Harriet Tubman Escapes Slavery

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Harriet Tubman

In the fall of 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland, traveling approximately 90 miles by foot to reach freedom in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Born Araminta "Minty" Ross around 1822, Tubman had endured brutal treatment as an enslaved person, including a traumatic head injury at age 13 when an overseer threw a two-pound metal weight at her skull, causing lifelong seizures and visions. After her enslaver Edward Brodess died in 1849, his widow began making plans to sell Tubman and her family to pay debts. Tubman made her first escape attempt on September 17, 1849, with her brothers Ben and Henry, but they turned back after a $300 reward was posted for their capture. Weeks later, Tubman escaped alone, traveling by night and guided by the North Star, using the network of safe houses and abolitionists known as the Underground Railroad. Upon reaching Philadelphia, Tubman connected with abolitionists including William Still, a key conductor on the Underground Railroad. Rather than enjoying her freedom in safety, Tubman made the extraordinary decision to return to the South repeatedly to rescue others. Over the next decade, she made approximately 13 trips back to Maryland and rescued around 70 enslaved people, including her elderly parents, siblings, and other family members. She earned the nickname "Moses" for leading her people to freedom. Tubman later declared: "I was conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger." During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union Army as a nurse, scout, and spy. On June 2, 1863, she became the first woman to lead an armed military operation in United States history when she guided the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina, liberating more than 700 enslaved people in a single night. After the war, she settled in Auburn, New York, where she established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged and became active in the women's suffrage movement, working alongside Susan B. Anthony. Tubman died on March 10, 1913, at approximately 91 years old. She remains one of the most celebrated figures in American history, a symbol of courage, resistance, and the fight for freedom.