Harriet Tubman

    Harriet Tubman was born at Edward Brodas plantation near Bucktown, Dorchester County, Maryland.  She was born into slavery because her ancestors were bought from Africa in Shackles in the early 18th century. She was the 11th child born to Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene, her birth name was  Araminta but when she became an adult she started calling herself Harriet.

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     In the Biblical story of Exodus they tell you about how Moses freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt in similar events Harriet Tubman was called "Moses" for her work when she freed over 300 black slaves.

      In 1894 Harriet escaped the plantation she was working on, by herself she followed the guide of the North Star to free land in Pennsylvania.  Her escape came about after her master died and she heard rumors that her and her brother were going to be sold to a chain gang, her brother escaped with her but got scared and went back to the plantation.  Harriet only traveled at night until she knew she crossed the border from slaveholding to non-slaveholding states, she later made a  vow that she would go back and help free her family and friends.  She went to Philadelphia and started found work cooking, laudrying, and scrubbing so she could save her money to make rescue trips, she also joined the city's large and active  abolitionist which worked with the Underground Railroad. Using the home of quaker abolitionist Thomas Garrett as a checkpoint, Harriet took on 20 hazardous missions in which she went down south and led slaves up north and sometimes going as far as Canada. She used a rifle on her mission threatening to shoot anyone who wanted to turn back, fellow abolitionist John Brown dubbed her "General" Tubman. Her name quickly spread threw out the south and slaveholders had a $40,000 bounty on her head, but she didn't stop and always managed to evade slavecatchers even once when she fell asleep under her own wanted poster.  Harriet successfully rescued her sister in 1850, her brother in 1851, her other three brothers in 1854, and her parents in 1857, she got her parents a home in Auburn New York from Senate William H. Seward of New York who was a adovcate of hers.  Around 1858 Harriet teamed up with John Brown in a plan to raid Harper's Ferry, Virginia, the plan was to raid the armory, give the weapons to the slaves and start a rebellion, she helped with the fund raising and would've participated if she wasn't sick. In 1865, Harriet began caring for wounded black soldiers as the matron of the Colored Hospital at Fortress Monroe, Virginia and she also continued helping others after the war. She raised money for freedmen's schools, helped destitute children and continued caring for her parents. In 1868, she transformed her family's home into the "Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People" and also lobbied for educational opportunities for freedmen, she also started working on her autobiogragph with Sarah Hopkins Bradford a white school teacher in Auburn New York it was published later that year. In 1869 Harriet married Nelson Davis a Union veteran half her age who was boardered at her house, he died in 1888 from tuberculosis. In 1896, she was a delegate to the National Association of Colored Women's first annual convention, she believed their right to vote was vital to their freedom. Around the start of the 19th century Harriet bought 25 acres of land around her home with the money she raised through benefactors and speaking engagements and  made arrangements for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church to take over the Home. In 1911 herself was welcomed into Home after they heard about her health statues. Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913 an was givin a full military style funeral, she was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery.

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