Harriet Ross Tubman

Harriet Ross Tubman was born Araminta Ross in 1821 on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was born into slavery just like her mother, Harriet Ross. Her mother had been bought by Edward Brodas and had to work on the plantation near the house. Harriet started working at a really early age, which was common. When Harriet was only five years old she was loaned to another plantation. She got sick from working out in the snow. She was given back and her mother nourished her back to good health. When she got better she was loaned again to another plantation. Her job was to nurse an infant child. By the time she was 12, she plowed the fields and hauled wood. When she was thirteen she got struck with a heavy weight while she tried to defend fellow slave who tried to run away. The damage was severe. She got seizures and random sleep spells. This caused her to abused for not doing her work and she became a useless slave.

In 1844 she got permission to marry and live with John Tubman from her owners and they said yes. John was a freeman and Harriet told him about her dreams of freedom. John said that if she ran away he would turn her in. During this time Harriet still had to work for her owners. When Harriet came back to Maryland after being gone a while she saw that her husband had gotten a new wife. Later, Harriet Married a man by the name of Nelson Davis.

She later decided it should be a goal to reach the northern states, a.k.a. non-slaveholding states. She had heard through rumors of an underground railroad you could follow to the North. She decided to go, after her owner died. This was because she was going to be sold into a new and worse group of owners. So she and her brothers left for the North following the North Star to Pennsylvania. Her brothers returned to the plantation because they feared the trouble that they would get in if they got caught and how it was a dangerous route. Harriet traveled by night all the way until she reached the safe anti-slavery state of Pennsylvania. Later on she made a vow that she would help bring her family, friends and other slaves to their freedom. She found work in Pennsylvania and earned money for the rescue trips. She rescued one of her sisters and five of her brothers. She also rescued her parents and later bought a home for them in New York. She saved over 300 slaves through the Underground Railroad. She did a lot of fundraising to help the slaves that were helped and get them back on their feet. She died on March 10, 1913.

Harriet is my hero because she was unafraid of her death and was very determined to help people that were in trouble and free them from abuse. She was saved so many people and I would like to be able to be as determined as her in everything I do. I would love to make a difference like she did.

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