Recently I read “Harriet Tubman” written by M.W. Taylor. This book was an easy read; it outlined the life of Harriet. There are a few highlights I would like to share about this book.

Harriet was born into slavery as Harriet Ross around 1820 “on the Eastern shore, a peninsula shared by the state of Delaware and parts of Maryland and Virginia.” No one officially recorded her exact birth because few slaves could read and write. Slave owners did not keep accurate record of slaves born to them. Her parents, Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross who were slaves belonging to Maryland planter Edward Brodas. Harriet’s mother was known as “Old Rit” and named her daughter Araminta. I found it interesting that her parents were both “full-blooded Africans” brought over in chains from Ashanti, in West Africa (according to legend).

When Harriet was 5 she was rented to a family, but ended up getting sick. She was sent back to get well, then off to another family. She ended up running away for stealing some sugar, came back and was beaten. She was sent back to the Brodas to get well again. When she was well, she was sent out again. This time to work outside splitting fence rails. She liked this type of work. She had a rough childhood, but she continued on, becoming strong and aware of what it is like to be mistreated. As she came into her teenage years, she was introduced to runaway slaves and what could happen to them. One such incident happened when she was about 15, in the fall of 1835. She followed a “black man sneaking away from the group” and she decided to follow him. She ended up helping this man escape, in the process she was hit on the head with a two-pound lead weight. It hit her square in the head, knocked her to the floor with blood pouring out from the gash in her head. She was sent back to her mother who nursed her back to health, but she was never quite the same after that. She ended up being forgetful and would have “sleeping fits” at random.

Later, she was hired out with her father to John Stewart. She eventually worked outside alongside her father. All the while, she dreamed of freedom. In 1839, they heard of a slave ship where the slaves won their freedom and were returned back to Africa. This sparked a dream she told about later, seeing a line. On one side were green fields and on the other side, lovely flowers. The line really did exist, it is the Mason/Dixon line named after two surveyors in 1767.

There is so much more to the story, as many of us know. I wanted to share some history about her, before she became the leader of the Underground Railroad. Her history helped me understand her later decision to help free slaves. I encourage you to read this book for a simple understanding of this great woman.

Respectfully,
Alisha Turner