Childhood Life

• Harriet Tubman was born a slave in 1820.

• At the age of six she began working as a house slave.

• About seven years later she was sent to work in the fields.

Life as a Slave

• Harriet married a free slave, taking his last name.

• She wasn’t able to see any of her family members.

• She worked day in and day out.

Guardian

• Harriet Tubman was injured saving her field hand. She was blocking a doorway to protect her field hand from an overseer. The overseer picked up a two pound block and through it but the brick fell short and hit Harriet on the head.

• She always looked after her people.

Slave No More

• Harriet wanted to escape from slavery.

• One night she planned to head out with assistance from a white woman.

• She went to Pennsylvania and found work to save up some money.

Journey Begins

• When Harriet had enough money she went back to the slave field first to get her family.

• Harriet returned to the south again and again.

Freeing Her People

• She devised clever techniques that helped make her forays successful, including leaving on a Saturday night, since runaway notices couldn't be placed in newspapers until Monday morning; turning about and heading south if she encountered possible slave hunters; and carrying a drug to use on a baby if its crying might put the fugitives in danger.

• Harriet carried a gun just to threaten the runaway slaves if they decide they are too tired and want to go back. She would say “You’ll be free or die.”

300 Slaves Saved

Harriet Tubman never lost one slave. All 300 were saved.

After Slavery

• Harriet couldn’t read or write but she outwitted bounty hunters and sheriffs. In 1868, Harriet began working on her autobiography with Sara Hopkins Bradford, a white school teacher in Auburn, New York. Her autobiography was published in 1868.

In 1896, she was a delegate to the National Association of Colored Women's first annual convention. Around the turn of the century, she bought 25 acres of land near her home with money raised through benefactors and speaking engagements, and made arrangements for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church to take over the Home.

Start of the rest of her life