Harriet Tubman Speech

Harriet Tubman was an influential figure in both, the Underground Railroad and multiple anti-slavery movements.

Clearly defined, the Underground Railroad was the series of pathways and stations used by runaways in their escape to freedom (Schraff 24). The Railroad provided houses, buildings, and ways of travel for many slaves desiring for deliverance (Schraff 24). Harriet Tubman’s birth name was Araminta Ross, which she later changed to Harriet (americancivilwar. com). Around the year 1820, she was born in Bucktown in Dorchester County, Maryland, which was about 100 miles south of the free states (Schraff 14).

Tubman’s early life, journey to freedom, service in the Civil War, and her consistent rescues for her friends and family greatly impacted the Underground Railroad and the Civil War itself. Araminta Ross was born as the sixth of eleven children in the Ross family (Schraff 14). Her parents, Harriet and Benjamin Ross, lived on separate plantations for many years (americancivilwar. com). Their slave owners, the Brodas, had nine children that the Ross family was obligated to take care of (Schraff 15).

Until Araminta was about five years old, she experienced all of the childhood that she would ever know (Schraff 15).This “childhood” included sleeping on a straw mat and playing in the forest with different animals (Schraff 15). Once Araminta Ross was about five or six years old, she became a household servant (pbs. org). At age six, she was sold to James Cook where she was chosen to be the slave that wound the yarn (Schraff 16). This job, along with the living conditions at the Cooks’ house, made young Araminta sneeze and become ill (Schraff 16).

She was forced to sleep on the kitchen floor and eat table scraps like a family dog (Schraff 16).Later that same year, Araminta was sent back to the Brodas’ plantation very unhealthy (Schraff 17). Quickly, her mother, Harriet, nursed her back to health (Schraff 17). At about seven years old, Araminta was rented out again as a housekeeper (Schraff 17). She was also a nursemaid for her master’s small baby which required her to stay awake all night to keep the baby quiet (americancivilwar.

com). No matter how hard she tried, Araminta was whipped for failing to keep her master’s baby quiet or not cleaning the house well enough (Schraff 17).When she was eleven years old, she began hearing of an “underground railroad;” however, she continued working in the fields until she was about thirteen years old (Schraff 24). In 1835, when Araminta was estimated to be about fifteen years of age, she used her girth to obstruct a doorway, safeguarding a fellow slave from the wrath of her master (pbs.

org). To get past her, the overseer propelled a two-pound weight at Harriet, hitting her head (pbs. org). This caused Araminta to be in a coma for days (Schraff 18). This incident caused her to slip into “sleeping spells” for the rest of her life (pbs. org).

Although physical labor seemed to improve her condition, life was never quite the same for Araminta Ross (Schraff 18). Looking back on her childhood, Harriet Tubman once said, “I grew up like a neglected weed, ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. ” (Schraff 12). In 1844, Araminta Ross married John Tubman, who was a free African-American at this time (americancivilwar.

com). She took his last name and changed her first name to Harriet, which was her mother’s name. In fear of being sold, Harriet and some of her brothers began their journey to freedom in 1849 (americancivilwar. com).They followed the North Star on their adventure but Harriet’s brothers soon turned back because they were afraid of being caught by their master (americancivilwar.

com). Harriet was then forced to travel alone as she hid by day and traveled by night (Schraff 32). Tubman’s first stop on the “underground railroad” was at a white female friend’s house who gave her a meal (Schraff 32). When it was time for Harriet to continue on her journey, the friend gave her two pieces of paper with directions to the next safehouse (Schraff 33). Continuing on her journey, Harriet Tubman stopped at another white cabin (Schraff 33).Here, she was given a different kind of welcome.

The family who owned the cabin quickly gave Harriet a broom as disguise and told her to sweep the front porch until it was time for her to travel to the next station (Schraff 33). That night, wagons of vegetables came. Tubman was instructed to hide under pieces of cloth among the vegetables as the wagons carried her to her next destination (Schraff 33). Although Harriet was able to ride for parts of her passage, she was forced to travel on foot for a majority of the journey (Schraff 33).When she officially crossed into Pennsylvania, which was one of the free states, Tubman wrote, “I had crossed the line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free.

” (Schraff 35). Later on in her life Tubman was quoted to say that she felt like she was in heaven at that moment when her personal journey to freedom had come to a close (Schraff 35). Once Harriet was in Philadelphia, she immediately sought out work and began working as a household servant (americancivilwar. com).

While working, Tubman saved money to help others escape slavery (americancivilwar. com).In 1850, Harriet Tubman began her work on the Underground Railroad by rescuing one of her sisters and her sister’s family (Schraff 116). The Fugitive Slave Act was enacted that same year (Schraff 116). This act demanded that the free states to which slaves were escaping were required to send discovered escapees back to their masters (Fugitive Slave Act). Also, those involved in helping slaves escape were subject to criminal arrests (Fugitive Slave Act).

Despite the instructions of this act, the northern states rarely ever obeyed this law eventually abolished slavery (Fugitive Slave Act).In 1851, Tubman helped one of her brothers, John Ross, along with two other men escape (Schraff 116). Harriet’s third trip was centered around rescuing her husband; however, when she got back to Maryland, she found that he had taken another wife (pbs. org).

Tubman did not waste this trip though because she found other slaves in need of assistance on their journeys freedom (pbs. org). Harriet also helped three of her other brothers escape to Canada (Schraff 116). In 1857, she succeeded in rescuing her 70-year-old parents to Canada also (Schraff 116).That same year, she purchased a house in Auburn, New York (Schraff 116).

Sarah Bradford published an autobiography of Harriet Tubman in 1869 entitled, Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People (Schraff 117). Shortly after, Tubman married Nelson Davis (Schraff 117). According to Anne E. Schraff, Harriet served as delegate to the first convention of National Federation of Afro American Women in 1896 (117). One of Tubman’s many recognitions was in 1908 when the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People was opened (Schraff 117).

Harriet Tubman rescued over 300 slaves to freedom without losing even one (pbs. org). Later in her life, Tubman reflected on her many rescue expeditions and unveiled many of her secrets. For example, Harriet and her “team” always left on a Saturday because runaways were not posted in the newspaper until Monday mornings (pbs.

org). This made it slightly more difficult for the masters to find the runaway slaves (pbs. org). Also, Harriet always used the master’s horse and buggy for the first part of the journey to make it seem as though the slaves were going on errands for their master (pbs.org).To avoid being caught, Tubman always carried medicine to give babies when they would begin to cry along the way (pbs.

org). When the fugitives became tired and started to give up, Harriet threatened them with a gun saying, “You’ll be free or die a slave! ” (americancivilwar. com). Harriet made this threat not because she was angry with them, but because she did not want them get caught (pbs.

org). Although the Underground Railroad was established to help slaves become free, there were key strategies in keeping them hidden along the journey.Beginning in 1861, Harriet Tubman had many roles in the Civil War such as working as a nurse, a cook, and a spy or “scout” for the Union (Schraff 116). Since she was highly experienced on the Underground Railroad, Tubman was in charge of recruiting “x-slaves” to spy on the rebel camps (americancivilwar.

com). Working as a nurse for the wounded, Harriet was forced to witness a battle at Fort Wagner in 1863 (Schraff 116). Later that year, the Emancipation Proclamation was given and all slaves were freed (Schraff 116).Tubman also volunteered to go with Colonel James Montgomery and 150 African-Americans on a gunboat raid in South Carolina (americancivilwar.

com). In 1865, Tubman began her work at the U. S. Sanitary Commission at Fort Monroe, Virginia (Schraff 116).

Here, she set out to cure dysentery. Through natural herbs and roots that she found in Maryland, Harriet Tubman eventually discovered that water lilies and geranium brewed into a bitter drink cured the disease. Because of Tubman’s lengthy experience in the Underground Railroad, she was well trained to work in the Civil War.The term “Underground Railroad” was first used in 1831 when a slave named Tice Davids escaped from his master (Schraff 25). His master claimed to have been chasing Davids and suddenly saw him “vanish” (Schraff 25).

The master later said it was like he had, “gone off on an underground railroad,” which is when the term was first officially used (Schraff 25). Over a period of ten years, Tubman successfully made nineteen trips to the South by 1860 and rescued over 300 slaves (pbs. org). In a conversation with Frederick Douglass, she said that she, “never lost a single passenger,” (pbs.

org).When Harriet was rescuing slaves, the reward for her capture grew larger and larger. By 1856, the reward for her arrest reached to $40,000 (pbs. org).

Once, Tubman was sitting on a bench near one of her wanted posters which claimed that Harriet was illiterate (pbs. org). A group of men walked by and compared her to the picture on the poster (pbs. org). Immediately taking out a book, she pretended to be engaged in reading so the men did not suspect her (pbs. org).

John Brown, who was a friend of Harriet’s during the Civil War, said that she was, “one of the bravest persons on this continent,” (Schraff 26).An admirable quality about Tubman is that she continually returned to the South to help free slaves and get them to the northern states or to Canada (americancivilwar. com). Harriet risked her life and put herself in grave danger for those that she knew deserved freedom (americancivilwar.

com). There were wanted posters, rewards, and rumors spread across the South about her, but she never gave up. Harriet once said, “On my Underground Railroad I [never] run my train off [the] track [and] I never [lost] a passenger. ” (americancivilwar. com).

None of Tubman’s rescue missions ever failed, they never got caught, and she never gave up.Harriet Tubman’s early life, passage to freedom, assistance in the Civil War, and constant rescues for her friends and family greatly impacted the Underground Railroad and many anti-slavery movements. Through her entire life, Harriet Tubman never stopped working to give freedom to the African-American slaves of the South. She died on March 10, 1913, in Auburn, New York, where she had settled after the war. Harriet’s tombstone was inscribed with these words, “Servant of God, Well Done” (americancivilwar.

com). Tubman is now known as the “Moses of Her People,” because she led so many slaves to freedom.