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Harriet Tubman - Black Moses

© Katie Anne Gustafsson

When Harriet Greene and Benjamin Ross welcomed their baby girl, Araminta, into the world somewhere around 1820, they could have had no idea how much of an impact she would have both their lives, and the lives of hundreds of other slaves. Their little daughter would grow up to become a "Conductor" - a heroine of the Underground Railroad - Harriet Tubman (nicknamed Black Moses).

Born on a plantation in Maryland, Harriet suffered from a number of ailments which resulted in her being passed from one plantation to another and back again. She was ill-clothed, beaten and seldom given enough to eat - all of this whilst she was still a child. However, Harriet was not given to self-pity, instead she had a determined spirit which resulted in a concussion when she placed herself between an overseer who was beating a runaway slave with a 2lb lead weight. The weight hit her in the head and her mother nursed her back to health just before her owner sold her once again.

In 1844 Harriet married John Tubman. Although her husband was a freeman, Harriet remained a slave, which meant that should their marriage produce children, the children would be the property of the plantation also. Harriet wanted to be free. She talked to her brothers and husband about it, but they did not possess the same courage and fire that Harriet had and so in 1849 when she made her escape, it was alone.

Once free, she became involved in raids freeing other slaves. She went back to free her husband only to find that he had remarried during the time she was missing. Many visits were made to her former home area, and each time she returned to the North with yet more slaves freed from the injustices of the plantations. Her raids were made in the winter when there were more hours of darkness, and her scheme was that she waited some distance from the place the slaves were leaving in case they were discovered as they left. Another habit she had was to meet the slaves on a Saturday evening, in the hopes that they would not be missed until Monday morning, by which time they would be well on their way. Her steely determination to get all those away who came with her was such that she threatened to shoot anyone who turned back. This was to reduce the risk of those involved in helping Harriet along the way getting caught. The impact of her work was such that the slave-owners posted a $40,000 reward for her capture! In 1857 she made her most difficult journey - to free her aging parents. This required a wagon and so the trip was particularly hazardous, but she succeeded in her mission. She made her last raid in 1860.

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