Maritza Cisneros, 20333229, History 1301.

29, Row 4

Risjord, Norman. “Harriet Tubman: Moses to Her People.” In Representative Americans: The
Civil War Generation, 57-75. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2001.
Harriet Tubman was a leading abolitionist in the anti-slavery movement. In fact, as a

conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman never lost a passenger and was one of

the few that dared to go into the South. The author concludes that Harriet Tubman’s participation

was so crucial to the antislavery-movement, especially the Underground Railroad, that she

eventually became a symbol for it.

In elementary school, I participated in a school musical about the Underground Railroad

where I performed the songs Harriet Tubman would sing to instruct the slaves, such as Wade in

the Water and Follow the Drinking Gourd. So, with having some knowledge about Harriet

Tubman, I decided it would be interesting to learn about her story and find out why exactly she

sang the songs that she did.

Harriet Tubman was born on a plantation in Dorchester county, Maryland. After resisting

training to become a house servant at age five, Tubman became a field slave. When her first

master died, Tubman’s family went to work for John Stewart. Stewart was so lenient he allowed

her to marry a free black man. This marriage caused Tubman to be curious about her own legal

status, so she hired a lawyer to investigate. This lawyer discovered that Tubman’s mother’s first

owner said that she was to be free at the age of forty-five making the Stewart/Tubman family

free. So, she set out to secure her freedom with the help of white allies who took her to

Philadelphia. She reached Philadelphia, worked as a house maid, and met William Still. Still told

Tubman about his organization’s “railroad” and she became a conductor in it. Her first mission

was her family.

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Once she brought her family to freedom, Tubman returned to Maryland for her husband

whom she found living with another woman. Tubman left her husband behind and took her first

group of volunteers to freedom. In a short period of time, Tubman had already returned to

Maryland eleven times when the average trips of a conductor’s entire work were nineteen.

Tubman also participated in many attempts to rescue fugitive slaves such as Charles Nalle. It is

in the Battle of Troy, where she helps Nalle escape as he is being led back to jail, that she

showed her greatest resistance to the law. Tubman’s attempts to bring freedom to everyone

carried into the Civil War. She entered the civil war with an enthusiasm and served not only as a

nurse, but as a recruit of Colonel James Montgomery where her experience as a conductor came

in handy as she aided in the transportation of newly freed slaves from South Carolina. Tubman

eventually remarried and settled down in Auburn, New York. She participated in the women’s

suffrage movement alongside her friend Susan B. Anthony and established a home for elderly

black women. When Tubman realized her last breath was upon her, she called for her friends and

performed her own funeral service.

The most important lessons I learned from this time period were that the country was

heavily divided on the issues of slavery and central power. The South even tried to leave the U.S

and form the Confederate states. Also. the North was against slavery, but they still believed

blacks to be inferior causing racism and white dominance to be an ongoing issue.

This article was interesting and informative. It not only explained the events Tubman

participated in, it also explained how each one helped the anti-slavery movement. Thus, proving

the author’s thesis. Although this article was interesting, it did get boring during the Civil War

section. This section had more details about the events of the war and less about Harriet

Tubman’s contribution to it. Despite that, I enjoyed the article and would recommend it to others.
 Maritza Cisneros, 20333229, History 1301.29, Row 4

Harriet Tubman displays social responsibility by being a conductor for the Underground

Railroad, providing nursing services for government hospitals, and participating in the women’s

suffrage movement. Harriet Tubman risks her freedom when she decides to become a conductor

for the Underground Railroad. As a conductor, Harriet Tubman gathers and guides slaves to the

North where they will be free. Harriet Tubman cared more about helping others find their

freedom than her own displaying her selfless act of social responsibility. Even after being

enslaved and wronged by the government, Harriet Tubman still provided aid during the Civil

War. Through this Harriet Tubman shows accountability by voluntarily nursing soldiers back to

good health. Harriet Tubman once again fulfills her social duty when she participates in the

women’s suffrage movement by giving a speech where she points out that she never lost a

passenger during her time as an Underground Railroad conductor.

When William Still met Harriet Tubman, he told her of the Philadelphia Vigilance

Committee’s “railroad” to New York and Canada. After connecting her to his sources, Harriet

Tubman made it her first priority to bring her family to the North. Harriet Tubman displays

personal responsibility by bringing her family to freedom before she brought anyone else to

freedom. Harriet Tubman also fulfills her personal duty by taking it upon herself to investigate

her own legal status. Then when she finds out that her mother is free, making her technically

free, she sets out to ensure her freedom. Tubman accomplished this by looking for an ally,

concocting a plan, and setting out for Philadelphia. So, she shows personal accountability by

bringing herself to freedom instead of waiting for someone else to fulfil their social

responsibility.