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harriet tubman and the underground railroad

in 1849, harriet tubman learned that she and her brothers were to be sold. when owners experienced money problems, it often made it necessary for them to sell persons held in slavery and other property. tubman’s family had been broken before. three of tubman’s older sisters were sold and lost forever to the family and to history.

tubman and her brothers decided to take their lives into their own hands and make the effort to stay together. they left the property in the darkness of night. but they soon turned back when her brothers, one of them a brand-new father, had second thoughts. punishment for escaping was severe. a short time later, tubman escaped alone. she made use of the underground railroad to go to pennsylvania and to freedom. all northern states had voted to not allow slavery by 1804. tubman’s biographer, sarah bradford, quoted tubman recalling, “when i found i had crossed that line, i looked at my hands to see if i was the same person. there was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and i felt like i was in heaven.”

as a reaction to the cruel institution of slavery, the underground railroad was formed in the early nineteenth century. but this railroad was neither underground, nor did it have anything to do with trains. instead, it was an organization of people who persons held in slavery in the united states travel from the south to the north and to freedom. the network provided transportation, money, safe houses, and other resources to the travelers. details about the routes and the stops were only shared among a few people to protect the entire group. in southern states, people caught sheltering the travelers could be jailed up to six months and fined. once travelers reached northern cities, they received assistance finding jobs and housing from committees of abolitionists that raised money to them.

once in pennsylvania, tubman could not enjoy her freedom. too many of her family members and friends still lived in slavery. she returned home in 1850 and several family members make the move north. this was the first of many trips for tubman as a “conductor” on the underground railroad. for almost a decade and in about thirteen separate trips, tubman led approximately seventy people to freedom. she provided instructions to fifty to sixty others to them escape.

when the fugitive slave act of 1850 was enacted, it meant even greater danger for persons who were held in slavery and especially for those who had escaped. the act stated that the u. s. government must owners regain control of persons they had once held in slavery. people who had escaped, often called runaways, could be captured and returned to their owners. they had no chance of legal defense or protection from the government. anyone who refused to follow the orders of the act could be heavily fined. also, people who captured runaways and returned them to their owners could make a lot of money. tubman changed the underground railroad’s routes to deal with this added threat. the last stop for travelers became canada, where slavery was not allowed.

tubman took risks daily. she used her experience to develop strategies to keep the underground railroad network safe and running smoothly. for example, she advised persons held in slavery to escape on a saturday night. since sunday was a day of rest, owners would not discover the escape until monday. people were encouraged to travel at night and to travel in spring and fall, when the days were shorter and the weather was mild. tubman became well-known in the abolition and women’s rights communities because of her intelligence, courage, and leadership.

one of tubman’s last trips on the underground railroad was to bring her parents north to canada. it was especially dangerous because tubman’s father was already in trouble for having sheltered runaways in his home. although her parents were elderly, the trip was a success. shortly after this, the civil war began and the underground railroad stopped operating. tubman turned her attention to the war effort. she first worked as a nurse and a cook, but quickly volunteered as a scout and a spy to the army free persons held in slavery.

tubman was proud of her accomplishments. in 1896, tubman spoke at a women’s suffrage convention, “i was the conductor of the underground railroad for eight years, and i can say what most conductors can't say — i never ran my train off the track and i never lost a passenger.”