Harriet Tubman was an american slave. She was born into enslavement and worked without payment. Though, growing up on the plantation provided her with many survival skills that proved useful later in her life. She escaped in 1849. In 1834 she witnessed a young man attempting to escape and was then struck in the head with a heavy lead weight that was meant to hit the escaping man. She sustained a serious head injury and then suffered from seizures, hallucinations, and sleep attacks for the rest of her life. In 1844 she married John Tubman, a free black man, but the marriage was not recognized by law and was therefore still enslaved. She tried to convince him to run north with her but he refused. After her owner 's death she fled north to Philadelphia.