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Birth
Harriet Tubman was born somewhere around 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was born a slave as Araminta Harriet Ross to Harriet "Rit" Green and Ben Ross. On this Maryland Plantation, she would work as a house servant and later as a field hand. -
Injury
One day, Tubman was trying to protect another slave from terrible punishment after trying to escape so the white man trying to punish him threw a weight at Tubman's head. Because of this, she duffered from seizures, severe headaches, and narcolepsy for the rest of her life. -
Marriage
Harriet Ross ( She took the name Harriet lafter her mother) =became Harriet Tubman after marrying John Tubman, a free African American. John did not want her to escape to the northern states bur it was her dream so she left without him. This marriage did not last long. -
Escape to Freedom
Harriet left her husband and fled to Philadelphia to pursue her dream of being free. She escaped using the Underground Railroad. -
First "Passengers"
Somewhere in 1850, Tubman helped her family escape to the North by sending a letter to her oldest nephew telling them to board a fishing boat in Cambridge. .This was the first of about 19 successful trips to the north. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This act passed by Congress prevented freed slaves from truly being free. It made it illegal to help a slave escape and if an escaped slave was found within the U.S. they would be captured and returned to their master. Traveling through the Underground Railroad became even more risky, but this did not stop Harriet Tubman. -
Made Conductor
Harriet Tubman was made an official conductor of the Underground Railroad. She knew all the routes to the North and took an oath promising she would keep the UGGR a secret. -
Period: to
Canada
Harriet made several trips to Canada leading her passengers to freedom in St. Catherine, Ontario. Canada was a base where she took her passengers and where she would work to raise money for her trips. -
Auburn
Harriet was friends with the US Senator William H. Seward who lived in Auburn, New York. He gave her and her family a house there and it is where she sould live for the rest of her life. -
Nurse in the Civil War
Tubman became a nurse for the Union army in Hilton Head, South Carolina. She enlisted as a "contraband" nurse who were african americans that the Union helped to escape from the south. Here she treated many sick and wounded soldiers without ever falling sick herself. -
Scout in the War
In the Summer of 1863, Tubman became a scout for Colonel James Montgomery. She created a group of spies and would keep an eye on slaves who might want to join the army. -
The Combahee River Raid
During the American Civil War, Tubman helped Colonel James Montgomery in the Combahee River Raid in Beaufort, South Carolina. She found where the Confederate Army hid gunpowder and set fire to buildings. Together, they freed over 500 slaves in the raid. -
Slavery is Abolished
Because of Harriet Tubman and many other abolitionists, the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, is passed. -
2nd Marriage
Tubman married former Civil War soldier, Nelson Davis. They lived together peacefully for 19 years until Davis died. -
Gertie
Harriet Tubman and Nelson Davis adopted a baby girl named Gertie. They never had any biological children -
The Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged
In 1903, Tubman gave her property in Auburn to the African Methodist Episcopal Church. IN 1908, it became the Harriet Tubma Home for the Aged. It housed from 12-15 people in its lifetime including Harriet Tubman herself. -
Death
After a meaningful life, Harriet Tubman died at the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged. She was around 93 years old.