Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman (http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/student_dean/multicultural_affairs/Images%20&%20Docs/tubmancoverphoto5.jpg)

Harriet Tubman was separated from her family when she was young to become a slave because of her nationality but she still found her happy in life and helped other people get to it using the Underground Railroad.

I chose this hero because she helped people in many different ways and never gave up. Harriet Tubman was born in 1822 and most likely was born in Dorchester County. (Exact date unknown since the owners didn’t keep record of the slaves) When Harriet was young her master told her to go run errands and she came upon a slave who was trying to escape to freedom. An overseer was trying to pin him down and stop him and requested for help. Harriet Tubman refused to help and started to walk away. The slave escaped from the overseer’s grasp and started to run away. The overseer got a two pound metal weight and threw it at the slave. Instead of hitting the slave it hit Harriet Tubman in the head. She says if it wasn’t for her rat’s nest hair she would have died. The wound on her forehead started to give her memories and she claimed that the lord blessed her.

Her faith in god helped her have visions or give her vivid dreams of what was going to happen in the future. She used this gift for the good of mankind and stopped the bad things that were going to happen. I would consider her a hero because she helped people escape to freedom using the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was stops at people’s houses that didn’t believe in slavery. One obstacle Harriet Tubman had was to not be caught by the white men and if she were caught she would be beaten severely so she wouldn’t run away again. Sometimes when in the city she would stop by people’s houses and stay for the night. If there were no safe houses in the city she was at then she would carry two chickens around to seem like she was running errands. Also she would travel on Fridays where there were no wanted signs up since they were only put up On Mondays. When she was in the forest it was very dangerous so she would travel by the swamps where the white men's dogs couldn’t smell her. If she was caught the dogs would attack her and bite her everywhere because they were trained to do that.

Example of her heroic actions was when she was freed from slavery she still earned money to help other people escape from the slaves and be free. Additionally she became friends with leading abolitionists which were people who fought for slave rights. Also she had been that she freed slaves for 13 years and risked her life countless times. Her success quickly spread through the slave community. My hero shows perseverance, courage, and leadership. When she got hit in the head by a two pound weight she still worked in the fields even though she was in a lot of pain. For thirteen years by freeing a couple of people at a time for each trip into freedom take leadership. Courage is showed from her because she would always come back to free more slaves and didn’t think twice about leaving them.

My hero influences me because she teaches me to be a better person and to help other people. Harriet teaches me to never give up and to keep on trying. Additionally it teaches me that people out there have gone through worse so I shouldn’t cry about doing a small task when other people have gone through worse. For example, when I was in 6th grade and I was the last person left in dodge ball everyone wanted me to quit. I was about to just let them get me out but I thought of Harriet Tubman and how she never gave up. Instead I caught the ball and ended up winning the game for our team.