Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in 1820. She would become instrumental during the civil war working as a Union spy but she was born a slave child with the most humble of beginnings.
Tubman was born in Maryland but due to the fact that she was born into slavery, her accurate date of birth is hard to surmise. Tubman was born into a world of cruelty with the cruel hands of masters inflicting horrific beatings and punishment on a regular basis.
As a young woman, an abusive slave owner threw a heavy metal intending to hit another slave and hit her in the head. The abuse later caused seizures and other problems but as many Christian slaves often did in those years, Tubman contributed the hallucinations that she had from the abuse as visions from a higher powerGod.
After her own escape from slavery, Tubman led many other slaves out of the south and out of slavery. She was dubbed as a "Moses" of her time and credited for never losing a slave once their journey began. In 1850, a slave law passed (Fugitive Slave Law) that forced Tubman to take her fellow slaves into Canada. Once they arrived there safely, Harriet even helped them start their new lives helping them secure employment positions.
When the Civil War began, Tubman was there. She worked for the Union Army as a nurse and as a scout-spy. She even guided the notorious raid at Combahee River where over seven hundred slaves were freed.
After her death, Harriet Tubman achieved the kind of fame that she deserved in her lifetime. She died in 1913 and left behind a legacy of courage for many to emulate.
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