ia_2009_d_katie

=D. Analysis (500-650 words) Tips]=

Did Harriet Tubman play a significant role in the liberation of slaves before and during the civil war? While she was a conductor in the underground railroad, she certainly worked closely with the Union Army and with other famous abolitionist such as Frederick Douglas, Lydia Marie Child and Sojourner Truth: but were these contributions enough to be regarded as historically significant? Finally were these numourous efforts a result of the black's making their way in society and therefore enabling their own liberation or were they passive beneficiaries of the acts of the Whites? All these questions come into play when looking at modern history and the changes that take place throughout time. Harriet Tubman possesess an iconic image and memory in American, especialy African American culture; but is this this image accurate? With the continued underachievement in schools and in particular, society for working class men was this image fabricated in order to fullfill the need for inspirational black role models from the past?

__a. Tubman's Contribution__ While Harriett Tubman's contributions before the civil war may not be considered to be abolitionist actions because of their lack of organisation and anti slavry motives, they still played a great role in her later actions and her future-found respect. Harriet Tubman along with two of her brothers escaped from slavery september 7th, 1849. In 1851 Harriett Tubman became a conductor of the "underground railroad", a secret organisation made up of people who helped escaped slaves from the south travel safely to the free states in the northern part of the United States. Over the course of ten years she made 19 trips south and freed over 300 slaves. These events were what gave her the importance and reliability that she was able to obtain during the civil war and during her abolitionist movement.

Harriett Tubman started her involvement in the abolition movement in 1862 at the outbreak of the civil war, working as a nurse to the sick. In 1863 Tubman led her first espionage operation under the secretary of war Edwin M. Stanton in South Carolina along side 150 other black soldiers freeing, 750 slaves. This would be the first of many rescue missions, including the Combahee operation and the Battle of Milliken's Bend. Each one of these operations was a success and another accomplishment in Harriett Tubman's name. We can observe one of these events in a letter Tubman dictated and sent to Franklin Sanborn: "We weakened the rebels somewhat on the Cambahee River by taking and bringing away seven hundred and fifty six head of their most valuable live stock, know in our region as "contrabands", and this too without the loss of a single life on our part...".

A major problem for historians in assessing Tubman's contribution is that she prefered to stay anonymous in most of the war records only being stated as a negro woman or a woman named "Moses", a nickname given to her based on the biblical character Moses who freed the isrealite people from the egyptiens and led them to the "promise land". Unfortunately, because of this, we're unable to know all of the missions in which Tubman played a role; except for the few found by historians such as Catherine Clinton and Shirley J. Yee.We can observe, the lack of mention of her name, in the article documenting her first public raid: "Col. Montgomery and his gallant band of 300 black soldiers, under the guidance of //a black woman//, dashed into the enemy's country...".

__b. Other Individual__

When the civil war broke out it's main dilemma was not an issue of slavery but an economic and political issue. When president Lincoln was elected the southern states wanted to split off from the United States and form their own country. The north strongly oppossed this idea and decided to start a war to gain their independance. Slaves and abolitionists found the war to be a great opportunity to stop the slave trade. Seeking any opportunity they could to get involved many blacks joined the Union army as soldiers and spys. Abolitionist Lydia Marie Child found there contributions and efforts as a good starting point at allowing and enabling them freedom and rascial equality. She then decided to write a letter to President Abbraham Lincoln stating her case. In order to make her letter more effective she decided to add in a quote by harriet Tubman stating that if he wants the civil war to end he must abolish slave trade within the united States:. . . God won't let Master Lincoln beat the South until he does the right thing. Master Lincoln, he's a great man, and I'm a poor Negro but this Negro can tell Master Lincoln how to save money and young men. He can do it by setting the Negroes free. Suppose there was an awful big snake down there on the floor. He bites you. Folks all scared, because you may die. You send for doctor to cut the bite; but the snake is rolled up there, and while the doctor is doing it, he bites you again. The doctor cuts out that bite; but while he's doing it, the snake springs up and bites you again, and so he keeps doing it, till you kill him. This shows that Lydia Child found Tubman to be well enough heard of and respected to have had an impact on the president of the united States. Not long afterwards the president decided to make slavery apart of the civil war. Though we have no evidence to state that Harriet Tubman played a part in that decision, for Lincoln never stated this, we do know that her many contributions made her an important and well known abalitionist for her time. There were other abolititinists who played a big part in this descision along with Tubman. These abolitinists include Sojourner Truth, a woman's rights activist and abolitionist,Frederick Douglass and John Brown among many others. Frederick Douglas is perhapse the most well known and also worked a great deal along side Harriet Tubman. Like Tubman he belonged to the Union Army during the Civil War and recruited a great deal of black men. He later became the " leading spokesperson for the abolition of slavery and for racial equality." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1539.html

c. Other factors Harriet Tubman, having been a slave herself throughout her childhood and early adult life, dedicated her life to the anti slavery cause. By the time she reached the end of her life Tubman had freed 300 slaves, worked with the Union army as a spy, nurse and scout and communicated with President Lincoln on behalf of her cause. Though the civil war most likely could have been won without her, her efforts were still important and highly regarded. Which makes Harriet Tubman one of the most well heard of female slavery abolitioners of her time.