ia_2009_b_katie

=B. Summary of Evidence (500-600 words) Tips]=  Harriet Tubman is described as many things. She was a wife and a daughter but to the majority of African American slaves in the United States from 1850 onwards she's described as "the Moses of her people". [|[1]] The Slave trade within the United States consisted of capturing African natives and forcing them to travel to Europe and northern America as forced laborers. In the United States the slaves were mostly found in the southern states such as Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi because a large number of the northern states, such as California, outlawed this practice. In 1861 the American civil war began. While the primary cause of the war didn’t consist of the slave trade, the issue came into play in “September of 1862”. [|[2]] In 1865 the north won thus ending slave trade within the United States. Harriet Tubman was born into slavery around 1820, for no one knows her exact birth date. Her parents both slaves lived on a plantation near the Black river in Dorchester County, Maryland. When Harriet was an adolescent she endured a serious head injury. As a result of this injury Harriet would at times fall “into a lethargic sleep from which it’s impossible to awaken her” [|[3]], her condition is believed to have been temporal lobe epilepsy. In 1844 Harriet married a free black man by the name of John Tubman, but this did not enable her to gain any freedom. In 1849 her master died therefore forcing his widow to sell a large portion of her slaves. Harriet seeing what lied ahead decided she needed to flee to the northern states, even though her husband pleaded that she stay until the widow had decided her fate. She then decided to escape with her brothers the 17 of September 1849. After two weeks though both of her brothers started to have second thoughts and decided that it would be best to return thus forcing Harriet to return with them. That night though Harriet Tubman escaped again and obtained freedom by reaching Pennsylvania. The exact routes used are unknown but what we do know is that she used a system called the Underground Railroad. This organized system was mostly run by free blacks, white abolitionists and religious groups such as the Quakers, who’d house the slaves and set up scenarios so that they wouldn’t be suspected as runaways. After her arrival in Philadelphia she began working in order to return to the plantation and free her family. This though would be an extremely difficult task due to the fact the __Fugitive Slave Law of 1850__ had just been enforced, which obliged officials to capture and hand over all runaway slaves. Harriet Tubman returned to Maryland to rescue her niece and her children after news of their sale; and successfully was able to bring them over the border. Not long afterwards she returned to guide her brother and some other men, but her trips did not stop here. In 1851 she returned to fetch her husband only to find out that he had married a young woman by the name of Caroline and already had a family. She continued to make trips though, sometimes leading a group of up to eleven people to freedom. In all she made about 20 trips down south thus freeing 300 people. In 1861, right after the civil war had started, Harriet joined a group of Boston and Philadelphia abolitionists whom aided in camps and assisted deserters. She then teamed up with a well known supporter of the abolition by the name of David Hunter who wanted to create a black regiment within the northern armies. However this was denied by President Lincoln. She then went and became a nurse aiding soldiers suffering from dysentery and smallpox. In 1963 Tubman paired up with Colonel James Montgomery and captured Jacksonville, Florida; thus making her the first woman to ever lead an armed assault during the civil war and winning the approval to let black men join the troupes As a result seven hundred slaves were rescued. For the following two years Tubman worked with the Union forces as a scout, nurse and spy [|[4]]. In 1869 she remarried a man by the name of Nelson Davis. Harriet's goals for improvement didn't only lie within the slave trade, she believed in women’s rights. In 1869 she became a leading organizer of the  National Association of Colored Women's first annual convention [|[5]]. Harriet Tubman died the 10th of March, 1913. [|[6]] Harriett Tubman’s tombstone reads: “ Called the “Moses” of her people, during the civil war, with rare courage, she led over three hundred negroes up from slavery to freedom, and rendered invaluable service as nurse and spy[…]She truthfully said “on my underground railroad I nebber run my train off de track and I nebber los’ a passenger.” [|[7]]



[|[1]] Harriett Tubman (the road to freedom), by Catherine Clinton, 2004, pg.79 [|[2]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War [|[3]] Telford Memoir, 5 [|[4]] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman [|[5]] http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/tubm-har.htm

[|[6]]   http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/tubm-har.htm

[|[7]] Harriett Tubman (the road to freedom), by Catherine Clinton, 2004, pg.216

   

