Born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Harriet Tubman
escaped and eventually gained international acclaim as an Underground Railroad
operator, abolitionist, Civil War spy and nurse, suffragist, and humanitarian.
Working as a field hand while a young teen, Tubman was nearly killed by
a blow to her head from an iron weight, thrown by an angry overseer at another
fleeing slave. The severe injury left her suffering from headaches, seizures
and sleeping spells that plagued her for the rest of her life. In 1848 Tubman
decided to try and escape from her plantation. She tapped into an Underground
Railroad that was already functioning well on the Eastern Shore: traveling by
night, using the North Star and instructions from white and black helpers, she
found her way to Philadelphia. She sought work as a domestic, saving her money
to help the rest of her family escape. From 1850 to 1860, Tubman conducted
between eleven and thirteen escape missions, bringing away approximately
seventy individuals, including her brothers, parents, and other family and
friends, while also giving instructions to approximately fifty more who found
their way to freedom independently.
A supporter of John Brown and his insurrection at Harper's Ferry in
1859, she was so disappointed by its failure that she began an intensive
speaking tour of the North. In her speeches she not only advocated an end to
slavery but argued for women's suffrage. During the American Civil War Tubman
worked as a nurse, scout and an intelligence agent for the Union Army. Tubman's
former activities as a conductor on the Underground Railroad made her
especially useful as a scout during the conflict. With the help of Sarah
Bradford, she wrote her autobiography, Harriet Tubman, the Moses of Her People,
(1869). With the royalties from the book and a small pension from the United
States Army she purchased a house in Auburn, New York and turned it into a home
for the aged and needy. She was active in the women's suffrage movement until
illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly
African-Americans she had helped open years earlier. Harriet Tubman died in
1913.
