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How Did Harriet Tubman's Life Lead Her To The Underground Railroad?

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“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). Around the year 1820, Harriet Tubman was born into slavery. She had always known there was more to her life than being someone being another person’s property. She also wanted to help change the world for the better. As well as her people. The Underground Railroad was her calling, it was what gave her purpose to her life. To help free slaves and show them there was a better life than what they were living. In my research paper I will be explaining and going into detail about how Harriet Tubman’s life lead her to the Underground Railroad and why she continued going …show more content…

The Underground Railroad is a path that goes through foreteen Northern states and “the promised land” of Canada that has a slave free government protecting all slaves who went into Canada. Slaves were free from any slave bounty hunters looking for them to be sold. The Underground Railroad was not a train that ran Underground. It was given this name because of how secretive it was and the railway terms used when talking about it. For example, the homes of people who hid slaves were called stations and the actual people who aided the runaway slaves were called conductors. Tubman is known as one of the most famous conductors.Harriet made her first trip back to the South to free her family, this was the start of the many other trips she would make to help other slaves become free. The trip she took herself was over 90 miles long and nobody's quite sure how long it took. She freed over 300 slaves. Some she guided, others followed her instructions. “Mah people mus’ go free,”(Tubman). Harriet Tubman said many things that went along the lines of her trying to free her people and make a difference.Another quote from her that showed how much she loved her person,“I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.”(Tubman). Tubman’s route that she took on most of her 19 trips was the one out of Maryland. She would first take her group up the Eastern Shores of Maryland into Delaware on foot. From there they would travel to Philadelphia or places in Southeastern Pennsylvania. After this some traveled farther North, some settled in New York or Massachusetts and others continued to Canada. Another of Tubman’s missions that is well known for freeing slaves is her raids on the plantation homes that were located along the Combahee River in South Carolina.Colonel James

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She was a conductor, meaning she would help lead people from the South to the North. She was very influential to the railroad because Tubman had the courage to risk her life to save others. Harriet was not only black, but was also a woman making it even harder

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The Underground Railroad was a path that slaves took when they escaped their plantations. The Underground Railroad was formed in the late 1700s. They would use this secret route that took them north so they would not get caught by slave catchers. If they were caught by slave catchers, they would return them to their masters in the south.

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Many people was inspired by Tubman’s daring journey. She reached for what she was dreaming for so long but it wasn’t enough for her. She wants her family with her and that’s when she started freeing slaves from South to North. Many people was inspired by her actions.

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She grew up doing physical labor for her master. When she was old enough, she married a black man. Eventually, her master died, which led her to make the biggest decision of her life. She decided that “there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other”(Harriet Tubman). And so, Tubman decided to escape.

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In this essay I will examine the Underground Railroad over a period of turbulence that spanned ten years and focus on some of the key figures involved and the significance of their roles. Harriet Tubman and Harriet Breecher Stowe were both central to the movement during this time and although they focused their attention on vastly different areas of the Railroad both women had a profound and positive impact. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a white woman from Cincinnati Ohio. When the Fugitive Slave Act 1850 came into effect it ironically galvanised a new era in the Underground Railroad where Stowe, like many other whites was spurred into action. Not only did Stowe personally aid escaping slaves by welcoming them into her home temporarily

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Harriet Tubman started out on a farm until she escaped and became free. During her time as a free slave she rescued slaves from farms, rescued her family, served in the Civil War, and most importantly started the Underground Railroad. Harriet was involved in the Civil War because of the Underground Railroad. Harriet was born into slavery around 1820. Her real birthday is unknown, but that is what historians suspect.

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The impact she had on the lives of the enslaved people was spectacular. A picture of the routes the Underground Railroad took shows that the length of the trip they took from Dorchester to Philadelphia was around 125 miles long (Document A). This highlights the amount of dedication, time, and effort she put into taking people on these trails. Tubman could have spent her time when she was a free woman doing things she never got to do when she was enslaved, but chose not to. She instead spent her time helping others get to freedom on the

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She lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, a place that had both free and enslaved blacks. After her master’s death in 1849, Harriet believed that her life as a slave needed to end. She escaped one-hundred miles to the Pennsylvania border by foot. There she decided to escort other slaves to freedom and devote the rest of her life to helping others. Harriet Tubman lived

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Even though she was a freed slave who used this network of people to gain freedom, she continued to go back and free others in the same situation as she was. As time went on and the Underground Railroad became more successful, the Northern states were no longer a safe spot for the former slaves. The Bloodhound or Fugitive Slave Act meant that any escaped slave found in the North must be returned to the South. Canada was now the only way for them to be truly free. Harriet Tubman would travel about 160 miles from Bucktownto Philadelphia, then another 375 miles up to Canada to help give the former slaves the freedom they deserved.

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Although she didn't grow up with lots of knowledge, she took what she knew and applied it to make her dreams come true. “She never learned to read or write, but was smart, calculating, and bold—and was never caught during her 13 dangerous missions to lead her friends and family out of slavery” (Harriet Tubman Underground). She didn't need the classroom knowledge all the rich kids had. She needed bravery, and that is exactly what she had. Losing her family at such a young age pushed her to keep going, no matter the struggle.

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The Fugitive Slave Act granted plantation overseers permission to travel north to recapture and enslave freed or escaped individuals. Because of the dangers this law brought with it, Tubman began to take those she had rescued as far north as Canada for their safety. Over time, plantation owners gathered knowledge of Tubman. She was so successful with her charges that the plantation overseers placed a forty thousand dollar reward over her head, which, in modern finances, is equivalent to over one million dollars. By the time her trips to the plantations were over, Tubman had led a minimum of seventy people to freedom in the north and become the most well known “conductor” of the Underground

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“Mah people mus’ go free,” her constant refrain, suggests a determination uncommon among even the most militant slaves. Harriet Tubman was a very important person in the history of slavery. She played a major role in helping free slaves. Harriet Tubman has made a difference in many slaves’ lives. She was a helpful and caring person.

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