Harriet Tubman And Her Fight For Freedom

Harriet Tubman was born on Maryland’s eastern shores and was originally named by her parents Araminta Ross. when she was 11 years old she was hired to be a housemaid for a small child. If Araminta ever fell asleep while she was taking care of the child she would be beaten for doing so. One day while she was still a child she refused to help a white man whip a young slave her age that had went to a store without permission. When the young slave tried to make a break for it the man threw a heavy iron weight but unfortunately instead of it hitting the young slave it hit Araminta right in the head. She ended up almost having her skull crushed when it hit her, she had a huge deep scar from the heavy iron weight hitting her as well as suffering seizures for the rest of her life.

Araminta was a very short woman and usually wore a bandana and had several missing front teeth. As time went on in 1844 she married a free man named John Tubman, when she married she had her last name changed to Tubman as well as her first name to Harriet after her mother. She had a very strong belief in God that helped in her go through life as a slave. Even as a child she wanted to be free from harsh life on a farm. She feared that if she and the other slaves didn't leave they would all be sold to different places, she and her two brother decided to run away from the fields together. Unfortunately her husband John didn’t want to come along so only Harriet and her brothers left John, their mom, and sisters. On their way to the northern states Harriet’s brothers became scared and turned back but Harriet on the other had kept going until she reached Philadelphia. There she found a job as a housemaid until she saved up enough money to go back to the south and help her family escape. When she saved up enough money she went back to the south to get her family as well as become a conductor for the underground railroad.

As a conductor Harriet was one of the best conductors there was because she never gave up hope for the people she was helping escape and all were hopeful and brave when she was the conductor. If anyone lost hope and wanted to turn back she would threaten them with the pistol she had to protect them as well as be intimidating. Being a conductor was a very dangerous thing to do, if you were white and were caught helping you would be put in jail for your crime but if you were black you would unfortunately be given way worse punishments including death. The underground railroad wasn’t actually a railroad underground it was actually a network of people helping slaves through a journey to escape. People like Harriet Tubman she helped slaves escape and guide slaves out of the south to “depots” and/or “stations”. These “stations” and “depots” were safe houses that hid slaves from their owners including slave catchers called the reverse underground railroad.

The reverse underground railroad captured African Americans, escaped slaves, and/or black people just to sell them as working slaves. There were also “stockholders” that would donate things like clothes, food, and money to slaves on the move. During her time as a conductor going back and forth from the south and northern states 100 times Harriet Tubman helped over 300 slaves escape in the United States. After the underground railroad ended and slavery was abolished in 1865 when the Civil War started she helped to Union Army (Northern U.S. States). She was a nurse, cook, and a spy as well. Harriet would help on the battlefield by nursing hurt soldiers as well as cooking for them. She was not only a nurse for hurt soldiers but a nurse for sick people in need of help.

During her time as a nurse she found a cure for a sickness that affected and killed many people called dysentery, a deadly very disease. She cured them by boiling water lilies and cranesbill, it was a bitter tasting substance but it worked and saved many people in need of help. Although she was a cook and nurse she was even a spy for the Union army as well. She recruited an army of former slaves to help her track down and keep track of rebel army camps in the area. After keeping track of them for awhile she led raids on the rebel camps with her recruited soldiers. Harriet Tubman stood up and fought for not only her freedom but others freedom, she believed in equal rights and in fighting for what’s right. She saved slaves from abuse, helped soldiers in need, and cured people of there sickness. She was definitely an upstander back in her time.