“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
Harriet Tubman (c. March 1822–10 March 1913) escaped from the Maafa in Maryland to become a leading abolitionist, humanitarian, Union scout and spy, and later an advocate for women’s suffrage. She personally led about seventy people—including relatives and friends—to freedom through approximately thirteen rescue missions on the Underground Railroad, while assisting many others who escaped independently. During the American Civil War, she served the Union in South Carolina as a nurse, cook, scout, and spy, and helped plan and lead the Combahee River Raid of 1863, which liberated more than 700 people from captivity.
Here are 10 Interesting Facts about Harriet Tubman:
1. Harriet Tubman was born Araminta “Minty” Ross, probably in March 1822, in Dorchester County, Maryland. One of nine children born to Harriet “Rit” Green Ross and Ben Ross, she later adopted her mother’s first name. As a young child, she was hired out to neighboring households, where she endured neglect, exhausting labor, and brutal physical punishment.
2. The surname Tubman comes from her first husband, John Tubman, who she married in 1844. Tubman was a free Black man. Her status, however, remained unchanged until she fled to Pennsylvania – a free state – in 1849. Her husband did not make the journey and ultimately re-married after Harriet’s departure.
3. In 1849, after Edward Brodess—the man who held her in captivity—died, Tubman feared that she and other family members would be sold away. She initially left Maryland with her brothers Ben and Henry on 17 September, but they turned back. Tubman later escaped alone to Philadelphia. She then repeatedly returned to Maryland to guide relatives and others out of bondage.nps+1
4. Over roughly a decade, Tubman made about thirteen rescue missions into Maryland, personally guiding approximately seventy relatives and other freedom seekers to safety. She also gave practical instructions to many others who escaped on their own. Later generations celebrated her as having “never lost a passenger,” a phrase that reflects her extraordinary record and devotion.
5. Tubman’s work placed her in constant danger, especially after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 strengthened federal enforcement against freedom seekers and those who helped them. The often-repeated claim that a $40,000 reward was offered for her capture is unsubstantiated. The National Park Service records that a $100 reward was offered after her initial escape.
6. Tubman knew major abolitionists, including John Brown, who called her “General Tubman.” During the Civil War, she served the Union as a nurse, cook, scout, and spy. In 1863, she helped plan and lead the Combahee River Raid with Colonel James Montgomery and Black Union troops, helping liberate more than 700 people. In later life, she also advocated for women’s suffrage.
7. Always in need of funds, Tubman solicited donations for herself and her missions at public appearances. She did not always wear female attire, though her favorite disguise was an elderly woman singing spirituals as she trudged along. In one talk, she recounted a successful raid she led on plantations along the Combahee River in South Carolina during the Civil War. Tubman quipped that she would never again wear a skirt on a military expedition.
8. Harriet had one daughter, Gertie, whom she and her second husband (Nelson Davis) adopted after the Civil war.
9. As a teenager, Tubman suffered a severe head injury when an overseer threw a heavy metal weight at an enslaved man and struck her instead. She lived thereafter with recurrent headaches, seizures, sleep-like episodes, and vivid dreams. Tubman understood these visions through her Christian faith and regarded them as communications from God.
10. Just before Harriet’s death in 1913, she told friends and family, “I go to prepare a place for you.” It is said that on the day of her death, her strength returned. She arose from her bed with little assistance, ate heartily, walked about the rooms of the Old Ladies’ Home, which she liked so much, and then went back to bed and her final rest. Tubman died on 10 March 1913 at the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in Auburn, New York. She was buried with semi-military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery on 13 March 1913, remembered as a freedom fighter, Civil War veteran, humanitarian, and one of the most enduring figures in the struggle against the Maafa.
Sources:
Enslaved Women in America: An Encyclopedia edited by Daina Ramey Berry
http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/harriet-tubman/…
http://www.biography.com/people/harriet-tubman-9511430#escape-from-slavery-and-abolitionism
