Harriet Tubman
Her Impact on American History
By Paige Fallon
Becoming a hero...
Harriet Tubman made a major impact on American history. She was an African American woman who worked in the Underground Railroad. Tubman (a slave herself) was an aid to many fellow slaves, leading them to freedom.
Background on the Underground Railroad
A secret network of safe houses and hidden routes used by the 19th-century black slaves in the US to help other slaves escape from the South to North and Canada in the years before the Civil War.
Her journey
Tubman worked as a spy for the Union during the Civil War and in the Suffrage Movement for women's rights after the war. She guided over 300 slaves to freedom by helping them escape.
Whilst helping release slaves, she was known as “Moses” particularly because she “never lost a passenger”.
Post-War
After the Civil War, she retired in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her elderly parents. Tubman was involved in the women’s suffrage movement until she became extremely ill, hardly able to function.
The End
Towards the end of her life, she lived in an elderly home purposely for African Americans that she had founded in a previous year.
Harriet Tubman raised herself up, becoming a brave soul who is nowadays recognized as a hero.