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Short Biography of Harriet Tubman
Date of Birth: Born c1820
Place of Birth : Dorchester County, Maryland
Parents: Father - Ben Ross
Mother:
Harriet Greene Ross
Background Facts,
Information & Ancestry: Harriet Tubman believed
that she was of Ashanti lineage, from what is now
Ghana. Her parents and Harriet were slaves. Her
mother was initially owned by Mary Pattison Brodess
and later her son Edward. Her father was owned by
the second husband of Mary Pattison Brodess called
Anthony Thompson. Ben and Harriet Greene Ross had
nine children Linah, born in 1808, Mariah Ritty in
1811, Soph in 1813, Robert in 1816, Harriet in 1820,
Ben in 1823, Rachel in 1825, Henry in 1830, and
Moses in 1832.
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|
1619 |
The first African slaves are
brought to Virginia |
|
1808 |
The parents of Harriet Trubman
were married |
|
1808 |
Linah was born |
|
1811 |
Her sister Mariah Ritty was
born |
|
1813 |
Her sister Soph was born |
|
1816 |
Her brother Robert was born |
|
c1820 |
The timeline of Harriet
Trubman starts when Araminta Ross was born c 1820 to
Ben and Harriet Greene Ross. She was given the
nickname of "Minty". She would later become famous
as Harriet Tubman. Her place of birth was Dorchester
County Maryland |
|
1823 |
Her brother Ben was born |
|
1825 |
Her sister Rachel was born |
|
1830 |
Her brother Henry was born |
|
1832 |
Her brother Moses was born |
|
1826 |
Harriet Trubman was hired out
to a woman named "Miss Susan" as a nursemaid and
later a planter named James Cook. She was beaten by
both her owners |
|
|
Edward Brodess sold three of
the children (Linah, Mariah Ritty, and Soph) |
|
1830 |
Harriet was sent to work in
the fields - it was tantamount to hard labor |
|
1834 |
She was hit in the head by
overseer for trying to help a slave, which she said
"broke my skull". |
|
1840 |
Her father Ben was manumitted
– released from slavery |
|
1844 |
Harriet married a free black
man called John Tubman and soon after her marriage
she changed her name from Araminta (Minty) to
Harriet |
|
1849 |
Harriet became ill and Edward
Brodess tried to sell her as her value as a slave
was decreasing - he failed |
|
1849 |
17 September 1849 - Harriet
and her brothers Ben and Henry escaped from slavery |
|
1849 |
3 October 1849 - A Runaway
notice was posted in the Cambridge Democrat which
offered a reward of up to one hundred dollars for
each slave returned |
|
1849 |
Harriet and her two brothers
returned to their owners, fearful of repercussions
to the family |
|
1849 |
Harriet Tubman contacted the
network known as the Underground Railroad asking for
their help in a further escape plane. She was
successful in her escape and fled to the North |
|
1850 |
She worked in a hotel in
Philadelphia. |
|
1850 |
The U.S. Congress passed the
Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, enabling law enforcement
officials, even in states which had outlawed
slavery, to aid in the capture of runaway slaves.
Heavy fines and punishments were imposed on anyone
who abetted the escape of runaway slaves. |
|
1850 |
December - Harriet
Trubman arranged with William Still via the
Underground Railroad to rescue her sister,
brother-in-law and their two children from slavery |
|
1852 |
Again using the Underground
Railroad rescued her brother Moses |
|
1852 |
Discovered her husband's
infidelity. He subsequently married another woman |
|
1852 |
At this point Harriet Trubman
became an active Underground Railroad operator and
during her lifetime helped rescue many hundreds of
slaves escape to New York, New England, and Canada |
|
1857 |
She was able to rescue her
parents |
|
1858 |
Harriet Trubman met the
abolitionist John Brown |
|
1859 |
John Browns raid on Harper's
Ferry |
|
1859 |
Abolitionist US Senator
William H. Seward sold Harriet Tubman a small farm
on the outskirts of Auburn, New York |
|
1861 |
Abraham Lincoln elected
President of the US and the Civil War starts |
|
1861 |
Harriet went to Troy, New York
where she met Charles Nalle and undertook her last
mission to Maryland |
|
|
Harriet Tubman was never
captured and neither were the slaves that she
helped. Many years later, she told an audience: "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." |
|
1863 |
Abraham Lincoln issues
Emancipation Proclamation
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1865 |
The Civil War ends. Lincoln is
assassinated. The 13th amendment to Constitution
abolishes slavery
|
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1865 |
Harriet Tubman returned to
Auburn at the end of the war |
|
1868 |
14th amendment to the
Constitution grants citizenship to former slaves
|
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1868 |
Harriet Tubman meets a
Civil War veteran named Nelson Davis |
|
1869 |
18 March 1869 she married
Nelson Davis at the Central Presbyterian Church |
|
1869 |
Sarah H. Bradford wrote an
authorized biography entitled Scenes in the Life of
Harriet Tubman which was published in this year |
|
1870 |
15th amendment to Constitution
prohibits states from denying the right to vote
because of race |
|
1873 |
Harriet was swindled out of
her money by a con involving gold money transfers |
|
1874 |
Harriet and Nelson adopt a
baby girl named Gertie |
|
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In her later years Harriet
Tubman began attending meetings of suffragist
organizations where she met women such as Susan B.
Anthony and Emily Howland |
|
1913 |
Harriet Tubman died of
pneumonia on 10 March 1913. |
