Miss Tubman was a brave, awesome lady. I’m glad she stood up and helped so many.
Saw a documentary type show on her recently, on Prime I think, and it is well worth the watch.
Pretty sure she ended up part of the Union Army as a scout. Amazing.
The site, referenced below, has a lot of interesting facts on Harriet Tubman’s life. The one fact I don’t recall reading in school was she only rescued family and friends.
“[S]he rescued about 70 people – family and friends – during approximately 13 trips to Maryland.”
“Tubman returned only to Maryland to bring away loved ones – family and friends she could not live without and whom she could trust. It was too dangerous for her to go places where she did not know people or the landscape.”
“Harriet Tubman carried a small pistol with her on her rescue missions, mostly for protection from slave catchers, but also to encourage weak-hearted runaways from turning back and risking the safety of the rest of the group. Tubman carried a sharp-shooters rifle during the Civil War.”
http://www.harriettubmanbiography.com/harriet-tubman-myths-and-facts.html
Indeed. When she stepped off the boat in Carolina, the Union Soldiers figured out who she was and lined up to salute her as she walked by. She then acted as a scout for the Army, which was a big risk for a black woman that far South. Congress was uneasy recognizing her contributions, though, in part because she was black but more so because she was a woman. If women could fight in a war, they might want the vote, next.
Amazing American.
I found out about Jane Bond, I mean Harriet Tubman, a few years ago. I learned her name in school, of course, but the only women we actually learned about from the Civil War were the same two Confederate spies every text book focuses on.
Tubman led raids into rebel territory to free slaves. She infiltrated free Blacks into confederate plantations to be a spy ring. This lady was absolutely amazing!
If modern textbook writers didn’t have such a bias for trying to minimize the good of America and emphasize the bad, Harriet Tubman’s amazing story would be known by every schoolchild in the country.