Harriet Tubman - the Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman was born a slave in the early 1800,s. She was considered to be one of the most bravest slaves of her time. She rescued thousands of slaves over the course of her life. She married at an early age and later became hurt by the fact that her husband did not wait on her to come back to rescue him. He married another lady and she was never the same after that.

At an early age Harriet was hired out by her slave owner to a family that made her work very hard. she had to see after the children while the mistress of the house slept. She had to keep the baby quiet and if the child would cry during the mistress sleeping she would wake up and wack Harriet where ever should could land a hit. Harriet was abused and barely received anything to eat. Because she did not get enough food to eat she would find herself stealing food from the pantry of the house. She got caught one morning by the master of the house. Startled that he had caught her she took off running and escaped form him. She stayed out in the night cold with the hogs or pigs. she took sick with a fever and nearly died. The master felt that she was no use to him anymore so he sent the sick girl back to her family and her owner. However this would not be the last time that Harriet would be hired out to other families. On up to the age of 16 she was being hired out. Harriet was not your average nice,petite lady that most women were instead she was husky looking and could out work any man. She enjoyed having that kind of strength.

Harriet Tubman continue to work for families and she styayed away from her family the majority of the time. One evening she heard her mother crying and did not know what was happening. She later found out that the master was trying to sell some of her sisters and brothers. The father been distraught hid his children away from the master.. In tHese days if a slave went against his master for any reason he would automatically be whipped to death or hanged. But because her father was a good worker and all the master overlooked the situation and did not sell them at the time. The stubborn Harriet Tubman refused to ever be put in that kind of situation decided that she would make an escape plan. The first time she decided to escape it failed due to her brother having cold feet. But she went on later and made her daring escape. She hid the slaves out in the deepest part of the woods and they would wait untl a certain time before moving. Harriet had a motto for all the slaves that chose to go on the journey with her if they dared to try to turn back she would place a gun in their face and give them the choice to either keep moving or die where they stood. Many times this took care of all the problems. Harriet stood about 4 feet 5 inches and even the men feared her.

Because of the many slaves that she rescued and later her old parents she is known as the lady of the hour in the 1800's.