Courage on the Railroad: The life of a heroine
I recently learned about a woman with an extraordinary story. She seems to be well-known in the US, but for some reason, her renown has not spread internationally in the same way as that of other American heroes.
Some heroes carry out their struggles in public and are motivated by the cheers of society. But this heroine carried out astonishing acts of bravery in the dead of night, deriving energy only from her conviction to the mission. Reading her story left me wondering about the mindset of a person that risked her life to escape the depths of hell, only to turn around and head back to save those still trapped in the fire. Is her bravery something to aspire to, or was she just uniquely wired?
Here’s a brief look at the life of Harriet Tubman.
(Note: Unless stated otherwise, all quotes are attributable to Harriet.)
In the early 1820s (her exact date of birth is unknown), Araminta “Minty” Ross was born a slave in Maryland, USA. Similar to farm animals today, laws at the time dictated that any child born to an enslaved woman was also a slave, and ownership fell to the mother’s owner. This made Minty, her mother and eight siblings the property of Mary Pattison Brodess, and her young son, Edward.
The life of a slave
By the age of five, Minty was split from her father and cared for her younger siblings in their cabin while her mother was forced to work in the master’s home, referred to as the “big house”. Brodess, recognizing young Minty’s nursing skills, soon rented her out as a nursemaid. Minty’s temporary masters were usually cruel. Her job was to rock the cradle as the baby slept, and if the baby woke up and cried, little Minty was whipped. Scars she would carry for the rest of her life.
Enslaved women who worked in the house were subject to the tyranny of brutal mistresses and sexual advances from the men. Thus, Minty preferred physical plantation work to indoor domestic chores.
At age twelve, while rented out again, Minty tried to intervene during an altercation between a young slave boy and an overseer. The enraged overseer hurled a two-pound weight at the defiant slave, but missed his target, hitting Minty in the head instead and fracturing her skull.
“I went to work again and there I worked with the blood and sweat rolling down my face till I couldn’t see.”
The injury left young Minty suffering from headaches and seizures. More scars she would carry for the rest of her life.
Around 1844, Minty married John Tubman. Not only did she take his name, but she also renamed herself Harriet, her mother’s name.
Of course, Harriet’s siblings suffered similar hardships. Brodess sold three of Harriet’s sisters, Linah, Mariah and Soph, permanently dividing the family. The sale split Linah and Soph from their children.
Again, there was little difference between the life of a slave and that of a farm animal.
“Slavery is the next thing to hell.”
The escape
Edward Brodess died in 1849 (his mother Mary, too had died many years earlier). He died a heavily indebted man which increased the likelihood of Harriet and her remaining siblings being sold to cover the debts. Having witnessed the sale of their siblings, Harriet and her two brothers, Ben and Henry, attempted an escape in September of that year. They didn’t get far before Henry and Ben got cold feet, forcing the entire trio to abort the mission. Edward’s widow, Eliza, had already put a reward out for their return.
Only a few months later, during the fall of 1849, Harriet attempted another escape. This time, it was a solo endeavour. Travelling by foot and at night guided by the North Star, she embarked on a 150km journey, running a gauntlet of fugitive slave catchers seeking rewards.
“God’s time [Emancipation]is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.”
She was aided by the Underground Railroad, an informal network of routes and houses run by former slaves, abolitionists and activists used by slaves to escape to Canada or free states in the US. She successfully made her way to Philadelphia, where slavery was illegal.
For the first time in her life, she was free.
"When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven."
The railroad conductor
Life in Philadelphia wasn’t all that Harriet had hoped for. She was a “stranger in a strange land”, as she put it, and missed her family. So at the end of 1850, she did the unthinkable and travelled all the way back into slave territory, at significant risk to herself, and rescued her niece and her niece’s two children. Only a few months later, she pulled off another mission to help her younger brother to freedom as well. She also tried to free her husband John, but to her despair, he refused to join Harriet, and he was remarried by 1851.
Harriet soon became entrenched as an abolitionist in the Underground Railroad. Her job was made a lot more perilous due to the enactment of The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which allowed freed workers in the north to be captured and enslaved and heavily punished those abetting escape. The new law forced Harriet to lead people all the way to Canada to secure their safety.
To ensure success, Harriet had to be inventive and relied on cleverly crafted tactics. She wore disguises and varied her route, travelling by water and overland. To decrease the odds of encountering slave catchers and their dogs, she worked mostly at night and during winter when most people were indoors. Escapes were usually done on Saturday nights, so the news would only break in Monday’s newspapers. She carried a gun for protection, but also to nudge slaves who attempted to turn back, thus endangering the entire group.
Harriet eventually made around 13 missions south, rescuing approximately 70 enslaved people.
“I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say — I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”
Her bravery earned her the nickname “Moses”, referring to the prophet who led the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. The famous song “Go Down, Moses” was linked to Harriet, who used it as a code song amongst fleeing slaves. Here’s a beautiful rendition by the legendary Louis Armstrong:
Later years
Harriet’s role in the fight against slavery went even further than her role as an Underground Railroad conductor. She was a nurse and a spy during the Civil War, and she was the first American woman to command an armed invasion into enemy territory. Her commitment to society continued later in life as she became a community activist, humanitarian, and suffragist after the war.
Harriet died of pneumonia in Auburn, New York, in 1913. Despite the hardships she had suffered in life, she almost made it to the age of 100.
Frederick Douglas, another renowned abolitionist, penned the below in a letter he wrote to Harriet. It captures the essence of why I find Harriet’s story so remarkable.
“The difference between us is very marked. Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day – you in the night. ... The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown – of sacred memory – I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have.”
Interesting side note: In 2016, the US Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman’s face would be replacing that of former President Andrew Jackson (a former slave owner) on the front of the twenty-dollar bill note. The project was put on hold during the Trump era, but the Biden administration has picked up again. Here’s a mock-up of what the bill could look like.
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