A PowerPoint made by my little sister who's in the fifth grade as of May 24th, 2013. Extremely helpful for a school project, excruciatingly detailed

2. Born to slaves Harriet Ross, ( who was known as Old Rit), and
her husband Ben Ross, Harriet Tubman entered the world around
1820 on a farm in Maryland. At the time she was known as Araminta
“Minty” Ross. Old Rit cared for Minty and her 8 siblings. Minty loved
her life, even though she was a slave. She played with other slave
children. She listened to her father’s stories of the forest and her
mother’s stories from the bible. One story was about Moses who led
the Hebrews to safety. When Minty turned six, her happy life halted
to a stop. Mr. Brodas, Minty’s owner hired her out. Back during the
slave era, to “hire” a slave out meant that slaves were given by their
master to different people far away from their families. These people
usually couldn’t afford to buy their own slaves and were sort of
“borrowing” the slaves. This meant Minty had to leave her family and
her home. She cried on the day the wagon came to take her. She
didn’t want to leave like some of her siblings had. But of course, it
didn’t matter what slaves had to say. They were treated like animals.
Sadly, Minty had to leave and work for a lady named Mrs. Cook.
Harriet’s Childhood

3. Mrs. Cook , Minty’s new owner, was a mean weaver. Minty’s job
was to wind yarn on a loom. Sometimes Minty dropped the yarn and
couldn’t do the job. Like most slave owners, Mrs. Cook punished Minty
by harshly whipping her. Mr. Cook also used Minty. He made her check
his muskrat traps near the cold river. Once, Minty was sick. She had the
measles. Thinking she was faking, Mr. Cook made her go anyways. When
Minty returned, he realized she really was ill. Mr. Cook sent her back to
Old Rit who took care of her. After 6 weeks, Minty went back to the
Cooks. Soon, she was sent back to Mr. Brodas because the Cooks said
she was lazy and useless. Next, she was hired out to a lady named Miss
Susan. Minty, still a little girl, had to watch Miss Susan's baby. If the baby
cried, she got whipped. One day, she tried to grab a lump of sugar just
to see what it tastes like. Miss Susan caught her and furious, she grabbed
her whip. Before she could crack the whip on Minty, she ran as fast as a
lightning bolt out the door. For 5 days, she stayed in a pigpen, fearing to
go back to Miss Susan. Gradually, due to hunger and filth, Minty headed
back to Miss Susan. Instead of a new slave owner, returned to Mr. Brodas.
Being a Slave

4. The Head Injury
Minty worked in the Mr. Brodas’ fields which made her
strong. Most of the time, she heard a lot of slaves talking about
escaping and wanting to be free. One day, she saw a slave try to
run away. He was halfway across the field when the overseer,(the
person who watches the slaves), ran after him with Minty following
close behind. They ran until the slave was cornered into a store. The
overseer asked Minty to help tie up the slave. Instead, Minty quickly
let the slave out the door. The overseer tried to pick up a huge
heavy weight and threw it out the door at the slave. He missed
and the weight hit Minty. She collapsed to the floor, bleeding, and
her world went black. Minty was brought back to Old Rit, who
nursed her carefully. No one thought Minty would live, but
eventually she recovered, leaving a scar on her forehead. People
now treated her with respect. After all, she was only 14 and had
rebelled against an overseer. Minty took her mother’s name,
becoming “Harriet”. She wasn’t a child anymore. However, Harriet
never recovered fully. She suffered from headaches and sleeping
spells. Sleeping spells meant she would be wide awake one
moment and fast asleep the next. It is said that she sometime
received messages from God. These traumas stayed with her for
the rest for her life.

5. John Stewart and the North Star
Harriet heard rumors that Mr. Brodas was going to sell her and
her brothers. She feared being sent down south. Being sent south
meant harder work because of the cotton plantations. Cotton was
hard to harvest, especially in the south heat . Another problem was
that going south meant going farther away from the free north states.
Harriet desperately wanted to be free. She prayed for Mr. Brodas’
death. A few weeks later, he actually did get sick and passed away.
Harriet felt bad for him but at least she got a new slave owner, Dr.
Thompson. Dr. Thompson hired out Harriet and her father to a builder
named John Stewart, who was a nice man. Sometimes he even paid
Harriet money for her hard work with the men. She spent the next five
years cutting down trees, splitting logs, and plowing fields. Her father
taught her many things to help her escape. For example, he taught her
to move through the woods silently, to use moss for direction, and how
to find the North Star . The North Star guided slaves to freedom. Harriet
remembered Ben’s words because in time these things would help her.
She knew she was going to escape soon…

6. John Tubman and Escaping
When Harriet was around 23, she met John Tubman and fell in love
with him. John was born free unlike Harriet. Soon, they made plans to get
married. Before they got married, Harriet made a pretty, colorful quilt for her
wedding. She brought it with her to John’s house after they got married.
John loved Harriet and his life with her. Harriet asked John many times to
escape with her to the north. She wanted to be free like him. John refused
and even threatened to tell the master about her plans. Harriet realized
that she’d have to go without him. Sometimes, a white Quaker woman
talked with Harriet when she was working. Quakers were people who
strongly hated slavery and war. Soon, Harriet received news that she and
her family were going to be sold. Now it was nearly mandatory to escape.
She and her brothers created a plan. When nighttime came, they met at
the woods. Harriet’s brothers were too afraid and forced her to return with
them. The next night Harriet decided to leave quietly by herself. With John
asleep, she packed her quilt and a little food then took off. Harriet walked
silently through the woods like Ben taught her to. He also told her to go
through water so she wouldn’t leave a scent. Harriet reached the Quaker
lady’s house. To thank the woman for helping her, Harriet gave her
wedding quilt. Next, Harriet traveled along the river at night. She hid during
daylight. Then she traveled on the underground railroad – a series of
abolitionists’ houses that gave food and shelter to slaves as they escaped.

7. Leading Others to Safety
Now a free woman, Harriet was in a free state. But she
wasn’t sure what to do. Where to start? All her friends and family
were back home in Maryland. So Harriet just got a job cooking and
cleaning. At least this job was better than being a slave. Harriet
heard that her sister Mary and her family were going to be sold. She
knew had to go save them. She sent John, Mary’s husband who was
a free man, a plan. But they were already at the slave auction.
However, they weren’t sold yet. John told the auctioneer that Mary
and her children had already been bought and handed him a fake
letter from Mary's “master.” Quickly, John led his family to a Quaker
man’ house. That night, he had to row his family to shore up the
river. There John found a white woman who asked him who he was.
“ A friend with friends,” he replied. The Underground railroad had
many different codes so white people wouldn’t get suspicious. The
woman drove them to a brick house in Maryland. There was Harriet,
who arranged this whole plan. Then she led them north through the
forest quietly. Harriet had a pistol which made John and his family
feel safer. She knew the ways through the forest and helped her
sister’s family on the Underground Railroad. Soon, they were in
Philadelphia . But Harriet wasn’t done with bringing slaves to safety.

8. A new law was passed to make sure runaway slaves came back
to their masters no matter what state. Harriet planned to bring other
relatives to safety, but now she had to travel to Canada , across the
border where there would be no slavery. Harriet planned to bring her
husband, John, but sadly he already found another wife and refuses.
After her relatives, Harriet started to bring random slaves to freedom. She
worked in a hotel to make money, and each year had 2 visits down
south. Each visit Harriet would rescue more and more slaves to bring to
Canada. Sometimes, she taught slaves how to escape themselves.
Harriet now had lots of experience about where to go. She also used
some tricks. She dressed slaves their opposite gender. She also escaped
on Saturday. Sunday wasn’t a work day so slaves wouldn’t be missed
until Monday. Soon, rumors were spread about Harriet. Most of them
about her cleverness. There was also a huge reward on finding her and
capturing her. At one point, 40,000 dollars was the reward! Once, two
men thought that they saw Harriet next to them. It was her, but she knew
the posters said she couldn’t read. So, she outsmarted the men by
grabbing a book and pretending to read. Harriet finally went back to
save her parents and gave them a house and money. She gave many
speeches and knew it was too dangerous to continue being a
conductor. Sadly, she retired. But her help didn’t stop there.
Clever Plans as a Conductor

9. Nursing the Civil War
Harriet Tubman also helped in the Civil War. The Civil War was a
war between the north and the south for many reasons. One was
because of slavery. Just because she wasn’t a conductor on the
Underground Railroad anymore, didn’t mean that she still couldn’t help
end slavery. After all, she strongly was against it. Before the war, she
motivated the slaves to feel like they weren’t slaves anymore and to work
with the white soldiers. As a nurse for the Civil War, she healed many
wounded soldiers all day. Harriet even cured people with dysentery
which was a horrible stomach cramp that caused death. The war went
on for years. 2 years later, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation. But still the war didn’t end! But now Harriet was a spy. She
could talk to blacks who were still down south and easily get information.
Soon, Harriet had 9 scouts in her command and was in charge of a large
area from South Carolina to Florida. It was dangerous being a spy, but
Harriet was used to danger. She led her scouts to blow up the south’s
bridges so they couldn’t get supplies. They also kidnapped southern
soldiers. 2 years later, Harriet went back home because she was tired and
wanted to see her parents. The government owed Harriet 1,800 dollars
but she was never paid. Afterwards, she returned and worked at a
hospital to care for black patients. In April 1865, the Civil War ended. That
December, slavery was finally abolished.

10. Sarah Bradford and Nelson Davis
Harriet returned to her house because her parents needed her.
Not only her parents, but black former slaves also needed her help. There
was still discrimination of the blacks. They weren’t given the same rights as
the whites. For example, blacks were not allowed to live in the same
areas as whites, shop in stores owned by whites, or pray in the same
church that white people prayed in. Harriet took them all in under her
wing and took care of them. But she needed money to do that. She
received help from a white woman named Sarah Bradford. Sarah visited
Harriet and listened to her stories about the Underground Railroad , and
being a nurse and spy Civil War. In 1869, Sarah Bradford published a
biography about Harriet Tubman, entitled, Scenes in the Life of Harriet
Tubman. All the money earned from its sale would go to Harriet. That
same year, on March 18, 1869, Harriet married a handsome man named
Nelson Davis who was 22 years younger than her. John Tubman had died
before so Harriet couldn’t raise a family with him, but Nelson gave her
another chance. Sadly, Nelson was later diagnosed with tuberculosis.
Nelson was a bricklayer and gave his wife her much-needed money to
take care of people. Sarah Bradford published another biography of
Harriet to help her. It was entitled Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her
People. Money came from the new book, but it still wasn’t enough.

11. Unfortunately, Nelson Davis died. It was a few years later after
Harriet’s parents died. Poor Harriet was all alone, but she didn’t stop
working hard. She still took care of the blacks in her house, but wanted to
care for more people who needed help. For that, Harriet needed bigger
land for a bigger house. But she specifically wanted a hospital and a rest
home for blacks. More money was needed! Harriet now sold crops door to
door. Sometimes, people let her come in and listened to her tell stories of
the Civil War, President Lincoln’s assassination , and about slaves coming
to America on slave ships. Harriet also earned money by giving speeches,
once with Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women
were women’s rights workers that wanted to prove that men were equal
to women. They also helped enable women to vote. Harriet told
audiences that she never lost one passenger on the Underground Railroad
which was something that even men couldn’t do. She heard the land
across her house was going to be sold. Harriet purchased the land so the
blacks she cared for could lived there. After that, people began to visit
Harriet from everywhere to know about her life. She even received a
letter, medal, and a black silk shawl from Queen Victoria. Harriet turned
her house to a African church. She still lived in it, with the church paying
the bills. But Harriet didn’t like that the church said no one could enter
without 100 dollars. Instead, she said you entered only if you didn’t have
money.
Needing More Money

12. Late Life and Death
Harriet was about 92 years old now. She liked taking walks
through town, but soon her grandchildren had to push her through
town on a wheel chair. Still, people came to see Harriet to learn about
her exciting life as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, as a
nurse for the Civil War, and as a spy for the Union Army. They sometimes
read her the newspaper because Harriet still never learned to read or
write. On March 10 1913, she died due to pneumonia. The town of
Auburn, (her home town) New York decided to honor her. They put
flags at half mast, many spoke about her, and a bronze plaque was
placed in front of the Auburn Courtroom for her.
Harriet Tubman will always be remembered
because of her hard work, courage, and devotion to
free slaves.