Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman was a conductor in the Underground Railroad in New York. From 1850 to 1860, Harriet managed to make 19 trips from the South to the North following the underground railroad network. In this time, Tubman led to deliver more than 300 slaves from slavery captivity to liberty. The people she led to freedom included her parents and fellow siblings. The leadership capability of Harriet delivering her family from slavery earned her the nickname “Moses.” The first time Harriet encounters the underground Railroad in 1849 when she used it to escape from being a slave. Following the attack of illness and the death of her life, Harriet had to escape captivity in Maryland to seek freedom in Philadelphia. However, Tubman feared that her parents and siblings would be further be detached from her. Regardless, the Tubman was more concerned about her fortune as an ill slave and having low economic value to the State.
Harriet brothers, Harry and Ben, managed to follow her in September 1849. Nevertheless, after the Cambridge Democrat public notice, which offered a $300 payment for the return of Araminta, Tubman brothers, they decided on returning to the plantation. Harriet had no plans to remain in captivity. Therefore, after seeing Harry and Ben going home safely, she escaped alone and sought freedom in Pennsylvania. By use of the Underground Railroad, Harriet traveled for about 90 miles to reach Philadelphia. Tubman managed to cross into the free Pennsylvania State, whereby she had a relief feeling and awe. After reaching the liberty State, Harriet recalled her own words, which she imagined and quoted when she was still a slave. “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was a glory on everything; the sun came like gold via the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”
Later, after Tubman received her freedom, she focused not to remain in a safe North, while her own family is still suffering from captivity. Therefore, she decided to go back into slavery land and rescue the family. She made her way through the Underground Railroad. When “Moses”-Harriet was in her mission to deliver the family in December 1850, a warning notice was sent to inform her that one of the nieces Kessiah together with her children was to be sold. John Bowley, a black man and husband to Kessiah managed to win a bid for his family in Baltimore. After that, Harriet aided the entire family starts the journey to the free land, Philadelphia. The trip to Philadelphia by the Harriet, together with family, was termed as one of the counted trips of the Harriet using Underground Railroad.
In 1850, the implementation of the Fugitive Slave law brought a dynamic revolution of escaping from bondage. The act stated that fugitive slaves should be returned to captivity after arrest in the North. In regard, the officials for law enforcement in the North were obligated to help in recovering and capturing the escaping slaves, despite the personal principles of the slaves. Regarding the law, Tubman decided to re-route the Underground Railroad and have the way to Canada. The route of the Underground Railroad to Canada would categorically prohibit slavery, therefore favoring Tubman to use it to deliver slaves from the bondage. In 1851 December, Harriet managed to provide a group of 11 slaves northward. Fugitive’s delivery stopped at the home of a protestor and one of the former slaves, Frederick Douglass.
In April 1858, Harriet was presented to John Brown, the protestor against slavery. The demonstrator advocated the use of violence in disrupting and destroying slavery institutions. Brown shared his goals with Harriet, whereby, the protestors agreed together on the issue of killing and disrupting the captivity institutions. Harriet bought Brown’s ideas and even extended to support them by suggesting she had a prophetic vision of John Brown before meeting each other. When John Brown started to recruit supporters to protest against slavery at Harper’s Ferry, Brown called “Moses Tubman” for assistance. After John’s succeeding execution, Harriet Tubman praised Brown as a martyr.
After the succeeding attack of slaves’ stakeholders, Harriet tended to remain active in the time of the Civil war. Tubman became a cook and nurse in the Union Army. After that, Harriet became an armed detective and spy in the Union Army. Historically, Harriet became the first lady to lead an armed mission in the war. Tubman led the Combahee River Raid that delivered more than 700 captives in South Carolina.
Harriet died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913. Since Tubman’s date of birth is not known, it is approximated that she passed on at around 93years of age. The death occurred when pneumonia attacked her and died surrounded by family members and friends. As Harriet aged, injuries on the head that happened in the early years could become disruptive and painful. As a result, Harriet endured surgery of the brain at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital. The buzzing pains were eased hence giving Harriet hope of living longer. Harriet was admitted into the funeral home, which was named in her honor. Finally, Harriet was buried with celebrations of the military at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.
Reference
Gold, Susan Dudley. Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Cavendish Square
Publishing, LLC, 2015.