Saturday, March 12, 2022

Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter

Most people, at least in the United States, have heard of Betsy Ross, the woman credited with making the first American flag, but who was Araminta Ross?

Araminta Ross was a person of immense stature in a small body. Only about 5 feet tall (1.53 m), enslaved and illiterate, she dedicated her long life to compassion, equality and civil rights. She freed slaves, advocated for women’s suffrage and cared for the elderly. Born into slavery in Maryland around 1820, she became a Union spy, cook, nurse, and perhaps the most famous Underground Railroad leader who, through this network, helped at least 70 people between 1850 and 1860 escape slavery. She is best known by her married name of Harriet Tubman.

Cover of Thomas B. Allen’s book

The issue of slavery was a central cause of the American Civil War (1861-1865) between the Northern free states loyal to the United States (the Union) and the Southern slave states that seceded and formed a breakaway republic (the Confederacy). At the time, women were limited to such traditional roles as cooking, washing clothes, sewing and nursing. Black people’s lives were especially difficult, as they were often beaten and rarely respected or tolerated as “human beings.” And while Tubman did these jobs as a slave, Thomas Allen, author of the National Geographic book Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent reports that she became respected because of her work alongside men as a highly effective spy.

During the war, Harriet Tubman served not only as a nurse and cook for the Union Army but also as a spy and scout behind Confederate lines. She was able to gain vital information from escaped slaves about Confederate positions and ammunition, which led to a raid on June 1, 1863 by Colonel James Montgomery and his infantry, in which she participated. This assault on plantations along the Combahee River in South Carolina resulted in the liberation of over 750 enslaved men, women and children. The raid also burned buildings and bridges used by the Confederate Army.

After the Civil War, Tubman settled in Auburn, New York. She cared for her aging parents and opened her home to the needy. Donations, proceeds from her garden, and funds she earned from speeches on women’s rights and suffrage in New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. enabled her also to open schools for African Americans.

In 1896, at 74 years of age, she bought land next to her property to establish the Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes. With the help of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, the nursing home welcomed old and poor people from the community. She herself died there in 1913. Harriet Tubman was buried with military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York.

Featured image: Photos of Harriet Tubman at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center near Church Creek in Dorchester County, Maryland (image by Bohemian Baltimore, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Category

Inspiring People

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,