Harriet Tubman Essay

While the free essays can give you inspiration for writing, they cannot be used 'as is' because they will not meet your assignment's requirements. If you are in a time crunch, then you need a custom written term paper on your subject (harriet tubman)
Here you can hire an independent writer/researcher to custom write you an authentic essay to your specifications that will pass any plagiarism test (e.g. Turnitin). Waste no more time!

Harriet Tubman was one of the greatest American women of the

nineteenth century. Though she was a descendant of African

origin-- a group highly discriminated against in that time

period-- she achieved many accomplishments. Some of these

accomplishments included aiding the women?s rights movement,

raising money for public education, opening a nursing home for

aged blacks, and even having a high school named in her honor.

She even worked as a spy and a nurse for the Union army in the

Civil War. Yet, her most famous and noted accomplishment was her

involvement in the freeing of hundreds of imprisoned slaves

through the Underground Railroad.

Harriet Tubman, born in 1820 with the name of Araminta Ross,

was one of eleven children. Since her parents were slaves on a

plantation in Dorchester, Maryland, Harriet was born into

slavery. She was put to work at the age of five and served as a

maid and a children?s nurse. However, little Harriet was a

feisty child, and often refused to follow her master?s orders.

Many times she simply did not work as fast as the other slaves.

She was eventually moved from the house to work in the field at

the age of twelve. This was fine, because she preferred work in

the fields over work in the house. Many blacks preferred the

field, because they could talk to each other and laugh while they

worked. Slaves who worked in the house were under the constant

scrutiny of stern masters.

Sadly, like the majority of slaves during that time period,

Harriet was victim of cruel treatment. She, like her fellow

slaves, was forced to perform grueling labor from sun rise, often

until far after night fall. They were allowed a ten minute break

in the middle of the day so they could eat their cold ration of

bacon. When the break was over, the slaves were forced back out

into the fields.

Being the rebel she was, Harriet Tubman was often subject to

harsh beatings. When she was thirteen years old, she was hit in

the head by her master with a two-pound weight. The blow left

her with permanent brain damage that caused sudden blackouts

throughout the rest of her life. It also left a scar on her

forehead.

At the age of twenty-four, Tubman received permission from

her owner to marry a free black man named John Tubman. She

remained a slave according to law, but her master allowed her to

live with her husband. This gave her a taste of semi-freedom

that she grew to addicted to.

In 1847, her master died suddenly, making Tubman?s slave

status uncertain. Her master?s son also died, so there was no

one to become heir to the plantation. Fearing that she would be

sold in order to settle her master?s estate, she finally fled for

freedom in the North. However, her husband stayed in the south

and eventually remarried. Harriet did not marry again until

after his death.

After she moved to Pennsylvania, Harriet Tubman joined the

abolition movement. The abolition movement was a fight to end

slavery in the south. She was so passionate about the concept of

freedom, that she risked her life and became a conductor on the

Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a network of

abolitionists who helped slaves escape from the South by

providing them with food and shelter during their journey to the

North. On her first trip in 1850, Tubman rescued her sister and

her sister?s children. The following year she saved her brother,

and in 1857 she finally managed to saved her elderly parents.

Tubman was a genius when it came to rescuing imprisoned

slaves. She constantly changed her escape routes. She also

avoided being spotted by angry Southerners who offered large

rewards for her capture by dressing up in disguises. Many times

she posed as a deranged old man, and even an old woman.

Tubman also had the uncanny ability to find food and shelter

during these hazardous missions. She carried a special sleeping

powder to stop babies from crying and always had a pistol to

prevent the people she was rescuing from backing out once the

dangerous journey had begun. She would point the gun at them...

The rest of the paper is available free of charge to our registered users. The registration process just couldn't be easier. Log in or register now. It is all free!
You should cite this paper as follows:

MLA Style
. EssayMania.com. Retrieved on 23 May, 2012 from
    <http://essaymania.com/136788/harriet-tubman>

More College Papers

You Belong To Me essay
FIRST ENTRY: (from page 1-100) The suspense novel, You Belong to Me, by Mary Higgins Clark, begins by easily catching my interest as it automatically discusses its first conflict. It s setting falls in October in the very busy city of New York. The protagonist, Dr. Susan Chandler, is a young cli

Hot Zone-Summary And Analysis essay
THE HOT ZONE By Richard Preston In October of l989, Macaque monkeys, housed at the Reston Primate Quarantine Unit in Reston, Virginia, began dying from a mysterious disease at an alarming rate. The monkeys, imported from the Philippines, were to be sold as laboratory animals. Twenty-nine of a ship

The Power Of Wood essay
The Power of Wood One day before Ben Hogan became a famous world-renowned golfer he would practice his shots often. He would go to the putting greens and would practice his chip shots, his lob shots, and even his trick shots to impress other golfers. One lowly day early into Ben s life as a golfer