Preview

How Did Harriet Tubman Contribute To The Abolition Movement

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
933 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did Harriet Tubman Contribute To The Abolition Movement
Danielle Bright

The “Moses of her people” was a vital contribution to the jumpstarting of the abolition movement. This Moses is Harriet Tubman, a freedom fighter, union spy and conductor of the underground railroad. Harriet, previously known as Minty or Minta, was a libertarian holding her once promised manumission, traveled the distance in order to reach the north where an African American could be free from the strike of a whip or the clank of a chain. She didn’t stop there, though she returned to the plantation, which she dreaded in order to introduce those she knew and cared for to freedom as well. She wanted to let them experience the lack of restraints that they could gain. Harriet has inspired others through her contribution to abolition
…show more content…
Even when pulled out of the depths of despair, Harriet went back to that hole to throw a rope for the others who were stuck. She soon returned to the south to lead her niece and her niece’s children to Philadelphia via the Underground Railroad,” the “History.com Editors”, explains. Harriet escaped on her own, gaining the freedom she longed for, but her conscience weighed heavily on her the fact that her family was owned by someone other than themselves. She would not settle for this, making her such a major benefactor to the abolitionist movement, her ability to give African Americans what they once believed was unattainable. Womenshistory.org supports, “She would wander the streets under Confederate control and learn from the enslaved population about Confederate troop placements and supply lines”. Harriet did not stop at just freeing those who worked on her plantation freedom, she also worked to free all African Americans. As a Union spy, she acquired the information needed in order to break the manacles confining African Americans at work, giving them their promised manumission. Like trying to reel a shark in with a feeble fishing pole, Harriet continuously came out triumphant when fighting for the bait and her …show more content…
“She was hit in the head with a two-pound weight, leaving her with a lifetime of severe headaches and narcolepsy,” Debra Michals- author of “Harriet Tubman biography”- exclaims. Through narcolepsy and painful throbs at the head, Harriet persevered through each journey to Philadelphia, not knowing whether she was going to pass out in the middle of a trip or make it all the way to her destination. She could’ve let such a wound discourage her from taking such a circuitous route to liberation of herself and others, but instead she led the way like a General to the army. In, “ Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad,” John Tubman, threatens, “You take off and I’ll tell the master. I’ll tell the master right quick.” Harriet, who went by Minty at the time, had to deal with the threat by her own husband to tell her Master, “the man who would sell her south,” when finding out she took her leave. Yet and still she remained composed and let her faith in God as well as her strong desire to be free from slavery guide her to the north. Even when harmed and betrayed, Harriet still decided to travel the distance, whether alone or with others who wished for a better life too. Harriet let her words and actions dance through the ears and minds of people, changing their

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Harriet Tubman Obstacles

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages

    >>> Harriet Tubman, a famous African American women who was enslaved as a part of the terror reign of the slavery period did not allow herself to be forced to work in a cotton field all her life. She turned the obstacles into a gateway. Tubman befriended many Caucasians as she worked in the cotton fields. These Caucasians…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “I freed a thousand slaves i could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” this means that harriet tubman could have freed a lot more if only they would have had the courage to leave. Harriet tubman impacted the citizens of the United States of America because She was known for freeing slaves and she was an “moses”to her people she saved money to make 19 daring journeys back to the south to free slaves and she also served the union army.…

    • 354 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harriet Tubman led over three hundred slaves to the north. The journey was more than ninety miles to Pennsylvania and took days. She once that ‘’I have two choices, liberty or death, if I cannot have one I will have the other.’’ Harriet Tubman was a figure for slaves to look up to.…

    • 210 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harriet Tubman was a phenomenal woman. She helped many slaves escape to freedom via the Underground Railroad. She became prominent as a “conductor” of the Underground Railroad during the merciless 1850s. She helped in many ways: Being a liberator of the slaves, being a spy, and a nurse in the civil war, and an Abolitionist.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Catherine Clinton’s biography “Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom” is an interesting and comprehensive biography on Harriet Tubman’s life. Catherine Clinton is a renowned historian with a special interest in black history. Many consider Harriet Tubman as the “Black Moses” of America and for good reason; she has lead hundreds of slaves to freedom, risking her own life for their welfare. This book is truly comprehensive and immersive and focuses on exposing the reality of Harriet Tubman’s life. Most biographical narratives on Tubman have become predominantly focused on her myth, we all know her as the mastermind of the “underground railroad”, but many aspects of her life have become forgotten. This narrative really focuses on Harriet Tubman,…

    • 1009 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many slaves longed to be free. Where as some weren’t able to cultivate that freedom. The story of Harriet Ann Jacobs differs greatly. A slave born in Edenton, North Carolina in 1831, Jacobs had the determination to do so even in the most troublesome situation. After losing her parents, after the death of her brother Jacob, Harriet and her youngest brother John were raised by their maternal grandmother. Unlike most slaves, Harriet learned to read, write, and under her mistress. Harriet hoped of being freed by her mistress until she passed and Harriet was willed to Dr. Flint. As long as she was a servant in his house, she was sexually harassed and physically abused. Fearing that he would actually rape, Jacobs began an affair with a prominent white lawyer, and bared him two children. However, these children weren’t allowed to belong to her, because she was enslaved. Shortly afterwards, Jacobs hid herself in the crawlspace of her grandmother’s house from 1835-1845. She watched her children play from a hole in the roof, while waiting for the perfect time to escape North. In 1842, she went to New York city by boat and was able to unite with her children. This book was written by Jacob’s about her life as a slave in an early example of feminism, originally rejected by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This narrative, “Incidents in the Life of a…

    • 1886 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tubman was very brave, so brave that she went back to her plantation 18 times to free her friends and family. The first time she went back, she made and very dangerous sacrifice for her brothers. She took them back to their plantation because they were scared of getting caught. The way Harriet escaped was by the underground railroad.…

    • 186 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead” (Power 1), Aristotle knew the importance of education; especially literacy. Literacy is what stood between the slaves and the slaves owners. However, some of the enslaved were fortunate enough to possess more intelligence than their owners knew. Harriet Jacobs is one of the few that shared the knowledge of literacy and she knew the power that this held. She used this as her driving force to push through all of the hardships a slave had to endure on a daily basis. Jacobs account in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl truly depict the power of literacy.…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harriet’s honor for inspiring the slave community encouraged many people to never give up and they admired her how confident she was . When Harriet encouraged someone she inspired them and that is what she did in the slave community . Harriet didn’t just encourage the adult slaves encouraged the little kids as well.…

    • 339 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In my American History classes I have always found the topic of slavery interesting because in my head and the way I was raised, the idea of slavery is unfathomable and I cannot believe it had ever been an issue. Through this topic I heard about Harriet Tubman the creator of the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1820 and escaped slavery in 1849. I admire Harriet Tubman because when she was free, she chose to risk here freedom in order to help her family and friends. It is a character like Harriet Tubman’s that makes a good leader. She was able to set up a network of safe houses and rescue hundreds from slavery. The fact that Harriet Tubman had the courage to risk her freedom in order to save others is hard to believe because during her time as a slave she had endure so much physical violence; one time she had been struck in the head by a two-pound weight which caused her to endure seizures, severe headaches and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life.…

    • 562 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As many people know, Harriet Tubman was one of the most widely known leaders of The Underground Railroad. In her time working on The Underground Railroad, Harriet rescued over 300 slaves, making her an extraordinary heroine. Harriet was lucky to have a small amount of family members on the same plantation as her. She was a hard worker until she had a brick thrown at her head by a slave overseer when she was a young girl. When Harriet was older, she was allowed to work for pay on another plantation for the price of one dollar a week to her original master; yet, Harriet was not going to accept the life of a slave. She could not buy her freedom papers as her request was denied, so she decided to escape. After successfully escaping the perils of slavery, she decided to help others make the treacherous journey to freedom.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Minty Ross was a brave intelligent abolitionist who sooner became known as Harriet Tubman. When she was five she was working as a babysitter but by the time she was ten she was already working in the fields. As Harriet got older she was doing more serious things. Throughout Harriet Tubman’s life she had many achievements that made her historically significant; her greatest achievement was conducting the underground railroad, her second greatest achievement was being a nurse in the civil war and lastly, her third greatest achievement was being a scout/spy in the civil war.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    She became a conductor of the underground railroad she said, “There were one of two things I had a right to liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would take the other, for no man should take me alive. I should fight for liberty as long as my strength lasted” – Harriet Tubman. With dedication and courage, she returned back to Maryland, the place that caused her much-undeserved pain, where she led her sister, brother-in-law and their two children to freedom. That was Tubman’s first of nineteen journeys which occurred over the next decade. Harriet Tubman rescued over 300 fugitive slaves from Maryland plantation, some being her family, friends, and who else wanted to be free. She said, “I freed thousands of slaves and could’ve freed more if they had known they were slaves.” She took them to Northern states and to Canada, where they would have their freedom using the underground railroad. Her last conductor mission was in the year of 1860, where she rescued the Ennals family. To each of the slaves, she rescued she said, “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see torches in the woods, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.” Harriet was given the nickname “Moses” because many believed she was the black Moses who was sent to set slaves free from the bondage of slavery, but some believe it was her…

    • 655 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One day, while Harriet was working, a slave who was trying to escape ran past her. The slave’s master was running after him “Araminta (Harriet Tubman) was told to hold the slave that had tried to escape while the owner whipped him. She refused…

    • 1698 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harriet Tubman Biography

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Her new master, Master Stuart, allowed Harriet Tubman to work for her own money during the weekends. She took this opportunity to gain a job washing clothes for a Quaker woman in her new village of Bucktown. Furthermore, Harriet Tubman was permitted by Master Stuart to live in a dilapidated cabin on his property to grow crops, provided he received half of the profits. Harriet Tubman felt indifferent towards this new lifestyle, until she met John Tubman in Bucktown, a temporarily free man who was determined to become the slave’s acquaintance. Harriet Tubman, still having remembered her old plans, saved two hundred dollars to pay for her own freedom; however, Master Stuart forced her to continue completing jobs for him. One of these jobs was pulling an incredibly heavy wagon, causing the poor woman much agony. She became slightly more cheerful when she married John Tubman, but even that bright piece of happiness was dampened when her spouse used her hard-earned money to renew his own freedom. Harriet Tubman, filled with rage towards Master Stuart and her husband, was certain the only job she had left to complete was…

    • 854 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays