EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY HARRIET TUBMAN in her own words 101 Gareth Stevens PUBLISHING By Jalia McDonnell
European immigrants settled in the territory that became the United States in search of religious freedom and economic opportunity However some of the earliest Americans didn’t arrive by choice Many were Africans who were sold as slaves and forced to work for white masters Some brave individuals risked their life to help them escape 4 MORE TO KNOW Tubman’s name at birth was Araminta Harriet Ross She was called Minty as a child but later went by Harriet because it was her mother’s name UNLIKELY Hero An
Harriet’s Own Words Harriet Tubman never learned to read or write When writer Sarah Bradford began a biography of Tubman she interviewed her and gathered others accounts of her deeds Many of Tubman’s quotes in this book are taken from that biography Harriet Tubman The Moses of Her People Bradford wrote down Tubman’s words phonetically which means she used unusual spelling to reflect what Tubman sounded like In this book these quotes are presented as close as possible to those in Bradford’s biography while making them easier for modern readers to understand One of these was Harriet Tubman who had been a slave herself and understood the desperation for freedom Tubman once said I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of slaves who finally got to the North and freedom But I never yet saw one who was willing to go back South and be a slave Small in size suffering from poor health and lacking an education she nevertheless became one of the most famous Americans in history 5
