Who Was Harriet Tubman?
Who Was Harriet Tubman?
For my mother, Malcah Zeldis—Y.Z.M.
To Christopher, a Nan’s best friend—N.H.
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Who Was Harriet Tubman?
No one knows the exact year in which Harriet Tubman was born. It may have been 1820 or 1821. Almost everyone thought the birth of a slave baby wasn’t worth remembering. Born a slave, Harriet Tubman grew into a brave and daring young woman. She was brave enough to escape from slavery. She was daring enough to help others escape, too. Because she led so many to freedom, she was called “Moses.” Like Moses in the Bible, Harriet Tubman believed that her people should be free. And she risked her life many times to help them become free. Even after she had escaped safely from the South, she went back to take other slaves north to freedom. Here is her story.
Chapter 1
Life in Maryland
Sometime around 1820 in Maryland, a slave named Harriet Ross had a baby girl. Neither Harriet, who was called Old Rit, nor her husband, Ben, could read or write, so they couldn’t record the year of the baby’s birth. No one else thought it was worth doing. But Old Rit loved her tiny child and wanted to protect her. She hoped her little girl, whose nickname was Minty, would learn to sew, cook, or weave. Then she could be a house slave and avoid the backbreaking work picking crops like tobacco, corn, or wheat in the fields.
