Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was an amazing woman who helped many other slaves to the path of freedom. Harriet was born around 1820 and had worked for many different masters by the age of 12. When she was a teenager a slave master threw a metal pipe at another slave, hitting her instead. She suffered extreme injury and epilepsy. She had visions, how ever she took these visions as missions from God, which she took as an inspiration to get to freedom and help others to get free.

In 1844 she married John Tubman, a free African american man. Harriet was determined to escape her life of slavery and in 1849 she finally did it. She risked her life to get from Maryland to Philadelphia  by following the north star and used the 'underground railroad' to make her way to freedom. the 'underground rail road' was a collection of free African Americans, Europeans and Christians who all thought slavery was wrong and helped slaves escape to the north. When Harriet made it to the north she desperately wanted to go back and help the other slaves, including her family.

She made two back to save her brothers, her sisters and her sister's two children. When she had her third trip to get her husband she found he had already found another woman. Instead of returning with her husband, she freed more slaves. Harriet was as clever as she was brave, planning many tricks to help other slaves. In 1850 things became much more difficult for Harriet. In 1850, the 'fugitive slave act' was passed which meant that she was no longer a free woman, she was a fugitive. She continues freeing slaves but she started guiding them to Canada, where they would be truly free. From 1851 to 1857 Harriet mostly lived in St. Catherine's , Canada. She continued to make trips to Maryland twice a year to free more slaves.

Besides her work as a slave freer, she was also an advocate for woman's rights and the abashment of slavery. Her efforts made her a wanted woman with a price on her life but she was never captured. She helped slavery abolitionist John brown with his plan for a raid on 'Harper's Ferry'.

During the civil war the government asked for he to recruit spies among African American men in the south. Out in the trenches, she helped coronal James Mcgummary disrupt southern supply routs which helped the freedom of many slaves.

After the war she dedicated herself to help build schools for free men. Even though she couldn't read or write, she understood the value of education.

In her later years, she worked with her friend to support and advocate woman's suffrage.