DID YOU KNOW?
A Biography of
Harriet Tubman
Article by Michael Joseph Lynch
cook in the plantation’s “big house,” and Benjamin was a timber worker. Araminta later changed her first name to Harriet in honor of her mother. Harriet had eight brothers and sisters, but the realities of slavery eventually forced many of them apart, despite her attempts to keep the family together. When Harriet was five years old, she was rented out as a nursemaid where she was whipped when the baby cried, leaving her with permanent emotional and physical scars. Around age seven Harriet was rented out to a planter to set muskrat traps and was later rented out as a field hand. She later said she preferred physical plantation work to indoor domestic chores.
Now, Harriet’s desire for justice became apparent at age 12 when she spotted an overseer about to throw a heavy weight at a fugitive. Harriet stepped between the enslaved person and the overseer and the weight struck her head. She later said, “The weight
This article is about a heroic lady most people have not heard about because not all historical figures are taught in history class in high school. This is the story of Harriet Tubman who was an escaped enslaved woman who became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, leading enslaved people to freedom before the Civil War, all while carrying a bounty on her head. Rewards offered by slaveholders for Tubman’s capture eventually totaled $40,000. Yet, she was also a nurse, a Union spy, and a women’s suffrage supporter. Tubman is one of the most recognized icons in American history and her legacy has inspired countless people from every race and background.
Anyway, Harriet Tubman was born around 1820 on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her parents, Harriet Green, and Benjamin Ross, named her Araminta Ross and called her “Minty.” She worked as a