Harriet Tubman: The Black Moses (Interesting Biographies #10)

She deserved the name, "Moses". Harriet Tubman is not just a famous icon in Black history, but women history as well. She is one of the most import women in history, displaying bravery and determination. In honor of Black History month I decided to tell her story.

Tubaman was born as Araminta Harriet Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was born into slavery as her parents were slaves. No exact record of her birth date exists, but historians put her birth year at 1820. Tubman showed signs early on as a rebel. When she was a teen she came across a slave, whom was being chased by his master. The master told Tubman to hold down the slave, but she refused. The master tried to knock out the runaway slave with a two pound weight, but nailed Tubman in the head instead. She never received treatment for her injury. She would work in the field as blood spilled down her face and have epileptic seizures. She began to have visions of God bringing messages to her. The same images Joan of Arc must have had.

In 1844, she married a black freed man named John Tubman. However, Tubman was still a slave, so any child she bore was bond to slavery. In 1849, Tubman became ill and as a result, the value she could be sold for decreased. Her master was furious. Tubman prayed to God for her master to be killed. The good news is her prayer actually came true and her master died a week later. The bad news is this made things worse for Tubman because now it was more likely she would be sold and separated from her family.

In 1849, Tubman escaped from slavery. She followed the North Star on foot and traveled 90 miles (145 kilometers) in five days and three weeks to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In December 1850, Tubman was informed her children were being sold in Cambridge. She went there and with the help of her friends she smuggled her children out. In the following spring she went back to Maryland to save other family members and slaves. In the fall she went back to get her husband, but he had married another woman, so she left him and saved other slaves instead.

Over the course of eleven years Tubman rescued around 300 slaves from Maryland in 19 trips. She nor the slaves she was freeing were ever caught. Tubman was able to avoid capture through the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was network of secret routes and safe houses that assisted escaped slaves to the North. In April of 1858, she met abolitionist, John Brown. It was the civil rights equivalent of Superman teaming up with Wonder Woman. Together, they planned an attack that would inspire slaves to revolt. On October 16, 1859, after a year of planning, Brown along with other abolitionists and slaves attacked Harper's Ferry in Virginia. Tubman was not present during the attack. Which was good for her because the raid failed. Brown was captured and hanged.

In 1861, the Civil War broke out. She joined the Northern army and operated in Port Royal, South Carolina. She became the first woman to lead an armed assault in the war. On June 2, 1863, Tubman along with Colonel James Montgomery and his men assaulted a series of Confederate plantations along the Combahee River. The raid was a success. More than 700 slaves were freed. Tubman served as an active scout and nurse until the war ended in 1865 with the Confederates surrender. After the war she moved to Auburn, New York, where she would live the rest of her life.

(Tubman in her Civil War uniform.)

In the last years of her life Tubman spent it dedicated to the improvement of other people's live. She was a major activist for women's rights and setting up homes for poor African Americans. She died in 1913 of pneumonia at the age of 96.

This has been the tenth edition of my Interesting Biographies series. Follow my blog for more installments in the future. Also read my previous biographies. Leave a comment if there is someone you want me to do a biography on.