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
Family Devotion Slave owners usually didn’t care whether they split up parents children and siblings when selling and trading their workers However the bonds of the Ross family remained strong despite separation Tubman eventually rescued siblings nieces nephews and her elderly parents They worked together to keep each other safe by communicating in code sneaking food to those who were in hiding and wearing blindfolds so they could claim they didn’t see anyone trying to escape Harriet Tubman was born sometime in 1820 or 1821 along the Big Buckwater River near Bucktown Maryland Her grandparents had come from west Africa slaves before they even arrived on American soil Tubman’s parents Benjamin Old Ben Ross and Harriet Rit Greene were owned by Edward Brodess whose farm produced corn rye and wheat as well as timber Tubman spent her early years being cared for by older slave women From a young age she dreamed of freedom imagining herself flying over the land and reaching a river but it appeared like I wouldn’t have the strength to get across and just as I was sinking down there would be ladies and they would put out their arms and pull me cross born into 6 Hardship
(cid:127) Slaves usually lived in small crowded cabins on their master’s property 7 The Mason-Dixon line was the official border separating Maryland Pennsylvania and Delaware It was also the symbolic boundary between the free North and the slave South Bucktown was only about 100 miles 160 km from Pennsylvania MORE TO KNOW
