Meta: Learn more about the life of Harriet Tubman, including some of the key events in her life and the legacy of the famous abolitionist and social activist.
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Harriet Tubman
Meta: Learn more about the life of Harriet Tubman, including some of the key events in her life and the legacy of the famous abolitionist and social activist.
Modern America, and the Western world at large, are based on a few fundamental principles. Liberty, equality, and democracy. Throughout history, a few people have fought for these values, with few having as significant an impact as Harriet Tubman.
Find out more about who Harriet Tubman was, some of the major events that took place in Harriet Tubman’s life, and what her legacy is in America today.
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Who was Harriet Tubman?
Harriet Tubman, at birth, wasn’t destined for great things. She was born into slavery and escaped when she was older, using her experiences and drive to save around 70 slaves, including some of her family and friends. Tubman did all this despite suffering from seizures throughout her life after being attacked as a slave. After her time in slavery, Tubman played a fundamental role in ending slavery and inspired abolitionists worldwide.
Major events in Harriet Tubman’s life
There are plenty of major events that define Harriet Tubman’s life. They shaped who she became as a person and impacted American history significantly. Just some of the events that shaped Harriet Tubman as a person include:
Anti-slavery sentiment
Having been born a slave, Harriet Tubman developed her anti-slavery sentiment incredibly early in her life. At age five, she was first hired to work and was punished at 12 as she refused to help an overseer punish another slave. This caused the injury that led to Tubman’s seizures throughout her life, as the slave master threw an iron weight towards her, which struck her in the head. This was an early sign of her hatred of the system and was an early act of defiance in her fight against slavery.
Escape and freeing slaves
At the age of 24, Tubman married a man named John Tubman, who was a free black man. This further inspired her love of freedom and underlined some of her earliest life goals. Just five years later, there were rumors that Harriet was due to be sold. The rumors of sale led to Harriet Tubman’s escape, making her way to Baltimore in December 1850. The escape was the first act of defiance, as she took her sister and two children to freedom with her.
Her journey to freedom was the first of 13 trips to free slaves. She freed around 70 slaves, using the Underground Railroad to Canada to guide people to their freedom. Tubman emphasized discipline, as anyone that turned back could throw the entire mission into jeopardy. When necessary, she even threatened her fellow slaves with a gun, stating, “you will be free or die”. There are rumors that she never lost a fugitive.
Inspiring other abolitionists
The abolition of slavery occurred in the British Empire in 1807, but the practice was still common in the United States. This meant that there was still the need to inspire abolitionist sentiment throughout the country. Although slave owners offered bounties of up to $40,000 for Tubman, abolitionists such as John Brown consulted her on plans for their anti-slavery raids. Her fight for freedom, therefore, ultimately led to the freedom of thousands of other slaves.
Fighting in the Civil War
Although some debate the goal of the Civil War, there is little doubt that slavery was one of the key factors in the war. The motivations behind the war meant that Harriet Tubman was sure to play a key role. Between 1862 and 1865, she served as a scout for the Union forces, informing leaders of troop movements and offering information about Confederate ammunition stashes and warehouses. As with any war, this information was pivotal to planning precise attacks.
The war was difficult for Tubman, as she was paid incredibly little. Throughout the fighting, she supported herself financially by selling homemade baked goods. In addition to her role as a scout, Harriet Tubman worked as a nurse and laundress for the forces, ensuring that soldiers had the medical support they needed when suffering from wounds.
Supporting women’s suffrage
It is often said that democracy is never truly complete until everyone has the right to have their say. After fighting for the rights of slaves, Harriet Tubman turned her attention to other essential inequalities in society. These included supporting the fight for women’s suffrage. Tubman stated, “I suffered enough to believe it,” when asked if she supported women’s suffrage and worked closely alongside famous suffragettes Susan B. Anthony and Emily Howland.
The extent of Tubman’s kindness can be seen in the poverty she suffered late in her life. Her proclivity for donating to important causes meant she needed to sell a cow to buy a train ticket to her celebrations. Tubman passed away in 1913, so she never had the right to vote in the United States. However, her contribution played a fundamental part in giving women the right to vote just six years later.
Harriet Tubman’s legacy
These individual events showed that Harriet Tubman had a major impact on her time, but she also significantly affected our society today. Here are just a few of the impacts that Harriet Tubman has that we feel today, in addition to some of the actions that she took to provide us with society as we know it:
Modern democracy
A few key features of modern democracy that Harriet Tubman played a fundamental role in encouraging. The right to vote is one of the most important of these, and her work as a suffragette meant that women gained the right to vote in the United States of America. Having this right transformed the role of women in Western society and created a further path to equality in years to come.
Liberty is another fundamental part of modern democracy. We can’t have liberty when a significant part of the population is owned and enslaved by another. Tubman’s work against slavery prevented thousands of people from being owned by the wealthier people in society. It meant that millions of people in the future could forge their paths without the risk of losing their rights because of who they were.
Ending slavery
The abolitionist movement swept through the world in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, as a fundamental part of the British Empire’s slave trade, the United States of America weaning itself off slavery was a process that took far longer than in other states across the world. As diplomacy and politics could not end the cruel treatment of black people in America, Tubman’s efforts to disrupt the system made a big difference to progress in the USA.
Aside from Tubman’s work, dozens of people were inspired by her actions and encouraged to take steps forward. This is especially the case throughout the civil war, as Tubman found herself in a significant position, even leading attacks on enemy positions. Unfortunately, there are still some instances of slavery in the United States of America, as convicted prisoners can still be forced to do unpaid labor.
Civil rights
After the end of slavery, civil rights were the next step in ensuring racial equality throughout the nation. Tubman provided a figure for the next generation of civil rights activists, such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. Not only did her actions inspire the next generation of activists, but they demonstrated that women could fight for the rights of their race just as much as men could. Activists such as Rosa Parks followed in the footsteps initially trod by Harriet Tubman.
A new face of patriotism
Harriet Tubman demonstrated a brand new face of patriotism throughout the civil war. In addition to her work as a nurse and laundress, Tubman played a significant role in leading military attacks. The Combahee River Raid so the liberation of 750 slaves, with Tubman acting as a key adviser for the assault. Although she described the battle as a hellish event, she was praised as having a high level of “patriotism, sagacity, energy, and ability”. In a war primarily fought over the rights of slaves, a former slave being the face of patriotism was an inspiration.
Inspiring the disabled
Millions of people worldwide see Harriet Tubman as an inspiration not for her work freeing slaves but for her ability to overcome a severe disability. The injury she suffered as a child that gave her seizures throughout her life was one she dealt with and thrived despite. For those with a disability, this proves that even people struggling with the most difficult circumstances can change the world for the better.
