Harriet Tubman Research Paper

Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross to slave parents, Harriet Green and Ben Ross. Harriet Green was known as Rit. Harriet Tubman was known as Minty. Rit was owned by Mary Pattison Brodess and later her son Edward. Her mother Rit who may have been the child of a white man was a cook for the Brodess family .Her father Ben was a skilled woodsman who managed the timber work on Thompson's plantation.In Harriet’s childhood, Harriet had to watch her little brother and a baby because Harriet’s mother was assigned to "the big house" and had scarce time for her family, as a child Harriet took care of a younger brother and a baby, as was typical in large families. At the age of five or six, Brodess hired her out to a woman named "Miss
Susan" as a nursemaid. Tubman was ordered to keep watch on the baby as it slept; when it woke and cried, Tubman was whipped. She carried the scars for the rest of her life.
As a child, Harriet also worked at the home of a planter named James Cook. She had to check the muskrat traps in nearby marshes, even after contracting measles. She became so ill that James Cook sent her back to Brodess, where her mother nursed her back to health. Brodess then hired her out again. As she grew older and stronger, she was assigned to field and forest work, driving oxen, plowing, and hauling logs. Around 1844, she married a free black man named John Tubman. Although little is known about him or their time together, the union was complicated because of her slave status. Since the mother's status dictated that of children, any children born to Harriet and John would be enslaved. Harriet changed her name from Araminta to Harriet soon after her marriage, though the exact timing is unclear. She adopted her mother's name, possibly as part to honor another relative. In 1849, Harriet became ill again, and her value as a slave was diminished as a result. Edward Brodess tried to sell her, but could not find a buyer. First of March she began to pray, for her master to die so she could leave. Then a week later, Brodess died and Tubman expressed regret for her earlier
sentiments. Brodess's death increased the likelihood that Harriet would be sold and the family would be broken apart. Harriet refused to wait for the Brodess family to decide her fate, despite her husband's efforts to dissuade her. Tubman and her brothers, Ben and Henry, escaped from slavery on September 17, 1849. Because the slaves were hired out to another household, Eliza Brodess probably did not recognize their absence as an escape attempt for some time. Two weeks later, she posted a runaway notice in the Cambridge Democrat, offering a reward of up to 100 dollars for each slave returned. Once they had left, Tubman's brothers had second thoughts. Ben may have just become a father. The two men went back, forcing Tubman to return with them. Soon afterward, Tubman escaped again, this time without her brothers. Beforehand, she tried to send word to her mother of her plans. She sang a coded song to Mary, a trusted fellow slave that was a farewell. While her exact route is unknown, Tubman made use of the network known as the Underground Railroad. Her traveling by foot would have taken between five days and three weeks. Harriet had to travel by night, guided by the North Star, and trying to avoid slave catchers, eager to collect rewards for fugitive slaves. The "conductors" in the Underground Railroad used a variety of deceptions for protection. Harriet missed her family so she saved money from these odd jobs she did. For 11 years Harriet returned again and again to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, rescuing some 70 slaves in 13 expeditions, including her three other brothers, Henry, Ben, and Robert, their wives and some of their children. She also provided specific instructions for about 50 to 60 other fugitives who escaped to the north.