Mini Fact: Harriet Tubman, far left, had to care for babies when she was just a child.

I was the 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. — Harriet Tubman

Do you know about the Underground Railroad? This was an organized network of people who helped enslaved people escape to the northern United States and Canada in the late 1700s and through the end of the Civil War.

Harriet Tubman, a former slave herself, helped more than 300 people escape slavery over 10 years. This week, The Mini Page learns more about this important abolitionist*.

Early days

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross around March 1822 in Maryland. Her parents were enslaved people on a plantation there. She had eight brothers and sisters.

Harriet worked as a nursemaid and muskrat trapper as a child. When she was older, she did field and forest work and hauled wood.

In 1844, she married John Tubman and changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother. While John was a free man, Harriet was still enslaved. In October 1849, she escaped. However, John refused to go with her.

On the road to freedom

Harriet had to travel by night, using the North Star to guide her. She got help from the Underground Railroad as she made her way into Pennsylvania.

Harriet worked in Philadelphia to save money. Starting in 1850, she returned to southern states again and again to help others run to freedom. By 1860, she had made 19 trips to slave territory, including one in which she rescued her 70-year-old parents.

People started calling her “Moses,” after the biblical prophet who led the Hebrews to freedom.

No turning back

Harriet had no patience for enslaved people who lost their nerve on the road to freedom. She was known to pull out a pistol and threaten their lives if they tried to turn back.

Harriet knew that if someone gave up and returned to slavery, they might be tortured into giving up information about how Harriet helped people escape.

At home

In 1859, Harriet bought a farm in Fleming, New York, where she often took in family members and friends. Later, during the Civil War, she worked as a nurse and helped gather intelligence for the Union Army in South Carolina.

After the war ended, she returned to New York and married Nelson Davis. She continued to work for the abolition of slavery and for the right to vote for women.

Later life

Back in New York, Harriet struggled in poverty. She was mostly unpaid for her own work with the military, and in 1880 her house burned down. When her husband died, she received his pension, or pay, from his time in the Union army. Finally, in 1899, she was awarded her own pension of $20 per month.

In the early 1900s, Harriet worked with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Auburn, New York, to open the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged. Three years after it opened, Harriet became a resident there herself. She died there in 1913 of pneumonia at about 90 years old.

Resources

On the Web: • bit.ly/MPTubman

At the library:

• “Harriet Tubman: Union Spy” by Christina Leaf

• “Go Free or Die: A Story About Harriet Tubman” by Jeri Ferris