Harriet Tubman, American Abolitionist

Harriet Tubman (1822 - March 10, 1913) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born a slave in Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. She made some 13 missions to rescue about 70 people, family and friends, using the Underground Railroad. Tubman met the abolitionist John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for the raid on Harpers Ferry. When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 slaves. After the war, she retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women's suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African-Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. After she died in 1913, at the age of 90 or 91, she became an icon of courage and freedom. Photographed by Benjamin F. Powelson, circa 1868-69

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Abolition Abolitionist Activist Anti-slavery Antislavery Campaigner Chattel Crusader Harriet Heroine Icon Iconic Negro Negroes Secession Suffragist Trikosko Tubman

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