You probably know your age. And you likely know your birthday. However, Harriet Tubman never knew those things about herself. Some experts think she was born in 1820. So, this year might mark her 200th birthday. We may never know. Yet she stands as one of America’s greatest heroes.
Whatever year it was, Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland. At the time, millions of black people in the United States had to work without pay. Tubman didn’t just escape from slavery. She later risked her life to help others. Tubman may have rescued more than 300 people — including members of her family!
Kasi Lemmons knows all about Tubman’s fight for freedom. She directed Harriet, the story of Tubman’s amazing life. “She was unstoppable,” Lemmons told News-O-Matic. The famous director said Tubman wanted “to be free and for all people to be free.”
Tubman’s fight for freedom began in 1849. That year, Tubman ran 90 miles (145 km) north to be free. “Imagine traveling all that way alone, terrified, and cold,” Lemmons said, “and having to hide in streams and sleep in the woods!”
Tubman used the Underground Railroad to get to safety. That was a secret path where people helped slaves flee to free states. When Tubman finally got to the state of Pennsylvania, she was no longer a slave. This is what she said:
“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.”
Harriet Tubman was free. Yet she wouldn’t rest. She went back on the Underground Railroad, making at least 19 trips to save other slaves. It didn’t matter to her that the journey was very dangerous. “She did not let anything stop her,” Lemmons explained. “She went back against incredible odds — went back to help to liberate others!”
Lesa Cline-Ransome wrote a children’s book called Before She Was Harriet. “Harriet always fought for what she believed in, despite the risks,” she said. However, Cline-Ransome doesn’t believe that Tubman was fearless. “I think Harriet was often afraid,” she explained. “But despite her fears, she pushed past them to help blacks escape slavery and help so many achieve freedom.”
Yet Tubman was more than an abolitionist. She served as a nurse during the Civil War. She was also a spy and a scout — the first woman to lead an armed mission during the war.
Every February is Black History Month in the United States. Lemmons explained what that means. “Black History Month is a time to celebrate our heroes,” she explained. “It’s a time to celebrate our history,” she added. “To remember how we got here.”
Updated February 5, 2020, 5:02 P.M. (ET)
By Alexa Tirapelli
