used words railroad conductors employed everyday to create their own code as secret language in order to help slaves escape. Railroad language was chosen because the railroad was an emerging form of transportation and its communication language was not widespread. Code words would be used in letters to “agents” so that if they were intercepted they […]
The 1850s saw a deeper divide between north and south. The passage of the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 only delayed the inevitable, Civil War. Middle class whites in the north started to sympathize with the plight of slaves and a growing number of abolitionists condemned the institution of slavery. […]
Harriet Tubman is the most widely recognized symbol of the . When on September 17, 1849, Tubman was aided by members of the Underground Railroad. To her, freedom felt empty unless she could share it with people she loved so she resolved to go back and rescue friends and family. Harriet was nicknamed “Moses” by […]
C 1820 – Harriet Ross Tubman, born Araminta “Minty” Ross, in the plantation of Edward Brodess in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her mother was Harriet “Rit” Green owned by Mary Pattison Brodess; and her father was Ben Ross owned by Anthony Thomson. 1825 – Young Araminta was hired out to other households. Her first outside job was as […]
Harriet Tubman’s actual birthday is unknown. It is believed that she was born between 1819 and 1823. Her birth name was Araminta Ross. She was nicknamed “Minty” by her mother. Tubman’s maternal grandmother, Modesty, arrived on a slave ship from Africa. There is no information about her other ancestors. Harriet had eight siblings: Linah (1808), […]
Harriet Tubman is an American hero and an icon of freedom, a five-foot-tall African American abolitionist who guided hundreds of slaves away from the bondage of slavery. She is the best known female abolitionist of antebellum American. Illiterate but profoundly religious, into slavery between 1815 and 1825 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Her birth […]
In the summer of 1865 Harriet Tubman returned , New York from Virginia where she was serving in a hospital near Fort Monroe. Without a steady income it was difficult for Tubman to make ends meet, she was in charge of her elderly parents and constantly providing for those looking for refuge in her home. […]
When the Civil War ended Harriet Tubman returned home to Auburn, New York. Her parents were old and had a good support system during her absence but they still needed her daughter’s financial support. Her brothers and their families eventually moved from St. Catharine’s to Auburn. Her parents passed away of old age. Her father died […]
The Underground Railroad was formed in the early 19th century and reached its height between 1850 and 1860. Much of what we know today comes from accounts after the Civil War and accurate statistics about fugitive slaves using the Underground Railway may never be verifiable. It is believed that around 100,000 slaves between 1810 and […]
