Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born in 1822 and passed away in 1913. Her maiden name was Araminta Ross. Harriet Green and Ben Ross were her slave parents. Tubman and Ross were slaves to Mary Pattison Brodess. Ross was the slave of Mary's husband. Tubman's maternal grandmother was Modesty. As a child, Modesty told Harriet that she was of Ashanti lineage, what is now known as Ghana. Tubman's mother was assigned to the (Big House), and she did not have much time to take care of Tubman. So Tubman had to take care of a younger brother and a baby. When Tubman was 5 or 6 years old, she was hired by a woman named "Miss Susan," as a nurse maid. She was ordered to take care of the baby and watch him when he was sleeping, when he woke up and when he cried. Tubman was whipped. She was lashed five times before breakfast. She had these scars for life.

Tubman was accused of stealing sugar. So she hid in the neighbor's pigsty for five days, fighting with the animals for scraps of food. She was starving, so she went back to Miss Susan and received a very heavy beating. Usually when receiving beatings, she bit their ankles and they would step back. Tubman also worked as a child at the home of a planter named James Cook. She was ordered to check the muskrat traps. Even when she caught the measles, she was forced to go into waist-high freezing water. She became very ill and was sent back home. Her mother nursed her back to health where she was immediately hired to work on farms. She became home sick and even compared herself to "The Boy on the Swanee River," an illusion to Stephan Forster's song "Old Folks at Home."

When she was growing into her pre-teen years, people would assign her much more cruel jobs like hauling logs, driving oxen and plowing. One day when Tubman was an adolescent, she was sent to a store for some things. There she saw another slave and the family that owned him. He left their fields without being asked to do so. The overseer asked Tubman to get the slave and hold him down. Tubman refused, so the overseer threw a two pound weight at the slave. He missed and it hit Harriet and he did not apologize. That weight broke her skull. Her hair which was thick and nappy might have saved her life. She was bleeding and unconscious. She went back to her owner's house and sat on the couch. For two days, she had no medical attention, but she was immediately sent back to the field. "With blood and sweat running down my face, until I could not see anything, said Tubman, my boss said that I was "not worth six pence."

He returned her to the Brodess, and they tried to sell her but were unsuccessful. Tubman had seizures, and would fall into convulsions. She would look like she was sleeping but said that she was aware of her surroundings. Her family would get scared when she would fall asleep without warning. This happened for the rest of her life. In 1840, Harriet's father