He “Moses of her people.” This article is built with energy shifts, built-in hooks, audience-focused storytelling.
Born in Chains: The Child Who Knew She Was Meant to Be Free (c. 1822)
Harriet Tubman was born Armenta Ross around 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland, into the brutal world of American slavery. Her parents were enslaved. Her siblings were enslaved. Her body belonged to others before she knew what her own name meant.
From the age of five, she was hired out forced to watch over white children, clean homes, and trap muskrats in icy waters.
She bore beatings. She went hungry. But deep inside her, a flame refused to go out.
One day, she was struck in the head by a heavy metal weight meant for someone else. The injury caused lifelong seizures and visions, which she interpreted as messages from God. In that trauma, she found spiritual clarity and courage.
“I had reasoned this out in my mind: there was one of two things I had a right to liberty or death.”
She chose liberty.
The First Escape: One Woman Against a Country (1849)
At 27, Harriet heard she was about to be sold.
She ran.
Alone, under the cover of night, she followed the North Star walking over 90 miles through woods, swamps, and terror. Every snapping twig could mean bounty hunters. Every dog’s bark was a gun being loaded.
But she made it to Philadelphia, to freedom.
Did she celebrate? Rest?
No.
“I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything.”
That glory wasn’t enough.
Because her family was still enslaved.
So Harriet turned around and went back.
The Conductor of the Underground Railroad (1850s)
Harriet Tubman became a conductor on the Underground Railroad a secret network of abolitionists and safe houses stretching from the South to the North.
Over the course of 13 dangerous missions, she led more than 70 enslaved people to freedom, including her brothers, parents, and nieces.
She never lost a passenger.
She carried a pistol not just for protection, but to ensure no one turned back and risked the others.
“You’ll be free or die.”
Her nickname became “Moses” not because she parted seas, but because she crossed forests and swamps with divine fearlessness.
Slave catchers offered a $40,000 reward for her capture. She never got caught.
The Abolitionist Warrior (1858–1860)
Harriet’s legend grew.
She met with Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, and John Brown abolitionists who saw her as more than just brave. She was strategic. Charismatic. Revolutionary.
In 1858, she met John Brown, who was planning an armed uprising to end slavery. He called her “General Tubman.”
Though she didn’t join the raid at Harpers Ferry, she supported his cause believing that freedom must be taken when it is not given.
As the nation crept toward Civil War, Harriet prepared not for escape but for battle.
Spy, Scout, Soldier: Tubman in the Civil War (1861–1865)
When the Civil War erupted, Harriet didn’t stay on the sidelines.
She joined the Union Army first as a nurse, then as a spy, scout, and commander.
In 1863, she led the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina a military operation that freed more than 700 enslaved people in a single night.
She was the first woman to lead a military assault in U.S. history.
“I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.”
While soldiers got medals, Harriet got barely any pay. But she didn’t stop.
She wasn’t fighting just a war. She was finishing the journey she began on foot in 1849.
The Warrior Becomes an Elder (1865–1900)
After the war, Harriet returned to Auburn, New York, where she had purchased land years earlier as a sanctuary for her family.
But she was poor, despite everything she’d done.
She worked odd jobs. Sold vegetables. Fought tirelessly for the U.S. government to recognize her service and grant her a pension.
In her old age, she became active in women’s suffrage, standing beside leaders like Susan B. Anthony, arguing that Black women deserved the vote, too.
“I suffered enough to believe a woman can do anything.”
She established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, where she would later spend her last days—still caring for others.
The Final Journey (1913)
Harriet Tubman died in 1913, surrounded by family and friends.
Her final words were:
“I go to prepare a place for you.”
She was buried with military honors, though it took decades for the nation to recognize her full greatness.
Today, her face is planned to appear on the U.S. $20 bill a symbol of how far her journey has reached.
She began life as someone else's property.
She ended it as one of America’s greatest freedom fighters.
The Legacy That Refuses to Rest
Harriet Tubman’s story isn’t just a tale from the past.
It’s a flame that still burns in the heart of every freedom fighter.
A reminder that one voice, one woman, can shift the tide of history.
She was illiterate. She was epileptic. She was hunted. And she was unstoppable.
She didn’t wait for change.
She became it.