Harriet Tubman and Her Journey Through Life In the late 1800’s and into the early 1900’s when slavery was still quite popular in America, Harriet Tubman, an ex-slave herself became a strong leader in the abolition movement. Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland, sometime around 1820. She then escaped when she was roughly in her mid twenties, and she later returned to help her family and other slaves find freedom (Biography.com). Then, during the civil war, she helped the union by doing an assortment of things, although she was most helpful with spying on the confederacy. After the war, Tubman left her door open to anyone who needed her help (www.harriet-tubman.org). Tubman has accomplished a lot throughout her life and it hasn’t all been …show more content…
Once she was able, Tubman’s owner hired her out as a nursemaid for a young child, so her job was to take care of the infant and make sure that the baby’s crying didn’t wake its mother while she slept or Tubman would be punished in one form or another. When she was older, another slave from Tubman’s plantation was caught doing something the owner disliked (although the specifics of what the slave did aren’t for sure). Tubman’s owner then asked Tubman to help him punish said slave and when she refused, her owner threw a two pound weight (who he was throwing it at is also debated by historians), and it struck her in the head, permanently affecting her for the rest of her life (americaslibrary.gov). All this progressively adding to Tubman’s want to become free no matter how she did …show more content…
However, once they left the plantation, Tubman’s brothers got nervous and turned back while she proceeded on on her own. She traveled at night to lessen the likelihood of her being seen by any slave catchers (harriet-tubman.org). By then end of her trip, Tubman had traveled a total of 90 miles to Philadelphia. Upon her arrival to the free states, she recalled that “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I was in Heaven.” (biography.com). She then took a few years to stay in freedom and save up money before she went back to help other slaves. When she did end up going back, she carried a gun with her in the case that any slaves felt as though they wanted to turn back. She would pull out her gun and threaten them that they would either die a slave or live to become a free man/woman. Although in the end, Tubman eventually made the trip to Maryland 19 times and freed roughly 300 slaves from freedom