Harriet Tubman, originally named Ariminta Ross, was born into slavery in Maryland in the early 19th century. She escaped to freedom in 1849 and then made over 13 missions to rescue over 300 slaves using the Underground Railroad. Tubman served as a conductor on the Underground Railroad for 10 years, guiding slaves to freedom in the North. She came to be known by the nickname "Moses" for her work leading slaves to freedom. Tubman also worked as a nurse, cook, and spy for the Union Army during the Civil War.
2. Harriet Tubman is famous because she led over 300 slaves to freedom on the
underground railroad. She made 19 trips back and forth. Since Harriet was a
conductor for 10 years she never used the same pathway. A conductor was a
person who help slaves escape.
3. Did you know Harriet Tubman's name isn't really Harriet ? Her name was really Ariminta
but she changed her name to her moms name “Harriet” at the age of 13. Harriet or
Ariminta Ross was born on plantation in Dorchester county, Maryland. Harriet Tubman
was born to enslaved parents . In 1844 at the age of 25, she married John Tubman, a
free African American who did not share her dream. Since she was a slave, she knew
there could be a chance that she could be sold and her marriage would be split apart.
She really wanted to go to the north because she was worried that she would get sold
and her marriage would split apart but her husband say that they were fine as they
were. . When she was only six years old, she was loaned out to another family where
she helped take care of a baby. She was sometimes beaten and all she got to eat was
table scraps. At the age of thirteen Harriet received a horrible head injury. It happened
when she was visiting the town. A slave owner tried to throw an iron weight at one of
his slaves, but hit Harriet instead. This made Harriet Tubman have a lot of problem like
passing out and having seizers. Slaves would try to escape to the north using the
Underground Railroad. This wasn't a real railroad. It was a number of safe homes (called
stations) that hid slaves as they traveled north. The people that helped the slaves were
called conductors. Slaves would move from station to station at night, hiding in the
woods or sneaking onto trains until they finally reached the north and freedom. Later
than Harriet Tubman married her second husband Nelson Davis.
4. Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913. Before her death she told friends
and family surrounding her death bed “I go to prepare a place for you”. Tubman was
buried with military honors in the Auburn’s Fort Hill Cemetery. Her heirs were her
niece, May Gaston; grandniece, Katy Steward and matron of the Harriet Tubman Home,
Frances Smith. These three women inherited Tubman’s home and the seven acres
surrounding it. Tubman must have been between 88 and 98 years old when she died.
She claimed in her pension application that she was born in 1825, her death certificate
said she was born in 1815 and to add to the confusion, her gravestone indicated that
she was born in 1820. So she could have been 88, 93 or 98 years old, or somewhere in
between, when she died. Before she ides she opened a home for old black Americans
and that is where she died.
5.
6. 1. Harriet Tubman was born Ariminta Ross. She would later adopt the name "Harriet" after her mother: Harriet Ross. The surname Tubman comes from
her first husband, John Tubman, who she married in 1844.
2. Harriet was born a slave and raised on Maryland's Eastern Shore where the lines between slavery and freedom were often blurred. It was not unusual
for families in this area to include both free and enslaved members. Harriet's own husband, John Tubman was a free black man. Her status, however,
remained unchanged until she fled to Pennsylvania – a free state – in 1849. Her husband did not make the journey and ultimately re-married after
Harriet's departure.
3. Harriet would return to Maryland many times over the next decade to rescue both family and non-famly members from the bondages of slavery.
4. Harriet earned the nickname "Moses" after the prophet Moses in the Bible who led his people to freedom. In all of her journeys she "never lost a single
passenger."
5. Tubman's work was a constant threat to her own freedom and safety. Slave holders placed a bounty for her capture and the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
was an ever-present danger, imposing severe punishments on any person who assisted the escape of a slave.
6. Harriet wore many hats: She was an active proponent of women's suffrage and worked alongside women such as side Susan B. Anthony. During the
civil war, Harriet also worked for the Union Army as a cook, a nurse and even a spy.
7. Harriet was acquainted with leading abolitionists of the day, including John Brown who conferred with "General Tubman" about his plans to raid
Harpers Ferry.
8. Harriet had one daughter, Gertie, whom she and her second husband (Nelson Davis) adopted after the Civil war.
9. Harriet suffered life-long headaches, seizures and had vivid dreams as a result of a traumatic head injury she suffered as a teenager while trying to
stand up for a fellow field hand. These same symptoms gave her powerful visions that she ascribed to God and helped guide her on many trips to the
North while leading others to freedom.
10. Just before Harriet's death in 1913 she told friends and family, "I go to prepare a place for you." She was buried with military honors in Fort Hill
Cemetery in New York.
7. Thank you very much for watching my
PowerPoint hope you liked it.