Harriet Tubman

Name

Harriet Tubman

Years Lived

1822 – 1913

Short Biography

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland, around 1822 to Harriet (Rit) Green Ross and Benjamin Ross. She was one of nine children. Herself, her mother, and her siblings were separated from their father as their enslaver, Edward Brodess, separated them and had them work on different farms. Brodess began renting out Tubman at age six to provide childcare, and this work caused her to be separated from her mother and siblings for extended periods. At 13, Tubman was accidentally struck in the back of the head by a two pound weight which an enslaver had thrown in the direction of a freedom seeker, and the weight fell short, striking Tubman. Her skull was fractured and her mother nursed her back to health. After this incident, she experienced chronic pain and seizures from narcolepsy. She is often overlooked in disability history, despite the prominent role her disability played in her identity and her story.

Tubman through the years developed a keen sense of the marshy Maryland landscape, and her knowledge of the natural world helped her significantly in gaining freedom for herself and others. In her early twenties, Tubman was assigned to work with her father in the timber fields where she spoke with many black sailors familiar with the East Coast and had connections there, and she also met her husband, John Tubman, at the timber field. They married in 1844, and it was at this point she changed her first name, after her mother.

Tubman learned that her enslaver was in debt, and she feared that her and her family would soon be sold and separated. This is what spurred her to escape to Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, she met William Still, from whom she learned about the Underground Railroad. She returned for her family in 1850 and became a Conductor on the UGRR. She returned for her husband in 1851, only to find he thought she was dead and had taken another wife, and he declined going north with her. The passing of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 encouraged many seeking freedom to aim for Canada rather than the northern states, and Tubman conducted eleven trips from Maryland to Ontario in the following decade.

In 1857, Tubman met John Brown, who nicknamed her “General Tubman” and helped him plan the raid on Harper’s Ferry. The raid unfortunately ended in failure, and Brown was charged with “treason, murder, and inciting a slave rebellion” (NPS, n.d.) and was hanged.

In 1861 with the outbreak of the American Civil War, Tubman enlisted in the Union Army as a nurse, eventually taking on the additional roles of scout and spy. She also helped Colonel James Montgomery organize the Combahee River Raid in South Carolina, which was successful, resulting in the burning down of several plantations and approximately 700 newly freed individuals. This raid is also where she met her second husband, Nelson Davis. Tubman is recognized as the first woman to plan and lead a US military raid, and in 2021, the Army inducted her into the Military Intelligence Corps. Today, she is not only recognized for her military contributions, but also as a naturalist and an astronomer, and there have been pushes to rename the James Webb Space Telescope after her.

She made a total of 19 journeys and she said, “I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.” She assisted approximately 70 individuals to freedom, including her parents. Tubman and her parents eventually settled in Auburn, NY, after purchasing seven acres of land from William H. Seward. Though they had been planning on settling in Canada, this land and the fact that Auburn was an abolitionist hub convinced them to settle there instead. In Auburn, she eventually founded the Home for the Aged. She passed away in 1913 from pneumonia.

LCCN ID

Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913

Image Rights Holder

Library of Congress

External Biographical Resources

“Harriet Tubman.” Tubman African American Museum. Accessed December 11, 2025. https://tubmanmuseum.com/harriet-tubman/.

Webmaster. “Harriet Tubman Is Famous for Being an Abolitionist and Political Activist, but She Was Also a Naturalist.” National African American Reparations Commission (NAARC), March 13, 2022. https://reparationscomm.org/reparations-news/harriet-tubman-abolitionist-political-activist-naturalist/.

Dawson, Shay. “Harriet Tubman.” National Women’s History Museum. Accessed December 11, 2025. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman.

“Harriet Tubman.” PBS. Accessed December 11, 2025. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html.