Harriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross in March 1822, was an African American abolitionist and activist. She was born into slavery in Maryland, where she was mistreated as a child.
She had a traumatic head injury when she was a child from an injury she got when an enslaver threw a metal object on her. This caused her to experience dizziness, spells of hypersomnia and pains all through her life.
In 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia and soon after returned to rescue her family. Soon enough, she began leading people into freedom by helping them escape. They travelled by night under her guidance, and she never lost anyone.
In March 1849, before she escaped, her husband tried to dissuade her, and she told him that she had the right to liberty or death, and if she couldn’t get one, she’ll settle for the other.
After the Fugitives Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she began helping guide fugitives to Canada and helping newly freed slaves find jobs. For over 11 years, she went on 13 expeditions rescuing over 70 enslaved people.
During these expeditions, She made use of various routes and disguised herself to avoid being detected by former enslavers. She also received assistance from the Quakers, abolitionists, and free blacks who supported her cause.
She experienced visions that she ascribed to God due to her devoutly religious upbringing. She had such confidence in her relationship with God and even used spirituals as coded messages to warn her fellow travellers of danger or to signal safety. Whenever she had successfully delivered fugitives across the border, she would out, “Glory to God and Jesus, too. One more soul is safe!”
She went on her expeditions with a gun to guarantee some form of safety against slave catchers, their dogs, and any enslaved person who, midway through the journey, began to develop cold feet as that would put the safety of others at risk.
By 1850, slaveholders began to suspect that a northern white abolitionist group was responsible for the escape of so many enslaved people as they didn’t think it possible that “Minty”, the disabled slave who had escaped years before, could have a hand in it.
In 1861, when the civil war broke out, she served as a spy and joined a group of abolitionists in helping fugitives. She also served as a nurse, preparing treatments from local plants and helping soldiers suffering from dysentery. She was considered the first African American to serve in the war. She aided in numerous raids that helped free over a thousand enslaved people.
Despite her years of service, and due to her unofficial status, she was denied pay for several years. On March 18, 1869, she married Nelson Charles Davis, one of the people she helped during her humanitarian work. They adopted a daughter, Gertie, and he died in October 1888 of tuberculosis.
She also worked for women’s suffrage, travelling to numerous states and telling the story of her service in the military alongside the stories of other women in history, highlighting women’s equality with men.
In 1896, when the National Federation of Afro-American Women was founded, she was the keynote speaker at its first meeting. As she grew older, the pain from the head injury became worse, and she had to have it operated on.
She died on March 10, 1913, with her last words being, “I go to prepare a place for you.”
