The definition of the human spirit is "sometimes used to refer to the impersonal, universal or higher component of human nature," which Harriet Tubman strived to accomplish. Tubman faced many challenges as she grew up, making her heroic actions even more incredible. Expressing the idea of "the human spirit," Harriet Tubman endured life as a slave, then helped free other slaves, and even contributed in the Civil War.
Growing up, Harriet Tubman felt the excruciating life of slavery. Tubman basically began her life living as a slave, due to entering the world with already enslaved parents. Harriet Tubman’s real name is Harriet Ross, she was born into slavery in around 1820. When Tubman was five years old, her master rented her to a local couple.
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Tubman started off freeing her family before expanding onto strangers. In 1850, she began her reputation as a liberator. She saved her niece, Kessiah, and her two children from sale in Baltimore. A few short months later, Tubman returned to free her youngest brother (Gates 823). By doing so, this was the start of great adventures and acts of bravery brought forth by Harriet Tubman. There is a wide range of numbers for how many slaves Tubman had freed, but it's a substantial amount whichever way it is perceived. According to Michael Jay Nusbaum, "Mrs. Tubman had actually saved over 700 slaved in one single raid into Confederate territory" (1). However according to Gates, "Recent scholarships reveals that she directly rescued seventy to eighty slaves, some of whom were family members, and indirectly freed about fifty others through instructions she provided" (823). Two different statistics imply that whether she saved 70 or 700, Tubman made a great impact. She did not only free older kids and adults, she also had ways to help babies and she had her own ways of doing so. Tubman would carry paregoric while going on liberations to sedate the babies, so the crying would not give them away (Gates 823). Tubman's ability to rescue without being caught was not luck, it was skill, care, and determination. Harriet Tubman did not only send her time freeing slaves. She also played a role in the Civil War, which led to even greater