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One of the most famous abolitionists who impacted the future of colored individuals was Harriet Tubman. Tubman was a female abolitionist of the colored in the 1800s. Most known for the Underground Railroad.
Who was she? Tubman was born in Maryland and grew up to conduct hundreds through the Underground Railroad. Harriet Green and Ben Ross, both enslaved, gave birth to Araminta 'Minty' Ross. Mary Pattison Brodess was the owner of Rit (and later her son Edward). Anthony Thompson, Mary Brodess's second husband, controlled a huge plantation near the Blackwater River in the Madison area of Dorchester County, Maryland, where Ben was kept. Although this, Tubman's birth year was listed as 1825 on her birth certificate, while her death certificate and gravestone both said 1815. Tubman's maternal grandmother, Modesty, arrived in the United States on a slave ship from Africa; no more details about her forebears are known. Tubman was told as a child that her character features made her seem like an Ashanti person, yet no evidence has been produced to support or refute this claim. Rit, her mother, worked as a chef for the Brodess family (and may have had a white father). Ben, her father, was an expert woodsman who oversaw Thompson's plantation's timber operations. They were married in 1808 and had nine children together, according to court records.
What was her “legacy”? Tubman’s only legacy was to escape slavery. Tubman became ill in 1849, lowering her slave worth. Edward Brodess tried unsuccessfully to sell her but was unable to do so. Tubman began to pray for her master, pleading with God to have him alter his ways after he tried to sell her and continued to imprison her relatives. 'I prayed all night for my master till the first of March,' she later explained, 'and the whole time he was bringing people to look at me and trying to sell me.' 'I modified my prayer' when it appeared that a sale was nearing completion. 'On March 1st, I began to pray, 'Oh Lord, if you're never going to change that man's heart, Lord, kill him and take him out of the way.'' Tubman expressed regret for her former remarks after Brodess died a week later. Brodess' death, like so many other estate settlements, enhanced the chances of Tubman being sold and her family being split up. Eliza, his widow, started selling the family's slaves. Despite her husband's best efforts, Tubman refused to wait for the Brodess family to decide her fate. 'I had a right to one of two things: liberty or death,' she later stated, 'and if I couldn't have one, I would take the other.' On September 17, 1849, Tubman and her brothers, Ben and Henry, escaped slavery.
Harriet Tubman was notorious for helping hundreds escape. Tubman returned to the Eastern Shore of Maryland several times over the course of 11 years, liberating around 70 slaves in 13 trips, including her other brothers Henry, Ben, and Robert, as well as their wives and children. She also sent detailed directions to another 50 to 60 fugitives who had fled to the north. Her efforts earned her the nickname 'Moses,' a reference to the prophet in the Book of Exodus who led the Hebrews out of Egypt. Her final expedition into Maryland was to find her ailing parents. Rit, her mother, had been purchased for $20 by her father, Ben, from Eliza Brodess in 1855. Even when they were both free, the area grew hostile to them. Tubman learned two years later that her father was in danger of being arrested for concealing a group of eight fugitive slaves. She drove them north to St. Catharines, Ontario, where a colony of former slaves had assembled (including Tubman's brothers, other relatives, and many acquaintances). Tubman's risky labor necessitated a great deal of resourcefulness; she preferred to work during the cold months to reduce the chances of the group being discovered. 'She always came in the winter, when the evenings are long and dark, and people who have homes stay in them,' one admirer of Tubman observed. They left town on Saturday evenings once she had established contact with escaping slaves because newspapers did not post escape announcements until Monday morning. Her travels into the slave country put her in grave danger, and she utilized a number of deceptions to avoid being discovered. Tubman reportedly wore a bonnet and carried two live chickens to give the impression that she was running errands. She ripped the threads holding the birds' legs when she found herself going near a former owner in Dorchester County, and their anger helped her to avoid eye contact. She later recognized a fellow train passenger as a previous master, so she grabbed a nearby newspaper and pretended to read it. The man ignored Tubman, who was known to be illiterate. However, she ignored this act of ignorance and continued to be a powerful woman overall saving 300 slaves and freeing them all.
Ultimately, Tubman was a leading abolitionist who strived for justice among the colored community. Impacting worldwide, Harriet Tubman was an impeccable leader.
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