The Harriet Tubman Residence, Harriet Tubman Home for the Elderly and the AME Zion Church are National Historic Landmarks. In 1858 New York Senator William Seaward made Harriet Tubman a proposition. He would sell her his property in Auburn, NY for a reasonable price and flexible terms. Auburn had a strong abolitionist group and Seaward […]
Its most famous conductor was. The (UR) was not underground nor was it a railroad. It was called “underground” because of its secretive nature and “railroad” because it was an emerging form of transportation. The UR was an informal network and had many routes. Most routes went to northern states and after 1850, to Canada. […]
Harriet Tubman is the most famous conductor. Over a decade she took 19 trips back to the south to guide friends and family to freedom. Every trip was a dangerous trek but it meant freedom for those she cared. Each journey was different and along the years she built up a network of stations owned […]
Date and place of birth: c.1820; Dorchester County, Maryland. Date and place of death: March 10, 1913; Auburn, New York. Background: Harriet Tubman was born a slave, her parents named her Araminta “Minty” Ross. She changed her name in 1849 when she escaped. She adopted the name Harriet after her mother and the last name […]
The Underground Railroad (UR) reached its height between 1850 and 1860. The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 made it more dangerous for those who helped slaves escape or offered them shelter. The consequence could be jail or a hefty fine. Here is a list of a few of the most prominent supporters […]
When was Harriet Tubman born? Harriet Tubman was born into slavery therefore no records of her birth were kept and the exact date of her birth is unknown. She believed she was born in 1825. She testified to this date in a pension application in 1890 when she claimed she was 67 and in 1892 […]
Tubman was weak and frail in her however she became a strong woman, at five foot tall, she was even stronger than some men. Hard labor at a young age made her mind resilient and her body strong. She was hired by a man named John Steward. His father and some of her siblings were […]
Planning to escape and a new name In 1849 Tubman’s owner, Edward Brodess, needed to sell slaves in order to cover his debts. Minty heard rumors that she and her brothers were going to be sold. According to Sarah Hopkins Bradford’s biography of Harriet Tubman, Minty began praying that his owner change his mind “I […]
Following Abraham Lincoln’s election, South Carolina passed an Ordinance of Secession in December 1860. The President struggled to keep the country together as other states declared sovereignty as the Confederate States of America. On April 13, 1861 Lincoln responded to the Fort Sumter rebellion, north and south were at war. Lincoln entered the war without […]
