Transcript Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman
Angel Valdez
W. Stiern Middle School
2009-2010
Young Tubman
• She was born into slavery in Bucktown, Maryland.
• As a young child she worked as a house slave.
• When she grew older she started working in the
fields.
• As a teen she was struck by her master defending
another slave.
• She never fully recovered from the blow to the head,
she had blackouts throughout her life.
Her names
• Her given name was
Arminta Ross.
• Tubman was also
referred to as Moses
during her abolitionist
days.
• She later changed her
name to Harriet
Tubman. Harriet after
her mother and
Tubman was her
husbands last name.
The Escape
• In fear of being sold,
Tubman planned to
runaway.
• She escaped to
freedom through the
Underground railroad
in 1849 to
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
 Tubman worked as a
maid in Philadelphia
and joined the
abolitionist group in
the city.
Underground Railroad
• Harriet Tubman did everything she
could to keep the runaway slaves
encouraged and safe.
• She would carry a sleeping drug to
give to crying babies who might get
them caught.
• Tubman also carried a gun which she
used to threaten runaways if they
wanted to go back or became “too
tired” to go on.
• Harriet would say, “Be free or die”.
Who did she save?
• Tubman made around 19 trips to the South and
saved approximately 300 slaves.
• In her first expedition to the South she saved her
sister and her sister’s two children.
• Soon after that trip she helped her brother and
another man escape to freedom.
• Later as an abolitionist she rescued her parents.
• She went back to rescue her husband, John
Tubman, to find he had
taken another wife.
Hero/Criminal
• Some thought of her as a hero.
• Others thought of her as a criminal due
to the Fugitive slave act going into
effect, stating that it’s illegal to help a
slave escape to freedom.
• Those who thought of her as a hero
never turned her in, although rewards
for her were highly priced.
Was helping worth it?
• Harriet would help slaves to freedom, but
there was no promising they would stay
free.
• It was very common for free African
Americans to be grabbed off the street and
taken to be slaves.
• When the African American would claim to
be free, no one would care to believe them.
• Slaves could buy their freedom, but
sometimes the money was wasted because
they would just get put back into slavery.
Many accomplishments
 She was a nurse, scout, and sometimes spy
for the Union Army during the Civil War.
• In 1908 she made a home for elderly and
indigent blacks.
• This was known as Harriet Tubman Home.
• Although she passed away on March 10,1913
her legacy still lives on.
• Tubman's age was unknown. It is estimated
she died at the age of 93.
• Her death was due to natural causes.
Bibliography
• http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.
html
• http://www.civilwarhome.com/tubmanbio.htm