Civil Disobedience: Harriet Tubman And The Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman once said “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” (Tubman,Quote). Harriet Tubman is one of the most known conductor of the Underground Railroad who believed in the freedom of all slaves. She had big dreams that required her to have strength, patience, and passion; due to her having those characteristics her involvement in civil disobedience was a success. Civil disobedience is the procedure in which an opposer intentionally violates a law (Suber). The purpose of this is to bring a change in laws or any government policy (Brownlee). Tubman used civil disobedience to protest against slavery. Harriet

During Tubam’s ten year span of helping slaves escape she made about twenty trips back back to the South, and led almost over 300 slaves to freedom in the North (Harriet, Myblackhistory). During her trips her and some other conductors used secret codes to help slaves and avoid capture (Underground,Historical). Even slaves in the fields used some of the secret codes such as singing certain songs (Underground Historical). Harriet Tubman also used many different escape strategies such as finding a way to get a head start and traveling at certain times (Escape, Historical). She would encourage the ones she was helping to escape on Saturday, due to Sunday being a day for rest the owners would not find out they were gone until Monday (Escape,Histroical). Also she would like traveling during the fall and the spring as well as traveling at night to avoid being seen (Escape, Historical). It has been said that Tubman had a $40,000 “dead or alive” warrant out for her due to the fact she was breaking the law, but that is simply a myth and was made up by a woman in New York (Larson). The truth is the only warrant out was for her and her brothers that was $100 and that was only if they were caught outside of Maryland

Tubman had a hard childhood but she pulled through and helped herself and others escape the cruelty of slavery and become free. Harriet Tubman once said “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” (Tubman,Quote). Harriet Tubman lived up to her words. She made her dreams as well as other people’s dreams come true. To this day she is still known as one of the most famous Underground Railroad conductors of her times. She never gave up no matter how hard things got, she kept going. She is an inspiration to many people to never give up on something you truly believe in. As long as you keep striving and are civil about it, there will be