductor] on the Underground Railroad. Whenever Tubman made a trip to help a fugitive escape, she was putting her self in great danger. She brought them to stations, that were about twenty miles apart from each other. Fugitives, or runaway slaves, hid in the day time and traveled at night. By the nineteenth century, over fifty thousand slaves escaped from the South using the Underground Railroad. Slave masters and plantation owners feared that their slaves were going to escape to the North, so in 1850, they persuaded [|Congress] to pass the [|Fugitive Slave Act]. This act required that all runaway slaves who were caught in the North to return to their masters in the South. The Fugitive Slave act did not succeed in stopping the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman worked in the Railroad as a conductor for ten years, making nineteen trips into the South and helping over three hundred slaves to freedom.

In 1859 Harriet Tubman met [|John Brown]. He was an abolitionist who wanted to attack slavery in a more violent way. A friend introduced Tubman to John Brown, Brown described a plan to make a place for refuge for escaped slaves in the south. There him and an army of soldiers and his followers would be armed and capture them. With this in mind, he asked Harriet Tubman to tell him about hiding places that she knew he could use. At first, she didn't want to tell because the hiding places were secrets, and she used them on the Underground Railroad. Eventually she agreed, but Harriet's role in his scheme never really made a significance.

During the [|Civil war], Harriet Tubman served as a nurse, spy, and soldier with the [|Union] army. Most famously she led the Combahee River expedition, under the command of [|James Montgomery], helping to blow up Southern supply lines and free hundreds of slaves. (Americans at War)

Harriet Tubman was a symbol of encouragement for those who believed in freedom and equality. She spent the rest of her life raising founds to help poor blacks with food, shelter, and education. She died on March 10, 1913, leaving her house for the elderly to the Mathodist Episcop Zion Church. She was not able to read or write, but in 1869 her first biography was published, it was called Scenes from the Life of Harriet Tubman,a written by Sarah Bradford. In 1865 she was present in the only and first meeting of the National Conference of Colored Women in America (NCCWA), a group created to fight attacks made by the press and the government against black women. After joining this group, she was inspired and became a supporter of woman suffrage. A year after her death, Auburn declared a memorial day to Harriet Tubman.  


 * Works Consulted **

"Commentary on Harriet Tubman, The Moses of Her People." American Journey Online: The African American Experience. Primary Source Microfilm, 1999. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. [|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/   ·  This website I used from the Greenwich High School’s data bases. It is a short Biography of Harriet Tubman.

 Harriet." Americans at War. Ed. John P. Resch. Vol. 2: 1816-1900. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2005. 169-171. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Gale. Greenwich High School. 22 Apr. 2008 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=GVRL&u=s0579 .  ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This website I used from the Greenwich High School’s data bases. It is a Reference source. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin"> <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">“Harriet Ross Tubman Timeline __math.bufalo.edu__ 29 Sept. 1996. American History of Western New York <[|http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html>.] <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> ·  <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">This website contains a timeline of Harriet Tubman’s life. It has some Primary Sources including a letter written by Susan B. Anthony to Harriet Tubman. It speaks about her early life up to after her death. <span style="COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'; mso-bidi-font-family: Tahoma">"Harriet Tubman," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2008 [|http://encarta.msn.com] © 1997-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This is an encyclopedia from MSN. It has a short biography about Harriet Tubman. It talks about her life as a slave and her work on the Underground Railroad. It also speaks about what happened after her death. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> "Harriet Tubman." Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 9. Gale Research, 1995. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC <span] style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This website I used from the Greenwich High School’s data bases. It is a Biography that talks about her whole life. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">"Harriet Tubman." Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book III. Edited by Terrie M. Rooney. Gale Research, 1998. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2008. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC <span] style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This website I used from the Greenwich High School’s data bases. It is a Biography of Harriet Tubman. It speaks about from her early life up to her death in Auburn, New York. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">Lilley R, Stephen__. Freedom Fighters__ California: San Diego 1999. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This is a book written by Lilley R, Stephen about fighters against American slavery. It has things about freedom fighters and abolitionists. It talks about Harriet Tubman’s early life, work at civil war, conductor on the Underground Railroad, and about meeting other people that were against slavery. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">"Underground Railroad." Dictionary of American History. 7 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1976. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This website talks about the Underground Railroad and people involved in it.

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">"Underground Railroad." Encyclopedia of the United States in the Nineteenth Century. 3 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">[|http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/HistRC/ <span] style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol"> ·  <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: #444444; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">This is an Encyclopedia that contains information about the Underground Railroad. It tells information about everyone who ran it, including Harriet Tubman.