Harriet Tubman

by Malaspina, Ann

• ISBN13: 9781604133035
• ISBN10: 1604133031
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-04-30
• Publisher: Facts on File

Summary

Born into slavery in Maryland, in about 1820, Harriet Tubman suffered many injustices before her escape to freedom in Philadelphia. At a young age, she was hired out to work as a nursemaid and a field hand. She was beaten often. As a teenager, Tubman suffered a traumatic head wound when an angry slave owner threw a heavy weight at another slave and hit Tubman instead. The injury caused her to endure seizures, headaches, and hallucinations for the rest of her life. After she made her way to freedom, she risked everything to become a "conductor" on the Underground Railroad. She eventually rescued more than 70 slaves from captivity. With the outbreak of the Civil War, Tubman worked as a nurse and a cook, and led spy missions into Confederate territory. After the war, Tubman spoke out for women's equality and helped the poor in her Upstate New York community. A true American hero, Tubman was known to the world as "the Moses of her people." To her friends, she was, simply, "Aunt Harriet."

Author Biography

Ann Malaspina began her career as a newspaper reporter in Boston, where she wrote about immigrant issues, tenant rights, and poverty. Those stories sparked her interest in people on the margins of society and their battle for recognition and equal rights. She is the author of The Ethnic and Group Identity Movements in the Chelsea House series Reform Movements in American History.

Table of Contents

"No Sweet, No Sugar"	p. 7
"Liberty, or Death"	p. 20
"The Midnight Sky and the Silent Stars"	p. 35
A Home of Her Own	p. 52
Nurse and Spy	p. 69
A Country Still Divided	p. 83
The Moses of Her People	p. 96
Chronology and Timeline	p. 106
Glossary	p. 109
Bibliography	p. 110
Further Resources	p. 113
Picture Credits	p. 115
Index	p. 116
About the Author	p. 120
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

Born Araminta Ross, Harriet Tubman was a former slave who became an abolitionist and a spy for the Union army during the Civil War. Tubman is most famous for rescuing more than 70 runaway slaves by using a network of safe houses owned by other abolitionists known as the Underground Railroad. She had escaped a harsh life in Maryland, where she worked first as a child nurse and then a field hand. After escaping to Philadelphia at the age of 29, Tubman immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. She faced great danger as she was hunted by the law, but her uncanny ability to find food and shelter during these hazardous missions meant she never lost any of her charges. Later, Tubman worked as a nurse, scout, cook, and spy for the Union army and continued to fight for the rights of women everywhere.

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Excerpted from Harriet Tubman by Ann Malaspina
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.