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Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born in about 1820 in Dorchester county, Maryland. She was one of nine children of a family of enslaved people. Her name at first was Araminta Ross. She later changed her first name to Harriet, which was her mother’s name.

In about 1844, Harriet married a free African American named John Tubman. In 1849, after hearing that she was to be sold, she escaped to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, without her husband.

In Pennsylvania, Tubman became a “conductor” for the Underground Railroad . The railroad was a secret network that helped enslaved people find their way to freedom. By 1857 she had freed dozens of enslaved people, including her own parents. She said that she “never lost a passenger,” even though some people offered large rewards for her capture.

After the Civil War Tubman settled in Auburn, New York, with her parents. There she worked for racial justice and also for women’s rights. She believed that the two struggles were closely linked. In 1908 she opened a home for aged and poor African Americans . Harriet Tubman died in Auburn on March 10, 1913.

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Abolition work

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Harriet Tubman

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• Spartacus Educational - Biography of Harriet Tubman
• American Battlefield Trust - Biography of Harriet Tubman
• Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway - Harriet Tubman
• BlackPast - Biography of Harriet Ross Tubman
• HistoryNet - Harriet Tubman
• National Museum of African American History and Culture - Harriet Tubman: Life, Liberty and Legacy
• Official Site of Harriet Tubman Museum
• Social Welfare History Project - Biography of Harriet Tubman
• National Women's History Museum - Biography of Harriet Tubman
• Women and the American Story - Life Story: Harriet Tubman
• Harriet Tubman - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
• Harriet Tubman - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

Who was Harriet Tubman?

Harriet Tubman escaped from  slavery  in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the  American Civil War . She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom in the North along the route of the  Underground Railroad .

What were Harriet Tubman’s accomplishments?

Harriet Tubman is credited with conducting upward of 300 enslaved people along the Underground Railroad from the American South to Canada. She showed extraordinary courage, ingenuity, persistence, and iron discipline.

What did Harriet Tubman do to change the world?

In addition to leading more than 300 enslaved people to freedom, Harriet Tubman helped ensure the final defeat of slavery in the United States by aiding the Union during the American Civil War . She served as a scout and a nurse, though she received little pay or recognition.

Harriet Tubman (born c. 1820, Dorchester county, Maryland, U.S.—died March 10, 1913, Auburn, New York) was an American bondwoman who escaped from slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War . She led dozens of enslaved people to freedom in the North along the route of the Underground Railroad —an elaborate secret network of safe houses organized for that purpose.

Born into slavery, Araminta Ross later adopted her mother’s first name , Harriet. At about age five she was first hired out to work, initially serving as a nursemaid and later as a field hand, a cook, and a woodcutter. When she was about 12 years old, she reportedly refused to help an overseer punish another enslaved person, and she suffered a severe head injury when he threw an iron weight that struck her; she subsequently suffered seizures throughout her life. About 1844 she married John Tubman, a free Black man.

In 1849, on the strength of rumors that she was about to be sold, Tubman fled to Philadelphia , leaving behind her husband (who refused to leave), parents, and siblings. In December 1850 she made her way to Baltimore , Maryland , whence she led her niece Kessiah Jolley and her niece’s two children, James Alfred and Araminta, to freedom. That journey was the first of some 13 increasingly dangerous forays into Maryland in which, over the next decade, she conducted about 70 fugitive enslaved people along the Underground Railroad to Canada.(Owing to exaggerated figures in Sara Bradford’s 1868 biography of Tubman, it was long held that Tubman had made about 19 journeys into Maryland and guided upward of 300 people out of enslavement.) Tubman displayed extraordinary courage, persistence, and iron discipline , which she enforced upon her charges. If anyone decided to turn back—thereby endangering the mission—she reportedly threatened them with a gun and said, “You’ll be free or die.” She also was inventive, devising various strategies to better ensure success. One such example was escaping on Saturday nights, since it would not appear in newspapers until Monday. The railroad’s most famous conductor, Tubman became known as the “Moses of her people.” It has been said that she never lost a fugitive she was leading to freedom.

Rewards were offered by slaveholders for Tubman’s capture, while Abolitionists celebrated her courage. John Brown , who consulted her about his own plans to organize an antislavery raid of a federal armory in Harpers Ferry , Virginia (now in West Virginia ), referred to her as “General” Tubman. About 1858 she bought a small farm near Auburn , New York , where she placed her aged parents (she had brought them out of Maryland in June 1857) and herself lived thereafter. From 1862 to 1865 she served as a scout, as well as nurse and laundress, for Union forces in South Carolina during the Civil War . For the Second Carolina Volunteers, under the command of Col. James Montgomery, Tubman spied on Confederate territory. When she returned with information about the locations of warehouses and ammunition, Montgomery’s troops were able to make carefully planned attacks. For her wartime service Tubman was paid so little that she had to support herself by selling homemade baked goods.

Following the Civil War Tubman settled in Auburn and began taking in orphans and older adults, a practice that eventuated in the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes. Tubman was a patient of the home from 1911 until her death in 1913, staying in a building known as John Brown Hall. The home later attracted the support of former abolitionist comrades and the citizens of Auburn, and it continued in existence until the early 1920s. Tubman also became involved in various other causes, including women’s suffrage . In the late 1860s and again in the late ’90s she applied for a federal pension for her work during the Civil War. Some 30 years after her service a private bill providing for $20 monthly was passed by Congress.

Harriet Tubman

Tubman was born into slavery in 1822, and later escaped from Dorchester County, Maryland to Philadelphia where she lived as a freewoman  

Once free, Tubman dedicated her life to the abolition of slavery as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. She brought approximately 70 enslaved African Americans to freedom in the north 

Tubman remained a philanthropist well into her later years, founding the Home for Aged & Indigent Negroes and supporting women’s rights  

"I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had the right to, liberty or death; if I could have one, I would have the other.” – Harriet Tubman, 1886 

Early life .

Born Araminta Ross (and affectionately called "Minty") in March of 1822 to parents Harriet (Rit) Green Ross and Benjamin Ross, Tubman was one of nine children. The Ross family were enslaved  in Dorchester County, Maryland. Chattel slavery determined that Black people were property that were bought and sold. The children of enslaved women were also considered enslaved, regardless of whether their fathers were enslaved or not. Such was the case for Tubman and her siblings as Benjamin was free, but Rit was not (University at Buffalo). The Ross’ enslaver, Edward Brodess, did not allow the family to remain together and worked to split them up through the assignment of work. Separated from Benjamin Ross at a young age, Rit, Araminta and her siblings worked on a different farm owned by the Brodesses in Bucktown, Maryland (NPS n.d.).  

In 1828 at the age of six, Brodess rented out Tubman at his whim to provide childcare for nearby overseers. Compensation for her work would go to Brodess and time periods for how long she would be rented out would vary. This work separated her from her mother and siblings for extended periods of time. Tubman's life would change forever at the age of 13. In 1835, while she was running errands at a local store, she witnessed another enslaved person’s attempted escape (Owens 2022). She refused to assist the freedom seeker's enslaver in capturing the fugitive. As the enslaver became desperate in their attempt to recapture the freedom seeker, he threw a two pound weight. Rather than hitting the intended target, he struck Tubman in the back of the head and fractured her skull.  

She teetered between life and death. Her mother Rit nursed Tubman back to health as much as she could given their limited resources (NPS n.d.). After the incident, physical pain became a consistent part of Tubman’s life. She experienced chronic pain from headaches and uncontrollable bouts of seizures, which Tubman herself referred to as “sleeping spells," (PBS 2022). Historians now know that Tubman had narcolepsy, which is a “chronic neurological disorder that affects the brain's ability to control sleep-wake cycles” (National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke n.d.). 

Tubman’s place in disability history is often overlooked. It is important to note that narcolepsy was a prominent part of both her identity and story. Vivid visions of freedom came to her while experiencing these seizures (PBS 2022). As a result of her visions, her disability is often associated with her religiosity. However, Tubman’s dedication to her faith and her experience with chronic pain hold equal weight. Both elements were key in her determination to seek liberation for the enslaved. Historian Deidre Cooper Owens spoke to the importance of Tubman’s disability in her essay "Harriet Tubman’s Disability and Why it Matters." Cooper-Owens highlighted that, “she offered up a version of freedom where a disabled Black woman sat at the center of it, where Black women were liberators, and where liberation was communal and democratic” (Owens 2022). 

Journey to Freedom 

The pain of separation from her family and the cruelty of slavery never left Tubman. Forced back to the fields immediately after her injury, Tubman recounted: “there I worked with the blood and sweat rolling down my face til I couldn’t see” (Wickenden 2021). She became determined to find some sense of autonomy wherever she could, despite the confines of enslavement (NPS n.d.). She negotiated with her enslaver to select her own work assignments. He agreed so long as she paid him a yearly fee. From then on, Tubman hired herself out on her own terms.  

With new tasks came the exploration of new geographic areas. Dorchester County’s environment is marshland (NPCA n.d.). As such, the duties given to the enslaved in this area were unique to the landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Tubman became familiar with the intricacies of the environment through these tasks. Down the line, her familiarity with Dorchester County would be key in her journey to freedom. 

In an unexpected turn of events, one assignment required her to work alongside her father in the timber fields. Not only did this allow her to spend time with him despite years of separation, but also to work alongside Black sailors. As regular travelers along the East Coast, these men were well connected. They shared their knowledge of the surrounding areas with Tubman and assisted her in tapping into a network of those also seeking liberation (Wickenden 2021). It was around this time that she met her future husband, freedman John Tubman. The couple married in 1844 when Tubman was 22 years old. Upon their union, she changed her name from Araminta “Minty” Ross, to Harriet (likely after her mother) Tubman (NPS n.d.).  

Tubman cherished moments spent with her father and her time as a newlywed. However, her enslaver Brodess struggled financially and found himself in debt in 1849. He decided to sell more of his enslaved workers as a financial solution. Tubman discovered that Brodess’s financial troubles were likely to lead to the sale of her and her brothers, Ben and Henry (Wickenden 2021). Even Brodess’s death in 1849 did not alleviate Tubman’s fear of the sale and Tubman sought to make her dreams of freedom a reality. She saw her future clearly, detailing to biographer Sarah Hopkins Bradford what she envisioned as she crossed the Mason-Dixon line that separates Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia: “and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies who stretched out their arms to me over the line” (Tubman, 1869).  

Making use of her wealth of knowledge gained over the years, Tubman set her sights on escaping to Philadelphia. The Abolitionist Movement, which was prominent in the city, meant she was sure to find allies and  like-minded confidants (University at Buffalo n.d.). After developing a route, the journey with her brothers began. While on the journey, the trio caught word that Eliza Broddess, Brodess’s widow, placed an ad in the paper calling for their return (Balkansky 2020). Tubman’s brothers decided to return to the plantation for fear of capture and subsequent punishment. Not the slightest bit discouraged, the visions that came to Tubman during narcoleptic bouts assured her she would be free (Wickenden 2021). She pressed onward alone, guided to Pennsylvania by the stars. 

The Moses of Her People: Conducting the Underground Railroad 

With the help of abolitionists along the way, Tubman journeyed from the Brodess’ farm in Maryland to Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, she made connections with abolitionists, namely William Still, a conductor on the Underground Railroad (Larson 2004). Tubman learned more about the Underground Railroad from Still. Often misunderstood as a railroad with tracks and trains, the Underground Railroad (UGRR) actually refers to various safehouses in which abolitionists provided sanctuary for freedom seekers. “Conductors” led the journeys to freedom, while “Station Masters” hosted freedom seekers within their homes, churches, or other safe spaces. The more Tubman learned, the more her desire to see her family free grew. She decided to return for them in 1850.  

After a successful first trip in which she brought both family and friends to freedom, she became a Conductor on the UGRR. She succeeded in her second journey as well and, on her third in 1851, Tubman returned for her husband, John. She quickly discovered that he thought she was dead and had remarried. John’s new wife was pregnant. Though heartbroken, Tubman’s commitment to freedom knew no bounds. She offered to take the couple to freedom, but John refused.  

In 1850, Congressional passage of the Fugitive Slave Act changed the calculus for Conductors like Tubman. The Act “stipulated that it was illegal for any citizen to assist an escaped slave and demanded that if an escaped slave was sighted, he or she should be apprehended and turned in to the authorities for deportation back to the ‘rightful’ owner down south. Any United States Marshall who refused to return a runaway slave would pay a hefty penalty of $1,000,” (University at Buffalo n.d.). Many freedom seekers opted to flee to Canada instead of the northern US as a result. Tubman conducted eleven trips from Maryland to St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada between 1850 and  1860. All of these journeys–19 in total– over the years made Tubman a hero, with many African Americans–both free and enslaved–dubbing her “Moses” after the biblical figure (Library of Congress 1998 and Balkansky 2020).  

While widely celebrated within her own community, Tubman was infamous among enslavers. Many called for her capture with bounties upwards of $40,000, which would be approximately $1,573,056.41 in today’s dollars. Between 1850 to 1860, Tubman brought approximately 70 individuals (including her parents, Rit and Ben) to freedom. Tubman spoke proudly of her accomplishments and famously stated, “I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger” (Prescod-Weinstein 2022). 

General Tubman: The Union Spy 

In 1857, after working to free her parents, Tubman initially brought them to Canada with her but ultimately settled in Auburn, New York. Auburn was a hotbed of abolition and felt like an ideal place for Tubman and her family to settle. Frances Seward, abolitionist wife of Senator (and later Secretary of State under President Abraham Lincoln) William H. Seward, offered Tubman land in Auburn (University at Buffalo n.d.). This further encouraged the family to stay. Though Tubman had her freedom, the fight for the liberation of the enslaved still called to her.  

In 1857, she met abolitionist John Brown. Brown was outspoken in his support of antislavery and, though unpopular among white southerners, his efforts were largely supported by those in the North. Tubman and Brown formed a close friendship, with Brown dubbing her “General Tubman” (NPS n.d.). She once claimed to have seen him in many of her narcoleptic dreams before meeting him. The pair worked together, including on Brown’s plans for the raid on Harpers Ferry, (now West) Virginia; Tubman provided her geographical expertise and recruited formerly enslaved people to assist in the raid. While planned as a way to steal guns and start a revolt to free enslaved people across the South, the raid ultimately ended in failure. An army unit, led by future Confederate General Robert E. Lee, captured Brown and put him on trial for "treason, murder, and inciting a slave rebellion" (NPS n.d.). Brown was hung shortly thereafter. Tubman was not in attendance at his hanging due to illness. 

In April 1861, the American Civil War broke out over the issue of slavery. Tubman saw an opportunity to get involved, enlisting in the Union (Northern) Army as a nurse where she cared for wounded soldiers with natural remedies (University at Buffalo n.d.).  In 1863, Tubman took on the role of a scout and organized a group of spies. She recruited enslaved people interested in assisting the Union. Tubman helped Colonel James Montgomery coordinate the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina, which aimed to “harass whites and rescue freed slaves” (University at Buffalo n.d.). The raid was wildly successful with Montgomery’s troops burning down many plantations and freeing approximately 750 enslaved people. (NPS n.d.). With their newfound freedom, many of the formerly enslaved men opted to join the Union’s fight against the Confederacy (the South). To date, Tubman is recognized as the first woman in US history to both plan and lead a military raid. In June 2021, the Army inducted her into the Military Intelligence Corps (Lacdan 2023). 

 Later Life and Legacy 

During her time with the Union Army, Tubman met her second husband, Nelson Davis. The couple married in 1869 in Auburn, NY where he, Tubman, and her freed family members (one of which was their adopted daughter, Gertie), would live out their days (NPS n.d.). Nelson built the family a home, which still stands as of 2024. It is also in Auburn where Tubman founded the Home for the Aged, an institution that provided care for those with “paralysis, epilepsy, and those with vision impairment and blindness,” (Shoot 2021). 

A staunch supporter of the suffrage movement , Tubman worked alongside various upstate-NY based suffragists, such as Lucretia Mott , Susan B. Anthony , and Elizabeth Cady Stanton . The interests of abolitionists were aligned closely with those of suffragists, with both movements concerned with autonomy and freedom. Later in life, Tubman attended various women’s rights conferences (Balkansky 2020). She also collaborated with the AME Zion Church, helping them raise money to build their church in Auburn (NPS n.d.). As collaborative partners, the church then supported Tubman’s dream of making the Home for the Aged a reality.  

Nelson Davis passed away in 1888. In his absence, Tubman continued to dedicate her final 25 years to philanthropic efforts. In 1913, at the age of 91, Harriet Tubman died of pneumonia in the Home for the Aged & Indigent Negroes. In her final words, Tubman called upon her faith and made reference to John 14:3 in the Bible. She stated, “I go away to prepare a place for you, that where I am you also may be” (Larson 2004, p. 289). She was laid to rest in the Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn. 

Of service to her community until the very end, Harriet Tubman’s legacy remains relevant. As of 2024, the United States Mint launched the 2024 Harriet Tubman Commemorative Coin Program . The program is timely as it honors the two hundredth anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s birth. Continued discussions about and homages to Tubman stems from her powerful narrative of taking control of her own destiny and ultimately forging a path for others. She is celebrated not only for the hundreds of enslaved that she freed over the course of her lifetime, but for all of those who still look to her story for guidance. Just as she looked to the North Star to carry her to freedom, her work and values remain a guiding light to many to continue onward–no matter how harrowing the path ahead. 

Primary Source Analysis Strategies

Map of Maryland

Caption: This map highlights in red Dorchester County, Maryland. Located right along the coast, it has direct access to water. 

Analysis Questions: 

At first glance, what do you notice about the map? Now, examine the map closely. What do you notice that you did not see the first time? 

Who is the intended audience of this map? 

Spot Dorchester County. What does being able to locate it on a map make you wonder? 

Portrait of Harriet Tubman

Caption: Tubman is seen posing for a portrait sometime between 1871 and 1876, expression neutral while she rests her hands on a chair. The bottom of the image reads “Harriet Tubman (1822-1913)” and “Nurse, spy and scout”.  

What is the first thing you notice when looking at this image? Why do you think you might have gravitated towards that first? 

Based on the events mentioned in the biography between 1871 and 1876 (when this image was thought to be taken), why might Tubman have had this portrait taken? 

What do you notice about her appearance (her attire, hair, etc)?  

The caption “nurse, spy and scout” omits words such as “conductor, abolitionist, formerly enslaved” etc. Do you believe Tubman would have agreed with the caption? If she dictated it herself, why do you think she might have wanted to be known by those three labels? 

Harriet Tubman and her family

Caption: Tubman (on the far left) is photographed alongside her husband Nelson Davis, adopted child Gertie, and various other family members. This photograph was taken in Auburn, NY on the Tubman-Davis property.  

Analysis Questions:  

When examining this photo of Tubman surrounded by family, what questions come to mind?  

Reflect on Tubman’s journey to freedom. What is the significance of this image of her photographed with so many of her family members? 

In comparison to the previous images of Tubman, what differences do you notice in how she appears in this photograph? 

Educator Notes 

"Teacher's Guide Analyzing Primary Sources," Library of Congress

This resource outlines different lenses that students can examine through primary resources through. There is no specific order to use the columns in. The questions students develop through their examination are meant to encourage further research and curiosity. Educators can then propose other activities (as outlined in the resource) that help students further contextualize different - but related - primary sources

"Primary Source Analysis Tool," Library of Congress

This is a blank version of the previous link. Educators can create their own specific sample questions (most likely based on the medium of the primary source to have students answer in each column, or simply have students fill out this document with the guidance of the original document. 

"Teacher's Guide Analyzing Maps," Library of Congress

Similar to the first resource, this document specifically focuses on how to analyze maps. The questions highlighted in each column still use the “Observe, Reflect, Question” model, but allow students to further hone in on the unique features of maps - such as the one featured in this biography. 

• Lacdan, Joe. “Army Honors Female Combat Pioneer, Renowned Abolitionist.” www.army.mil. August 25, 2023. https://www.army.mil/article/269360/army_honors_female_combat_pioneer_renowned_abolitionist . 
• Balkansky, Arlene. Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad. June 16, 2020. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2020/06/harriet-tubman-conductor-on-the-underground-railroad/  
• “Harriet Tubman’s Story.” National Parks Conservation Association. n.d. https://www.npca.org/articles/2162-harriet-tubman-s-story . 
• Harriet Tubman Timeline. University at Buffalo. n.d. http://math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html. 
• “Tubman.” National Parks Service. n.d. https://www.nps.gov/hatu/learn/historyculture/htubman.htm . 
• Larson, Kate Clifford, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero . New York, Ballantine, 2004. 
• London, Nicole, Stanley, Nelson and Christopher, Haley. 2022. Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom . [San Francisco, California, USA]: PBS. 
• Owens, D. C. Harriet Tubman’s disability and why it matters. Ms. Magazine. February 10, 2022. https://msmagazine.com/2022/02/10/harriet-tubman-disability-democracy/ 
• Prescod-Weinstein, Dr. Chanda. “Harriet Tubman, Astronomer Extraordinaire.” Ms. Magazine, February 3, 2023. https://msmagazine.com/2022/02/03/harriet-tubman-astronomer-underground-railroad-north-star-nasa/ . 
• Shoot, B. (2021). The brain injury that helped end slavery. Folks. n.d. https://folks.pillpack.com/brain-injury-helped-end-slavery/  
• “The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Abolition, Anti-Slavery Movements, and the Rise of the Sectional Controversy.” Library of Congress, February 9, 1998. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/abolition.html . 
• “When John Brown Met Harriet Tubman.” National Parks Service. n.d. https://www.nps.gov/hafe/learn/historyculture/when-john-brown-met-harriet-tubman.htm . 
• Wickenden, Dorothy. “Liberty or Death: On the Prophetic Visions and Unflinching Will of Harriet Tubman.” Literary Hub, March 31, 2021. https://lithub.com/liberty-or-death-on-the-prophetic-visions-and-unflinching-will-of-harriet-tubman/ . 
• http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html 

Image Citations 

• Griffith, Dennis, James Thackara, and J Vallance. Map of the State of Maryland laid down from an actual survey of all the principal waters, public roads, and divisions of the counties therein; describing the situation of the cities, towns, villages, houses of worship and other public buildings, furnaces, forges, mills, and other remarkable places; and of the Federal Territory; as also a sketch of the State of Delaware shewing the probable connexion of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. [Philadelphia, J. Vallance, 1794] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/76693265/ . 
• Lindsley, Harvey B, photographer. Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, standing with hands on back of a chair. , ca. 1871. [Between and 1876] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2003674596/ . 
• Powelson, Benjamin F, photographer. Portrait of Harriet Tubman / Powelson, photographer, 77 Genesee St., Auburn, New York. New York, 1868. [Auburn, N.Y.: Benjamin Powelson, or 1869] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2018645050/ . 
• United States Mint. Harriet Tubman 2024 Proof Silver Dollar Coin. 2024. https://catalog.usmint.gov/harriet-tubman-2024-proof-silver-dollar-coin-24CL.html?cgid=harriet-tubman-commemorative-coins#start= 1 
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. "Harriet Tubman; Gertie Davis; Nelson Davis; Lee Cheney; "Pop" Alexander; Walter Green; Sarah Parker; and Dora Stewart " New York Public Library Digital Collections.  https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-793f-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

MLA – Dawson, Shay. "Harriet Tubman-Davis." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2024. Date accessed.  

Chicago - Dawson, Shay. “Harriet Tubman-Davis" National Women's History Museum. 2024.  www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ harriet-tubman . 

• Bradford, Sarah Hopkins. Harriet, the Moses of Her People. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2012. muse.jhu.edu/book/19228 . 
• Hobson, Janell, Michelle D. Commander, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Dr. Kate Clifford Larson, Deirdre Cooper Owens, Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black, Janell Hobson, et al. “The Harriet Tubman Bicentennial Project.” Ms. Magazine, February 1, 2023. https://msmagazine.com/tubman200/ . 
• Library of Congress. Research guides: Harriet Tubman: Topics in Chronicling America: Search Strategies & Selected Articles. N.d. https://guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-harriet-tubman/selected-articles. 

 This biography is sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary  Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University. Content created and featured in partnership with the TPS program does not indicate an endorsement by the Library of Congress.

For further information or questions, please contact [email protected] .

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Harriet Tubman

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 20, 2024 | Original: October 29, 2009

Harriet Tubman was an escaped enslaved woman who became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, leading enslaved people to freedom before the Civil War, all while carrying a bounty on her head. But she was also a nurse, a Union spy and a women’s suffrage supporter. Tubman is one of the most recognized icons in American history and her legacy has inspired countless people from every race and background.

When Was Harriet Tubman Born?

Harriet Tubman was born around 1820 on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her parents, Harriet (“Rit”) Green and Benjamin Ross, named her Araminta Ross and called her “Minty.”

Rit worked as a cook in the plantation’s “big house,” and Benjamin was a timber worker. Araminta later changed her first name to Harriet in honor of her mother.

Harriet had eight brothers and sisters, but the realities of slavery eventually forced many of them apart, despite Rit’s attempts to keep the family together. When Harriet was five years old, she was rented out as a nursemaid where she was whipped when the baby cried, leaving her with permanent emotional and physical scars.

Around age seven Harriet was rented out to a planter to set muskrat traps and was later rented out as a field hand. She later said she preferred physical plantation work to indoor domestic chores.

A Good Deed Gone Bad

Harriet’s desire for justice became apparent at age 12 when she spotted an overseer about to throw a heavy weight at a fugitive. Harriet stepped between the enslaved person and the overseer—the weight struck her head.

She later said about the incident, “The weight broke my skull … They carried me to the house all bleeding and fainting. I had no bed, no place to lie down on at all, and they laid me on the seat of the loom, and I stayed there all day and the next.”

Harriet’s good deed left her with headaches and narcolepsy the rest of her life, causing her to fall into a deep sleep at random. She also started having vivid dreams and hallucinations which she often claimed were religious visions (she was a staunch Christian). Her infirmity made her unattractive to potential slave buyers and renters.

Escape from Slavery

In 1840, Harriet’s father was set free and Harriet learned that Rit’s owner’s last will had set Rit and her children, including Harriet, free. But Rit’s new owner refused to recognize the will and kept Rit, Harriet and the rest of her children in bondage.

Around 1844, Harriet married John Tubman, a free Black man, and changed her last name from Ross to Tubman. The marriage was not good, and the knowledge that two of her brothers—Ben and Henry—were about to be sold provoked Harriet to plan an escape.

After the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman Led a Brazen Civil War Raid

Tubman applied intelligence she learned as an Underground Railroad conductor to lead the Combahee Ferry Raid that freed more than 700 from slavery.

6 Strategies Harriet Tubman and Others Used to Escape Along the Underground Railroad

From elaborate disguises to communicating in code to fighting back, enslaved people found multiple paths to freedom.

Harriet Tubman: 8 Facts About the Daring Abolitionist

Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom in the North in 1849 and then risked her life to lead other enslaved people to freedom.

Harriet Tubman: Underground Railroad

On September 17, 1849, Harriet, Ben and Henry escaped their Maryland plantation. The brothers, however, changed their minds and went back. With the help of the Underground Railroad , Harriet persevered and traveled 90 miles north to Pennsylvania and freedom.

Tubman found work as a housekeeper in Philadelphia, but she wasn’t satisfied living free on her own—she wanted freedom for her loved ones and friends, too.

She soon returned to the south to lead her niece and her niece’s children to Philadelphia via the Underground Railroad. At one point, she tried to bring her husband John north, but he’d remarried and chose to stay in Maryland with his new wife.

Fugitive Slave Act

The 1850 Fugitive Slave Act allowed fugitive and freed workers in the north to be captured and enslaved. This made Harriet’s role as an Underground Railroad conductor much harder and forced her to lead enslaved people further north to Canada, traveling at night, usually in the spring or fall when the days were shorter.

She carried a gun for both her own protection and to “encourage” her charges who might be having second thoughts. She often drugged babies and young children to prevent slave catchers from hearing their cries.

Over the next 10 years, Harriet befriended other abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass , Thomas Garrett and Martha Coffin Wright, and established her own Underground Railroad network. It’s widely reported she emancipated 300 enslaved people; however, those numbers may have been estimated and exaggerated by her biographer Sarah Bradford, since Harriet herself claimed the numbers were much lower.

Nevertheless, it’s believed Harriet personally led at least 70 enslaved people to freedom, including her elderly parents, and instructed dozens of others on how to escape on their own. She claimed, “I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”

Harriet Tubman's Civil War Service

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Harriet found new ways to fight slavery. She was recruited to assist fugitive enslaved people at Fort Monroe and worked as a nurse, cook and laundress. Harriet used her knowledge of herbal medicines to help treat sick soldiers and fugitive enslaved people.

In 1863, Harriet became head of an espionage and scout network for the Union Army. She provided crucial intelligence to Union commanders about Confederate Army supply routes and troops and helped liberate enslaved people to form Black Union regiments.

Though just over five feet tall, she was a force to be reckoned with, although it took over three decades for the government to recognize her military contributions and award her financially.

Harriet Tubman’s Later Years

After the Civil War, Harriet settled with family and friends on land she owned in Auburn, New York . She married former enslaved man and Civil War veteran Nelson Davis in 1869 (her husband John had died 1867) and they adopted a little girl named Gertie a few years later.

Harriet had an open-door policy for anyone in need. She supported her philanthropy efforts by selling her home-grown produce, raising pigs and accepting donations and loans from friends. She remained illiterate yet toured parts of the northeast speaking on behalf of the women’s suffrage movement and worked with noted suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony .

In 1896, Harriet purchased land adjacent to her home and opened the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People. The head injury she suffered in her youth continued to plague her and she endured brain surgery to help relieve her symptoms. But her health continued to deteriorate and eventually forced her to move into her namesake rest home in 1911.

Pneumonia took Harriet Tubman’s life on March 10, 1913, but her legacy lives on. Schools and museums bear her name and her story has been revisited in books, movies and documentaries.

Harriet Tubman: $20 Bill

Tubman even had a World War II Liberty ship named after her, the SS Harriet Tubman.

In 2016, the United States Treasury announced that Harriet’s image will replace that of former President and slaveowner Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (who served under President Trump) later announced the new bill would be delayed until at least 2026. In January 2021, President Biden's administration announced it would speed up the design process to mint the bills honoring Tubman's legacy.

HISTORY Vault: Black History

Watch acclaimed Black History documentaries on HISTORY Vault.

Early Life. Harriet Tubman Historical Society.

General Tubman: Female Abolitionist was Also a Secret Military Weapon. Military Times.

Harriet Tubman Biography. Biography.

Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, Residence, and Thompson AME Zion Church. National Park Service.

Harriet Tubman Myths and Facts. Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman Portrait of An American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson, Ph.D.

Harriet Tubman. National Park Service .

Harriet Tubman. National Women’s History Museum.

Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People. Harriet Tubman Historical Society.

Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad. National Park Service.

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Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led dozens of fugitive slaves to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad and assisted scores of others.

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c. 1820-1913

Who Was Harriet Tubman?

Quick facts, early life and family, escape to philadelphia, underground railroad conductor, how many slaves did harriet tubman free, husbands and children, how did harriet tubman die, tubman on the new $20 bill, tubman in tv and film.

Born into slavery in Maryland, Harriet Tubman escaped to freedom in the North in 1849 to become the most famous “conductor” on the Underground Railroad . Tubman risked her life to lead dozens of family members and other slaves from the plantation system to freedom on this elaborate secret network of safe houses. A leading abolitionist before the American Civil War , Tubman also helped the Union Army during the war, working as a spy , among other roles.

After the Civil War ended, Tubman dedicated her life to helping impoverished former slaves and the elderly. In honor of her life and by popular demand, in 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Tubman would replace Andrew Jackson on the center of a new $20 bill.

FULL NAME: Araminta Harriet Ross BORN: c. 1820 DIED: March 10, 1913 BIRTHPLACE: Dorchester County, Maryland PARENTS: Harriet Green, Ben Ross SIBLINGS: Linah, Mariah, Soph, Robert, Benjamin, Rachel, Henry, Moses

Tubman’s date of birth is unknown, although she was likely born between 1820 and 1825. According to the National Park Service , oral traditions and recent research suggest she was born in early 1822.

She was one of nine children born between 1808 and 1832 to enslaved parents in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her mother, Harriet “Rit” Green, was owned by Mary Pattison Brodess. Her father, Ben Ross, was owned by Anthony Thompson. (Thompson and Brodess eventually married.)

Originally named Araminta Harriet Ross, Tubman was nicknamed “Minty” by her parents. Araminta changed her name to Harriet around her marriage, possibly to honor her mother.

Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

Tubman’s early life was full of hardship. Mary Brodess's son Edward sold three of Tubman’s sisters to distant plantations, severing the family. When a trader from Georgia approached Brodess about buying Rit’s youngest son, Moses, Rit successfully resisted the further fracturing of her family, setting a powerful example for her young daughter.

Physical violence was a part of daily life for Tubman and her family. The violence she suffered early in life caused permanent physical injuries. Tubman later recounted a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast. She carried the scars for the rest of her life.

The most severe injury occurred when Tubman was an adolescent. Sent to a dry goods store for supplies, she encountered a slave who had left the fields without permission. The man’s overseer demanded that Tubman help restrain the runaway. When Tubman refused, the overseer threw a two-pound weight that struck her in the head. Tubman endured seizures, severe headaches, and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life. She also experienced intense dream states, which she classified as religious experiences.

The line between freedom and slavery was hazy for Tubman and her family. Tubman’s father, Ben, was freed from slavery at the age of 45, as stipulated in the will of a previous owner. Nonetheless, Ben had few options but to continue working as a timber estimator and foreman for his former owners.

Although similar manumission stipulations applied to Rit and her children, the individuals who owned the family chose not to free them. Despite his free status, Ben had little power to challenge their decision.

Tubman first encountered the Underground Railroad—an extensive system of people and passages that helped fugitive slaves flee to the northern U.S. states and into Canada—when she used it to escape slavery herself in 1849. Following a bout of illness and the death of her owner, Tubman decided to escape slavery in Maryland for Philadelphia. She feared that her family would be further severed and was concerned for her fate as a sickly slave of low economic value.

Two of her brothers, Ben and Harry, accompanied her on Sept. 17, 1849. However, after a notice was published in the Cambridge Democrat offering a $300 reward for the return of Araminta, Harry and Ben had second thoughts and returned to the plantation. Tubman had no plans to remain in bondage. Seeing her brothers safely home, she soon set off alone for Pennsylvania.

Using the Underground Railroad, Tubman traveled nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of Pennsylvania with relief and awe and recalled later: “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.”

Rather than remaining in the safety of the North, Tubman made it her mission to rescue her family and others living in slavery via the Underground Railroad. She made approximately 13 trips to Maryland to assist family members and friends while serving as a “conductor,” or person responsible for leading fugitives between safe-havens.

In December 1850, Tubman received a warning that her niece, Kessiah, and her two young children would be sold. Kessiah’s husband, a free Black man named John Bowley, made the winning bid for his wife at an auction in Baltimore. Tubman then helped the entire family make the journey to Philadelphia. This was the first of Tubman's numerous trips.

The dynamics of escaping slavery changed in 1850 with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law. This law stated that escaped slaves could be captured in the North and returned to slavery, leading to the abduction of former slaves and free Black people living in the Free States. Law enforcement officials in the North were compelled to aid in the capture of slaves, regardless of their principles.

In response to the law, Tubman re-routed the Underground Railroad to Canada, which prohibited slavery categorically. In December 1851, Tubman guided a group of 11 fugitives northward. Evidence suggests that the party stopped at the home of abolitionist and formerly enslaved person Frederick Douglass .

In April 1858, Tubman was introduced to the abolitionist John Brown , who advocated the use of violence to disrupt and destroy the institution of slavery. Tubman shared Brown’s goals and at least tolerated his methods. Tubman claimed to have had a prophetic vision of Brown before they met.

When Brown began recruiting supporters for an attack on slaveholders at Harper’s Ferry , he turned to “General Tubman” for help. After Brown’s subsequent execution, Tubman praised him as a martyr.

Tubman remained active during the Civil War. Working for the Union Army as a cook and nurse, Tubman quickly became an armed scout and spy . The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the Combahee River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina.

In an 1868 biography, writer Sarah H. Bradford gave an exaggerated estimate of the number of slaves Tubman directly led to safety via the Underground Railroad—as many as 300 across 19 trips. But according to Tubman’s accounts—and extensive documentation of her missions— the number is closer to about 70 family members and friends across 13 trips to Maryland between 1850 and 1860. She did not rescue enslaved people from all across the South , as it would have been too dangerous for her to travel to places where she was not familiar with the geography.

According to the National Park Service , Tubman carried a small pistol with her as a means of protection against slave catchers, as well as to give encouragement to worried runaways who otherwise might turn back and jeopardize the safety of her group.

Additionally, Tubman provided helpful instruction to about 70 slaves from the Eastern Shore who eventually found freedom on their own. Because of these efforts, she earned the nickname “Moses” for her leadership.

In 1844, Harriet married a free Black man named John Tubman. At the time, around half of the African American people on the eastern shore of Maryland were free, and it was not unusual for a family to include both free and enslaved people.

Little is known about John or his marriage to Harriet, including whether and how long they lived together. Any children they might have had would have been considered enslaved since the mother’s status dictated that of any offspring. John declined to make the voyage on the Underground Railroad with Harriet, preferring to stay in Maryland with a new wife.

In 1869, Tubman married a Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis. In 1874, the couple adopted a baby girl named Gertie.

In early 1859, abolitionist Senator William H. Seward sold Tubman a small piece of land on the outskirts of Auburn, New York. The land in Auburn became a haven for Tubman’s family and friends. Tubman spent the years following the war on this property, tending to her family and others who had taken up residence there.

Despite Tubman’s fame and reputation, she was never financially secure. Tubman’s friends and supporters raised some funds to support her. Bradford, an admirer, penned her 1868 biography, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, with the proceeds going to Tubman and her family.

Tubman continued to give freely despite her economic woes. In 1903, she donated a parcel of her land to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Auburn. The Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged opened on this site in 1908.

Tubman died of pneumonia on March 10, 1913, surrounded by friends and family, at around 93. As Tubman aged, the head injuries she sustained early in her life became more painful and disruptive. She underwent brain surgery at Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital to alleviate the pains and “buzzing” she experienced regularly. Tubman was eventually admitted into the rest home named in her honor. She was buried with military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.

DOWNLOAD BIOGRAPHY'S HARRIET TUBMAN FACT CARD

Widely known and well-respected while she was alive, Tubman became an American icon years after she died. At the end of the 20th century, a survey named her as one of the most famous civilians in American history before the Civil War, third only to Betsy Ross and Paul Revere . She continues to inspire generations of Americans struggling for civil rights.

When Tubman died, the city of Auburn commemorated her life with a plaque on the courthouse. Tubman was celebrated in many other ways throughout the nation in the 20th century. Dozens of schools were named in her honor, and both the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn and the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge serve as monuments to her life.

In April 2016, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Tubman would replace Jackson on the center of a new $20 bill. The announcement came after the Treasury Department received a groundswell of public comments following the Women on 20s campaign calling for a notable American woman to appear on U.S. currency. The decision was celebrated, as Tubman devoted her life to racial equality and fought for women’s rights.

In June 2015, Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew was criticized for saying that a woman would likely appear on the $10 bill, which features a portrait of Alexander Hamilton , the influential founding father who found renewed popularity because of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton . The ultimate decision to have Tubman replace Jackson, a slaveholder who played a role in the removal of Native Americans from their land, was widely praised.

The unveiling of the new $20 bill featuring Tubman was planned for 2020 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. However, in May 2019, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that no new designs would be unveiled until 2026 due to counterfeiting issues. In June, the Treasury Department’s inspector general said it would investigate why the launch had been delayed.

In January 2021, the Biden administration said it would be “exploring ways to speed up" the release of the Tubman $20.

Multiple reports have suggested the redesigned bill featuring Tubman will debut in 2030 , although that is a “soft date” subject to change based on various factors.

Actor Cicely Tyson portrayed Tubman in A Woman Called Moses , a two-part 1978 miniseries about her life narrated by Orson Welles that aired on NBC.

A more recent adaptation of Tubman’s life was the 2019 movie Harriet , starring Cynthia Erivo as Tubman. The film chronicled Tubman’s life from her first marriage through her service freeing the enslaved. Erivo was nominated for an Oscar, Golden Globe, and Screen Actor’s Guild Award for her role.

Watch Harriet on Prime Video.

• 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.
• I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.
• I grew up like a neglected weed—ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.
• I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more, if only they knew they were slaves.
• Oh, Lord! You’ve been with me in six troubles, don’t desert me in the seventh!
• 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.
• I had crossed the line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom, I was a stranger in a strange land.
• I have known her long, and a nobler, higher spirit, or a truer, seldom dwells in the human form.
• The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown—of sacred memory—I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have.
• I bring you one of the best and bravest persons on this continent — General Tubman as we call her.
• We will be ourselves and free, or die in the attempt. Harriet Tubman was not our great-grandmother for nothing.
• We saw the lightning and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.
• Much that you have done would seem improbable to those who do not know you as I know you.
• Her tales of adventure are beyond anything in fiction and her ingenuity and generalship are extraordinary.

‘ I ain't got no friend but you. Come to my help, Lord, for I'm in trouble!

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Abolitionists

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abraham Lincoln

Susan B. Anthony

Lucretia Mott

Harriet Beecher Stowe

Frederick Douglass

Alexandre Dumas

Henry David Thoreau

Mary Ann Shadd Cary

James Garfield

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

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Ducksters: Biography: Harriet Tubman for Kids

Kids learn about the biography of Harriet Tubman, the leader in the Underground Railroad who led many slaves to freedom on this website.

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Harriet Tubman Biography

• Born into Slavery

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• Overview and Interesting Facts
• Early Life as a Slave
• Dreaming About Freedom
• The Escape!
• The Underground Railroad
• Freedom and the First Rescue
• The Conductor
• The Legend Grows
• Harper's Ferry and the Civil War Begins
• Life as a Spy
• Life After the War
• Later Life and Death

Harriet Tubman Biography

• Life After the War

     Next >>>

• Overview and Interesting Facts
• Born into Slavery
• Early Life as a Slave
• Dreaming About Freedom
• The Escape!
• The Underground Railroad
• Freedom and the First Rescue
• The Conductor
• The Legend Grows
• Harper's Ferry and the Civil War Begins
• Life as a Spy
• Later Life and Death

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Flickr user Ron Cogswell, Creative Commons

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Harriet Tubman: Illustrating History How can collage-style artwork depict historical events?

In this 3-5 lesson, students will explore Jacob Lawrence’s artistic collage technique from “The Migration Series.” Students will create original Lawrence-style collage artwork about the “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman. 

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Lesson Content

• Preparation
• Instruction

Learning Objectives 

Students will: 

• Determine key details about Harriet Tubman through a children’s book, Harriet and the Promised Land .
• Analyze the artistic technique of collage.
• Discuss the characteristics of collage artwork by artist Jacob Lawrence.
• Research and gather information about a historical figure. 
• Create original artwork in the style of Jacob Lawrence.

Standards Alignment

National Core Arts Standards National Core Arts Standards

VA:Cr2.1.3a Create personally satisfying artwork using a variety of artistic processes and materials.

VA:Cr2.1.4a Explore and invent art-making techniques and approaches.

VA:Cr2.1.5a Experiment and develop skills in multiple art-making techniques and approaches through practice.

VA:Cr3.1.5a Create artist statements using art vocabulary to describe personal choices in artmaking.

VA:Pr5.1.3a Identify exhibit space and prepare works of art including artists’ statements, for presentation. 

VA:Pr5.1.4a Analyze the various considerations for presenting and protecting art in various locations, indoor or outdoor settings, in temporary or permanent forms, and in physical or digital formats. 

VA:Re.7.2.3a Determine messages communicated by an image.

VA:Re.7.2.4a Analyze components in visual imagery that convey messages.

VA:Re.7.2.5a Identify and analyze cultural associations suggested by visual imagery. 

Common Core State Standards Common Core State Standards

ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.2 Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.7 Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on Web pages) and explain how the information contributes to an understanding of the text in which it appears.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2 Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3 Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently.

Recommended Student Materials

Editable Documents : Before sharing these resources with students, you must first save them to your Google account by opening them, and selecting “Make a copy” from the File menu. Check out Sharing Tips or Instructional Benefits when implementing Google Docs and Google Slides with students.

• Capture Sheet: Harriet Tubman , 
• Criteria for Success: Harriet Tubman Collage
• Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence by John Duggleby
• Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence
• Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series by Smarthistory
• Harriet Tubman Abolition Activist
• Jacob Lawrence: 60 Panels of The Migration Series
• National Geographic Kids: Harriet Tubman, Spy
• North Star to Freedom
• Ducksters: Harriet Tubman

Teacher Background

Teachers should review historical information about Harriet Tubman from the following resources: Harriet Tubman Biography , National Geographic Kids: Harriet Tubman, Spy , Harriet Tubman Timeline , History: Harriet Tubman , and Ducksters: Harriet Tubman .

Teachers should also review information about Jacob Lawrence. Note: Some websites require a browser that supports Flash. Jacob Lawrence: The Migration Series , About Jacob Lawrence , Jacob Lawrence: 60 Panels of The Migration Series , Jacob Lawrence Interviews , Book: Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence.

Student Prerequisites  

Students should have background knowledge about the American institution of slavery, the Underground Railroad, and African American history. 

Accessibility Notes

Modify handouts and give preferential seating for visual presentations. Allow extra time for task completion.

Show or share with students the   Jacob Lawrence: 60 Panels of The Migration Series .

Discuss Lawrence’s artwork with students. Ask students: What is similar about these pieces of artwork? (Bold colors, repeated colors, strong shapes, repeated shapes, strong lines, heavy feeling to artwork, strong emotions, little detail, exaggerated figures—they seem to tell an African American story) Why did the artist call this collection of artwork the Migration Series? (African Americans were moving from the south to the north to begin a new life.) How did you feel as you viewed this series of artwork?  

Introduce the artist, Jacob Lawrence, to students by reading Story Painter: The Life of Jacob Lawrence by John Duggleby, and/or watch Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series by Smarthistory .

Explain that the Underground Railroad was a secret migration network of escaped enslaved people from the south to the north. This is not the migration that Lawrence was depicting in his Migration Series, but it is the subject of some of Lawrence’s artwork.

Read Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence. Ask students: How is the artwork in this book similar to the slide show? (Same colors, shapes, emotions, and style) What do you think Lawrence was trying to share with his viewers through this series of artwork? (The emotional journey of Tubman and her followers, the risk, and the fear.) What new information did you learn about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad?

Explore the artistic style of collage art. Explain that collage-style art comes from the word “coller,” meaning to “to glue or to stick.” In Lawrence’s work, shapes, color, and other items are layered onto a single surface to create a multi-layered creation. There is often a background, middle ground, and foreground. 

Show a piece of artwork in Harriet and the Promised Land . Ask students: Is the artwork composed using a vertical or horizontal layout and why? (Most, but not all, portraits are done in a vertical format; and most, but not all, landscapes are done in a horizontal format.) What is in the background? What is in the middle ground? What is in the foreground? How does the artist distinguish between these “grounds”? (by varying the size of the shapes, from smallest in background to largest in foreground) In what order do you think the artist places items onto the paper? (background to foreground) Why do shapes overlap? (to create depth through layers) How did he know where to place the items? (He probably made a sketch with pencil first to visualize the pieces and their placement onto the paper.) What colors did Lawrence use? What shapes are repeated? What story was Lawrence trying to tell with this collage illustration ?

Have students research and gather details about Harriet Tubman’s life with the Capture Sheet: Harriet Tubman . Share the following resources with students: National Geographic Kids: Harriet Tubman, Spy , North Star to Freedom , Video: Harriet Tubman, Abolition Activist , and Ducksters: Harriet Tubman . 

Create a Lawrence-type collage. Have students create a scene that depicts an aspect of Harriet Tubman’s life or journey. The scene should depict three or more “facts” about Tubman and her north-south journeys. Students can pull from information gained from Harriet and the Promised Land or from their research. For example, students may choose to show the North Star that guided her, the rivers journeyed along or waded through, the friends/allies that provided housings along the way, or some of the dangers that were encountered .

Review the Criteria for Success: Harriet Tubman Collage with students. Provide students with feedback throughout the process. 

Reflect 

Create a Jacob Lawrence classroom gallery. Display artwork in the classroom, hallway, or create a digital gallery. If possible, place Lawrence prints alongside student work. Invite students from another class to view the gallery.

Assess students orally as they serve as a docent (museum tour guide) to explain their artwork to the students on the tour.

• Write an original poem about Tubman to accompany the collage. Use one or more poetic devices in the original poem: alliteration, metaphor, onomatopoeia, personification, rhyme, and simile. 
• Explore the other works of Jacob Lawrence or other collage artists.
• Choose a topic to research and create a collage. The topic can be related to math, science, history, or another subject area. Create a Lawrence-style collage on the topic. 
• Create a timeline of historical events. As a class or in small groups, create Lawrence-style collages showing a series of events.

Original Writer

Carol Parenzan Smalley

Gladys Van Der Woude

JoDee Scissors

July 27, 2021

Related Resources

Lesson harriet tubman: an informative and impressionistic look.

In this 3-5 lesson, students will conduct research on Harriet Tubman and explore impressionistic artwork depicting her life. Students will create original impressionistic artwork.

• Drawing & Painting

Lesson Harriet Tubman: Retelling History Through Dance & Drama

In this 3-5 lesson, students will observe a dance performance to understand the emotional struggles Tubman faced as she helped enslaved people escape and travel north along the Underground Railroad. Students will create an original dance or drama production to the song, “Harriet Tubman.”

Lesson Harriet Tubman: Secret Messages Through Song

In this 3-5 lesson, students are introduced to African American spirituals and their use of a secret language to share information. Students will listen to and analyze spirituals, then write an original spiritual to share a secret message.

• English & Literature

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