Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Learn more about the life of Harriet Tubman and how she helped dozens of people escape slavery.
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Transcript
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist who led dozens of enslaved people along the route of the Underground Railroad to freedom in the North.
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery as Araminta Ross about 1820 in Rochester County, Maryland.
As a child, she was hired out to perform housework for white families in the area.
When she was about 12 years old, after she reportedly refused to help punish another enslaved person, an overseer struck her head with an iron weight. The resulting injury would cause her to suffer seizures for the rest of her life. In response to rumors that she would be sold to a different slaveholder, Tubman fled Maryland for Pennsylvania in 1849.
She was forced to leave behind her husband, parents, and siblings. In December 1850 Tubman returned to Maryland to help her sister and her sister’s children escape.
This was the first of some 13 extremely dangerous journeys she made into the South, during which she led about 70 enslaved people along the Underground Railroad to uncontested freedom in Canada. The most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman was celebrated by other abolitionists and became known as “the Moses of her people.”
To slaveholders—and to the institution of slavery—she was a major threat. Rewards for her capture eventually totaled $40,000. Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York.
As a child, she was hired out to perform housework for white families in the area.
When she was about 12 years old, after she reportedly refused to help punish another enslaved person, an overseer struck her head with an iron weight. The resulting injury would cause her to suffer seizures for the rest of her life. In response to rumors that she would be sold to a different slaveholder, Tubman fled Maryland for Pennsylvania in 1849.
She was forced to leave behind her husband, parents, and siblings. In December 1850 Tubman returned to Maryland to help her sister and her sister’s children escape.
This was the first of some 13 extremely dangerous journeys she made into the South, during which she led about 70 enslaved people along the Underground Railroad to uncontested freedom in Canada. The most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman was celebrated by other abolitionists and became known as “the Moses of her people.”
To slaveholders—and to the institution of slavery—she was a major threat. Rewards for her capture eventually totaled $40,000. Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York.