Harriet Watch Party
From her escape from slavery, to her dangerous missions to free thousands of slaves in the Under Ground Railroad, and world-changing role in helping the Union win the Civil War, Harriet Tubman has an incredible life story. She is one of the world’s greatest abolitionists and deserves much more recognition than she is given.
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Eastern Maryland some time between 1820 and 1821. Her original name was Armintina “Minty” Ross. During her childhood and life as a slave, she suffered from brutal abuse and grueling jobs by her slaveholders.
“I grew up like a neglected weed - ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.”
She rose from this adversary to emancipate herself and she risked her life repeatedly to liberate others.
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
At the threat of being sold by her owners like her sisters were, Harriet decided to escape. Determined and courageous, Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and changed her name after her mom, Harriet. Soon she was known by a different name though. Because of Harriet’s resolution to not leave her family and fellow slaves behind, she became one of the most influential members of the Underground Railroad. She was soon called “The Conductor” and “Moses” because she personally liberated 70 people on more than a dozen missions and helped in the liberations of an estimate of 3,000 slaves.
“If I could have convinced more slaves were slaves, I could have freed thousands more.”
Because of her bravery and “unexplained” favor, she never lost a slave in their journeys from captivity to freedom. She was an overcomer from more than just slavery. Tubman suffered from narcolepsy because of a brain injury she sustained from a beating in childhood. During these narcolepsy spells she claimed to have spiritual experiences where God would speak to her through visions and lead her to safety.
“It wasn’t me, it was the Lord. I always told him, 'I trust you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,' and He always did.”
Harriet Tubman had many roles. She also served as a nurse, cook, and spy to Federal troops during the Civil War.. She led 150 black Union troops across the Combahee River in South Carolina in June 1863. During which she led Union riverboats through Confederate torpedo traps, where the troops burned the estates of influential Southern secessionists who supplied Confederate forces and freed 750 slaves!
Her activism didn’t end there. After the war, Tubman fought for women’s suffrage, raised funds to build schools for newly freed survivors of slavery (known as freedmen’s schools) during the Reconstruction Era, and donated her home for the care of the ill and elderly.
Harriet Tubman lived a life committed to liberty and honor for all people.
“I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”