Harriet Tubman Research Paper

Harriet Tubman Research Essay (rough draft) “I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.” Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland, in March 1822. Her parents were Harriet Greene Ross, and Ben Ross. She is notoriously known for having the courage to help others escape to freedom and also help herself to gain freedom as well. Harriet Tubman should be remembered as an influential American abolitionist throughout the 19th Century because of her heroic acts in using the Underground Railroad to carry out dangerous missions. Harriet Tubman led a military expedition, a nursing union to soldiers in the civil war, and she housed those in need within her estate. She was also an activist who fought against slavery by …show more content…
Since she was a child born into slavery, she could be sold at any given time. She was taken from her mother and hired out at the age of six. Around the age of five or six, she began to work as a house servant. Seven years later, she was sent to work in the field. U.S. slaves for the most part were powerless regarding their relations to their masters and white supremacy. The presence of slaves was so vital to the Southern Labor system most southerners couldn’t imagine life without them, or how their crops and plantations would thrive. Slaves have no identity or destiny of their own. It was simply because slaves had been under the control of their owners for many years, and they had no knowledge of their rights, and also because they were not educated enough to understand how the justice system actually worked. Over the course of their lives they were influenced by their masters' whims and fortunes, and their identities by the names and status of their owners. Slaves were “noncitizens” who were stripped of all their legal rights and privileges, while their masters had ultimate control and authority over them. Masters totally dishonored the life of slaves and continuously exploited them for their own wealth and beneficial reasons. The freedom of a slave utterly depended on the wishes of their masters; they had the opportunity to be manumitted or save up enough money so that they could buy their freedom. Slaves were …show more content…
A few weeks after her slave owner Brodess's death, she discovered his will and things he wanted to happen to his belongings after his death. Prior to Broddess’s death, he had promised to free his slaves once he had passed away. But Tubman quickly realized that maybe contrary to the possibility of them having the right to freedom. The reason being is because Broddess was in so much debt and he owed so many people money, it left his wife (Eliza Ann) no choice but to put the slaves on an auction block in order to pay off some of their debt. She also did this so that she wouldn’t lose everything she had or owned, like her furniture, linens and dishes. Tubman began to worry about whether or not her entire family would soon be separated and sold further into the South. Harriet's nightmare had gradually become her reality, after the lawsuit was dismissed on August 6th, another member of the Ross family was put on the market in less than a month. Tubman believed the messages she received from God would assist her in leading enslaved people to safety and most importantly to freedom in Canada. Although Tubman was determined to escape to freedom, she knew it was a risky decision. Runaways were always punished and frequently sold down South immediately upon their return or capture. In the fall of 1849, she escaped from slavery alone, she couldn’t even tell her family because that would then put her at a disadvantage. Harriet

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