Harriet Tubman

What children learn in Level 57

• Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland around 1822. Her name was Araminta Ross. As a teen she suffered a serious head injury when a man threw a heavy weight, and it troubled her for life.
• In 1849, she escaped alone, walking by night to Philadelphia. She later said she felt like she was in heaven. But her family was still enslaved.
• The Underground Railroad wasn't a railroad. It was a secret network of people and safe houses. Guides were called conductors, and Tubman became the most famous one. People called her Moses.
• She went back about 13 times and guided about 70 people, including her family. Stories often say 300, but historians have found that about 70 is right. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, people who escaped could be caught even in the North, so she guided them on to Canada.
• In the Civil War, she was a nurse, scout, and spy. In 1863, she helped guide a raid on the Combahee River that freed more than 700 people. Later she worked for votes for women. Try it with a grown-up: read a picture book about her life.