Harriet Tubman - An Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove

Written By Christina Moffett

After many posts where there is an extreme lack of information, this one was a change of pace! The problem was now too much information to sift through. Harriet Tubman does have entire books written about her and you could certainly teach a course just focused on her. I tried to write as comprehensive of a post as I could about her without making it ridiculously long. Harriet is one of the most well-known Black American historical figures, and for good reason. Though she died 110 years ago, her story of fortitude in extreme circumstances will long outlast even those who are reading this now.

Harriet, 1895

Harriet was born Araminta "Minty" Ross in March of 1822 (maybe). The exact year and place of her birth is unknown, as it is with most enslaved people. One historian recorded it as 1822 based on her runaway advertisement and a midwife payment, while another suggests 1820, and another 1825. Her death certificate lists it as 1815 and her tombstone says 1820. Her birthplace was a plantation or farm in Dorchester County, Maryland.

Her parents, Harriet "Rit" Green and Ben Ross were enslaved by two different white families: Rit by Mary Pattison Brodess's family and Ben by Anthony Thompson (who became Brodess's second husband). He ran a large plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland near the Blackwater River. Rit, who may have been a child of rape by a white man, was a cook for the Brodesses and Ben managed the timber work on Thompson's plantation. They had married around 1808 and had nine children together, including Harriet. Rit's mother, Modesty, was abducted from Africa and transported on a slaving ship to America. Harriet did not know her lineage, but once was told she seemed like an Asante person. 

Rit and Ben's family was, like so many, torn apart by the cruel system of slavery. Three of their daughters, Linah, Mariah Ritty, and Soph, were sold, forever separated from their family. Mary Brodess's son, Edward, also tried to sell Rit's youngest son, Moses, to Georgia. She instead hid her child for a month, aided by other free and enslaved Black friends.  Brodess and the man from Georgia went to Rit's quarters to take her son, where she told them, "You are after my son; but the first man that comes into my house, I will split his head open." Brodess abandoned the sale. It was this event that influenced Harriet to believe in the possibility of resistance.

Because Rit was assigned to "the big house," Harriet took care of two younger siblings. When she was around five or six, she was hired out by Brodess as a nursemaid to a "Miss Susan." She was to care for the baby and rock its cradle; when the baby cried, Harriet was whipped. Once she was whipped five times before breakfast, carrying the scars for the rest of her life. Probably inspired by her mother, she found ways to resist, such as wearing layers of clothing as protection against lashings, fighting back, and once running away for five days. She later said that "slavery is the next thing to hell."

After this, Harriet worked at the home of James Cook, another planter. She was to check the muskrat traps in the nearby marshes, meaning she was constantly wet from the waist down. She became ill with the measles but still had to work; she was so weak she collapsed and Cook sent her back to Brodess to be nursed by Rit. Harriet was hired out again immediately upon recovery, this time for domestic work. Once she took a lump of sugar, which she had never tasted. The mistress found out and Harriet was so scared of punishment that she ran away. She took shelter in a pigpen for three days, fighting pigs for scraps of food.

She continued to fight incredible homesickness as she grew older and stronger. At twelve, Harriet was put to work in the fields. She was assigned to different tasks, such as driving oxen, plowing, and hauling logs. She did say that she preferred to labor outside, getting a "steady schooling" in nature, to the "tedium of domestic work."

Enslaved plantation workers planting sweet potatoes

Harriet acquired her disability when she was twelve or thirteen. She was working when she was hit by a two-pound metal weight thrown by an overseer at an enslaved person attempting to flee. She may have intentionally stepped between the two men, trying to intervene. Harriet said the weight "broke her skull." She, bleeding and unconscious, was returned to Brodess and laid on the seat of a loom. She remained without medical care for two days. By the third day post-injury, she was back working in the fields. For the rest of her life, Harriet would frequently have extremely painful headaches and dizzy spells. She had seizures and would fall apparently unconscious, though she claimed she only appeared to be asleep while still being aware of her surroundings. While this is often cited as narcolepsy, it's theorized to be temporal lobe epilepsy as a result of her traumatic brain injury (TBI). 

Though Harriet was illiterate, she was told Bible stories by her mother and attended a Methodist church with her family. After her injury, she began experiencing visions and vivid dreams, which she interpreted as revelations from God. She became zealous in her faith. She rejected the teachings of white preachers who urged enslaved people to be passive and obedient. Instead, Harriet was drawn to the Old Testament tales of deliverance. This religious passion shaped her every action for the rest of her life.

Ben, Harriet's father, was manumitted in 1840 by Thompson's son after Thompson died. He had promised to free him at the age of 45. Ben continued to work for the Thompsons as a timber estimator and foreman. Years later, Harriet worked with a white attorney to find out her mother's legal status. He was paid $5 (almost $200 in 2023) and discovered that Rit had a similar provision from a previous owner. She was supposed to be freed at the age of 45 and any children born after that age were legally free. The Pattison and Brodess families refused to follow this when they inherited Rit and her family.

Though legally not allowed to wed, Harriet entered into a marital union with John Tubman, a free Black man, around 1844. This is when she changed her last name to Tubman and her first to Harriet, in honor of her mother. This kind of blended marriage was not uncommon in Maryland at the time, as half of the Black population was free. Most Black families had both free and enslaved members. Harriet was still the legal property of Brodess and any children the couple had would be enslaved too. One historian suggests John may have planned to buy Harriet's freedom. Very little is known about him or their marriage, though a source claimed that John would later threaten to betray her if she followed through on her plans to escape enslavement.

Five years later, Harriet became so sick, possibly from complications from her TBI, that Brodess tried to sell her, but could not find a buyer. In her anger, she began to pray for her owner, that he may change his ways. She said, "I prayed all night long for my master till the first of March; and all the time he was bringing people to look at me, and trying to sell me...I changed my prayer. First of March I began to pray, 'Oh Lord, if you ain't never going to change that man's heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way.'" Brodess died a week later, for which Harriet expressed regret at her prayers. She never hesitated to share this story, however, "because she knows [the] shock value and understands the need to shock in order to re-create the time and the situation and the extremes to which it drove people," per biographer Beverly Lowry.

Brodess's widow began to sell off the family's enslaved people. Harriet refused to wait around, though her husband tried to convince her to stay. She later explained, "There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other." She and two of her brothers, Ben and Henry, escaped from slavery on September 17, 1849, while they were hired out to Thompson. The two men had second thoughts and forced Harriet to return with them two weeks later.

Harriet soon escaped again, this time on her own. She used the Underground Railroad, an informal network of people that transported her to Philadelphia. The 90 mile journey took between one and three weeks, as she had to travel by night and hide at safe houses and in the woods and marshes. She recalled crossing into Pennsylvania: "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven."

Statue of Harriet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Though she basked in her new freedom, Harriet greatly missed and worried for her family. She worked odd jobs, such as housekeeping, and saved her money. Soon after arriving, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, meaning that no escaped people were safe in the United States: no matter where they were living, including in the North, they could be recaptured and sent back into enslavement. Many sought refuge in Canada, as the British Empire had abolished slavery in 1833. 

Harriet did not leave, however, determined to rescue her family. She was nearly thirty years old when she decided to take action. In December of 1850, she helped her first group escape: her niece Kessiah and her two children, six-year-old James and baby Araminta. They fled the auction block with Kessiah's free husband, John. She returned to Baltimore early the next year to rescue her brother Moses and two other men. With each trip, she became more confident. In 1851, Harriet returned to Dorchester County for the first time to find her husband, John. She had saved money to purchase a suit for him and make her way south, only to find that he had married a free Black woman named Caroline. He insisted he was happy where he was and refused to join her. She was furious, but decided he wasn't worth the trouble. Harriet instead found some enslaved people who wanted to escape and led them to Philadelphia. John was killed 16 years later in a roadside argument with a white man.

Harriet (left) with a group she led to freedom, undated

In December 1851, Harriet led a group of eleven escapees all the way north to Canada. It was on this trip that she met Frederick Douglass for the first time; they worked together on the Underground Railroad and admired each other greatly throughout their lives. Over the next decade, Harriet rescued around 70 people in thirteen trips back to Maryland. This included her three other brothers, their wives, and some of their children. She also gave specific instructions to 50-60 other escapees who fled north. One of her last trips was to get her parents. Though Ben had purchased his wife's freedom for $20 ($680 in 2023) in 1855, the area remained hostile for them. In 1857, Harriet heard that her father was in danger for harboring eight escaped people. She led her parents north to St. Catharines, Ontario, where a community of many former enslaved people lived. William Lloyd Garrison, a famous abolitionist, nicknamed her "Moses," alluding to the Old Testament man who had led the Hebrews to freedom from Egypt. Slaveholders in the region never knew that Minty Ross was responsible for so many escapes in their communities. 

Even while enduring seizures and blinding headaches, the tiny 5-foot-tall Harriet was never captured: "I was conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say - I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger." She usually worked during the winter nights, using disguises and her knowledge of the area to avoid detection. She always carried a pistol, for both protection and to "encourage" anyone having second thoughts, and would drug children to keep them quiet. Harriet spoke frequently of her religious faith and visions, saying that was "consulting with God," and trusted that He would keep her safe. She also used spirituals as coded messages. When she led escapees across the border, Harriet would call out, "Glory to God and Jesus, too. One more soul is safe!"

Harriet was constantly busy, caring for relatives and speaking to abolitionist audiences. She took on her nephew, James Bowley, as a protégé, paying for his schooling so he could become a teacher. He would later teach freedmen and then was elected to the Legislature of Reconstruction in South Carolina. She also gave some aid recruiting for John Brown, who called her "General Tubman," before his raid on Harpers Ferry, but was not present at the actual raid. She may have been in New York, ill with a fever related to her TBI, or in Ontario, recruiting escapees, or in Maryland, rescuing family members. She, like many abolitionists, saw Brown as a martyr, saying, "He done more in dying, than 100 men would in living."

Statue of Harriet in Auburn, New York

In 1859, an abolitionist Senator, William H. Seward, sold Harriet a small piece of land outside of Auburn, New York, for $1200 ($43,000 in 2023) with lenient terms for repayment. She brought her parents over from Canada, where the harsh winters were difficult for them to endure, even though the Fugitive Slave Act meant they were at risk of being re-enslaved. This land became a safe haven for relatives and boarders, offering a safe place for Black Americans. Shortly after the land purchase, Harriet went back to Maryland and returned with her eight-year-old "niece," Margaret. She claimed her parents were free Blacks and that Margaret had a twin brother. Margaret's daughter later claimed it was a selfish "kidnapping." Historians have suggested the girl may have been Harriet's daughter, though their relationship will always be a mystery. 

Her last trip took place in November 1860. She had attempted to free her sister, Rachel, and her two children Ben and Angerine. She arrived to discover that Rachel had died and her children remained enslaved. Harriet was unable to rescue them and their fates are unknown. This failure was a source of "lingering heartbreak" for her. Harriet quickly changed plans and gathered another group to lead north, arriving safely in Auburn on December 28. It was eight days after South Carolina had seceded. The American Civil War would officially begin not four months later.

Mural of Harriet in Cambridge, Maryland

Harriet knew that the Union must win in order to abolish slavery. She informally joined General Benjamin Butler's troops in May 1861 and headed to Fort Monroe, Virginia. She worked with many escaped slaves (called "contraband") who had flooded the Union lines. The next year, in March, she joined a group of Boston and Philadelphia abolitionists heading to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Harriet arrived in Port Royal on a military ship, the USS Atlantic. There she continued working with escapees.

Their geographic position was dangerous, as the Union army was surrounded by the Confederate troops on three sides and the Atlantic Ocean on the fourth. In May of 1862, General David Hunter declared all "contraband" in Port Royal as freed and began recruiting a regiment of Black soldiers. President Abraham Lincoln reprimanded Hunter for this action, saying he was not ready to enforce emancipation in the Confederate states. Harriet was livid and publicly condemned Lincoln.

Using her knowledge of herbal medicine, she worked as a nurse in Port Royal, aiding soldiers suffering from dysentery, typhoid, cholera, malaria, and even smallpox. Harriet did not fall ill, leading to more rumors that she was blessed by God. She also served as a cook and laundress. She initially received government rations for her work, which made newly freed people angry that she received "special treatment." She gave up the rations and made money instead selling pies and root beer.

Harriet gained many friends and advocates, who all became the foundation for her spy network. This was begun under the direction of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in early 1863. Her previous experience sneaking through the Maryland marshes and rivers was used as she led a band of scouts around the Port Royal area. They mapped the unfamiliar terrain and gained information on its inhabitants. She also provided key intelligence to Colonel James Montgomery, helping him capture Jacksonville, Florida. 

To add to Harriet's already lengthy list of accomplishments, she also became the first woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War. She was involved in a night raid on plantations along the Combahee (pronounced "KUM-bee") River in June 1863. Harriet served as lookout and guided three steamboats around Confederate mines in the water. She then directed more boats and Black soldiers to designated spots on the shore where escapees were to hide out. On shore, the Union soldiers destroyed plantations, buildings, and seized food and supplies. Enslaved people in the area stampeded towards the boats, finally liberated. More than 750 were rescued in the Combahee River Raid. Tubman later recalled, "I never saw such a sight. Sometimes the women would come with twins hanging around their necks; it appears I never saw so many twins in my life; bags on their shoulders, baskets on their heads, and young ones tagging along behind, all loaded; pigs squealing, chickens screaming, young ones squealing."

Newspapers praised her "patriotism, sagacity, energy, [and] ability." Because many of the freed men then joined the Union Army, Harriet was also heralded for her "recruiting efforts." Since the Black soldiers succeeded wildly, both the North and South could no longer pretend that Blacks were unfit for military service. She wrote Stanton that "Combahee was only the beginning." She also wrote Massachusetts Governor John Andrew, promising that the Union would "desolate" Confederate slaveholders "by carrying away their slaves, thus rapidly filling up the South Carolina regiments of which there are now four."

Union commanders were dependent on her as their secret weapon, though her name was kept out of official military documents. Harriet later worked with Colonel Robert Gould Shaw at the assault on Fort Wagner. She described the battle as such: "And then we saw the lightning, and that was the guns; and then we heard the thunder, and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling, and that was the drops of blood falling; and when we came to get the crops, it was dead men that we reaped." This accomplishment was unknown until the following month, when a Boston journalist published an article about her. It was in this article that first brought her work on the Underground Railroad to public attention.

Because of health issues, Harriet returned home to Auburn on furlough in the summer of 1864. She was making her way back South in April 1865 when the war ended. She served for several more months before finally heading home permanently. Despite her service, she never received a regular salary and was denied compensation for years. Because she was constantly helping her family and other formerly enslaved people, she consistently lived in poverty. She sold produce, raised pigs, and took in boarders. One boarder was farmer Nelson Charles Davis, formerly of North Carolina. The two fell in love, though he was 22 years younger than she was. Nelson and Harriet wed on March 18, 1869, when she was in her late forties.

Harriet, 1868 or 1869

Also in 1869, Harriet had another moment of historical defiance. On a train ride to New York, the conductor told her to move from the half-price section to the baggage car. She refused and showed the government-issued papers that entitled her to ride. He cursed and grabbed at her, but she resisted. Passengers helped him and they muscled her away from the railing, breaking her arm. They threw her into the baggage car, injuring her further. White passengers cursed at her and shouted that she should be kicked off the train. This event was later cited when Rosa Parks refused to move from her bus seat in 1955.

Sadly, because of Harriet's precarious financial circumstances and growing debts, she was swindled in 1873. Two men claimed to have a cache of gold they had smuggled out of South Carolina. This treasure, claimed to be worth $5000 ($124,000 in 2023), could be hers for $2000 ($49,000 in 2023) in cash. They also claimed to know a relative of hers, so she took them into her home. She borrowed money from a wealthy friend and arranged to receive the gold late one night. The men lured her into the woods, attacked her and knocked her out with chloroform, stole her purse, and bound and gagged her. Harriet, dazed and injured, was found by her family. All the money was gone. One positive that came from this was that it refreshed the public's memory of her: a bill was introduced to pay her $2000 for services rendered to the Union Army. It was defeated in the Senate.

Harriet, 1875

Harriet and Nelson adopted a baby girl, Gertie, in 1874. They ran a 7-acre farm and a brick business. In the early 1880s, their home burned down and a brick building constructed in its place. It was then that Nelson became very ill and was unable to work. Friends and supporters did try to raise funds to support her. One wrote an authorized biography in 1869 that gave her $1200 ($26,000 in 2023) in income. A re-written volume was released in 1886, also to give her some money. She also continually sought patrons for her dream of establishing a home for Black veterans, the elderly, people with disabilities, and the homeless.

Litograph from 1869 biography

Nelson died of tuberculosis on October 14, 1888. The Dependent and Disability Pension Act of 1890 made Harriet eligible for a pension as Nelson's widow. Her application was finally approved in 1895: she received $8 ($283 in 2023) a month plus a lump sum of $500 ($17,700 in 2023) due to the delay. As she had for decades, she fought for her own pension, A journalist wrote in 1896: "It seems strange that one who has done so much for her country and been in the thick of the battles with shots falling all about her, should never have had recognition from the Government in a substantial way." A petition was held the next year in Auburn for a bill to approve a "military pension" of $25 ($894 in 2023) a month, the exact amount surviving soldiers received.

A government committee hemmed and hawed, some not believing her claims or that her service warranted a full military pension. Others suggested just pensioning her as a nurse. Another factor in this debate that cannot be ignored that she was a Black woman petitioning white men for a federal pension. In February 1899, Congress finally approved $20 ($715 in 2023) a month, $8 for widow's pay and $12 for her service as a nurse. They did not acknowledge Harriet's service as a scout and spy. This steady income finally provided her with some stability. In 2003, Congress approved paying an additional $11,750 ($19,000 in 2023) to maintenance of her relevant historical sites as compensation for the perceived deficiency of the payments in her lifetime. 

As you can probably guess, Harriet never gave up her activism. She promoted women's suffrage and attended meetings of suffragist organizations around the country. When asked if she believed women ought to have the vote, Harriet replied, "I suffered enough to believe it." She was the keynote speaker at the first meeting of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in 1896. This led to more public admiration of her once again, though she still remained in poverty due to her endless giving. For instance, Boston hosted a series of receptions in 1897 honoring Harriet, but she had to sell a cow to buy a train ticket to get there.

Harriet, 1900

In 1903, Harriet donated a parcel of her land to her beloved church, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, in Auburn. The instruction was that it be made into a home for "aged and indigent colored people." It opened five years later, though Harriet was upset that residents had to pay a $100 ($3,200 in 2023) entrance fee. She still attended the opening of the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged and Indigent Colored People as the guest of honor.

The effects of her seizures and TBI worsened as Harriet aged. In the late 1890s, she had brain surgery at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. She had requested an operation because the pains and "buzzing" in her head made it impossible to sleep. The doctor "sawed open [her] skull, and raised it up, and now it feels more comfortable." She had no anesthesia during the surgery, instead biting down on a bullet as she had seen soldiers do during limb amputations. 

Harriet, 1913

Harriet eventually, in 1911, became so feeble that she was admitted to the rest home that bore her name. A New York newspaper wrote that she was "ill and penniless," leading to another round of donations. She died of pneumonia, surrounded by her loved ones, on March 10, 1913. She was approximately 91 years old. Before she died, she said to those in the room, "I go to prepare a place for you." Harriet was buried with semi-military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn.

Statue of Harriet in New York City

Schools and museums are named for her and she has been depicted in numerous books, movies, documentaries, and art pieces. Recently, there has been a push to depict her more honestly. Kasi Lemmons, director of the 2019 biopic Harriet, remarked that "these [children's] books defanged her, declawed her, to make her more palatable. Because there's something quite terrifying about the image of a black woman with a rifle." Mary Elliott of the Smithsonian calls her "an iron fist in a velvet glove." She "appreciated looking pretty," but "had no problem with getting dirty if it meant saving a life."

In 2016, the US Treasury announced her image would replace former President Andrew Jackson's on the $20 bill. Though President Trump's Secretary of the Treasury later said the bill would not be released until at least 2030, President Biden's administration announced in 2021 that it would try to accelerate the process. This honor will make her the first woman and first Black person on US paper currency.

Harriet is a very quotable person, but I will close with one of my favorites: "...and I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that's what I've always prayed for ever since." 

Most sincerely,

Christina
 

Places of Interest

 

Media of Interest

 

Books of Interest

For PreK & Elementary Readers

For Middle Readers

For Adult Readers

 

Works Consulted

About Harriet Tubman. (n.d.). Freedom Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://harriettubmanbyway.org/harriet-tubman/

Clinton, C. (2022, August 19). “General Tubman”: Female abolitionist was also a secret military weapon. Military Times. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.militarytimes.com/military-honor/black-military-history/2018/02/07/general-tubman-female-abolitionist-was-also-a-secret-military-weapon/

Early Life. (2023). Harriet Tubman Historical Society. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from http://www.harriet-tubman.org/early-life/

Harriet Tubman. (2021, August 11). Biography. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.biography.com/activists/harriet-tubman

Harriet Tubman. (2023a). American Battlefield Trust. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/harriet-tubman

Harriet Tubman. (2023b, January 6). National Park Service. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.nps.gov/people/harriet-tubman.htm

Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, Residence, and Thompson AME Zion Church. (n.d.). Aboard the Underground Railroad. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/underground/ny1.htm

Harriet Tubman, the Moses of her people. (2023). Harriet Tubman Historical Society. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from http://www.harriet-tubman.org/moses-underground-railroad/

History.com Editors. (2023, January 19). Harriet Tubman. History.com. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman

Michaels, D. (Ed.). (2015). Harriet Tubman. National Women’s History Museum. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman

Role in the Civil War. (2023). Harriet Tubman Historical Society. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from http://www.harriet-tubman.org/role-in-the-civil-war/

Solly, M. (2019, October 30). The True Story Behind the Harriet Tubman Movie. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/true-story-harriet-tubman-movie-180973413/

 

Last Updated: 26 Sept. 2023

Christina Moffett
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