Harriet Tubman

I Harriet Tubman was born Aramineta Harriet Ross in the time frame of 1820 in Dorchester, Maryland, I was one of nine children born by Rit Ross and Ben Ross who married in 1808. Some of my heritage comes from my grandmother's arrival from Africa and my background of an Ashanti. My factual date of birth is not found due to slave regulations. Anyway, as a child life was very rough, my mother was sent to the big house and I had to take on the role as mother taking care of my brothers and sisters. At age 6 I was hired by Brodess to work for Miss Susan as a nurse aid. My duties were to take care of the baby and if it made one sound I was beaten brutally by Miss Susan. After leaving Miss Susan I went to James Cook to be his personal planter. One day while I was at the dry goods store I disobeyed an order by an owner and was hit in the head with a metal weight which broke my skull. I remember the day like a good ole Sunday meal, I was immediately unconscious. For days I suffered side effects like seizures, narcoleptic attacks, and powerful migraines, and I had frequents vision issues and outrageous dreams. Finally the pain stopped and I was able to continue my duties.

Years later I became older and was sent into the fields, somewhere no slave wants to be, it was rumors going all around the country that they work you until death. I was terrified but I knew I had to do to live my life. Time flew by and the year was 1844, the year that was the beginning to a life I always wanted. That year I met my husband John Tubman and decided to switch my first name to Harriet like my mothers and take my husband's last name. 5 years of working in the fields, mumbles came that all of us were to be sold to different locations. At that time I resolved a plan and decided to begin an escape plan. That night, graciously a kind white woman offered to help me and in the blink of an eye I was set out on foot following the North Star all the way to Philadelphia. I made a difficult decision but stayed in Philadelphia with a job and little cash by my side.