Escape From Slavery...

"When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person," Harriet Tubman recalled of her own escape from slavery. "There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven."

Escape From Slavery...

Harriet Tubman grew up in Maryland as a slave. As a young girl, she was severely beaten by her masters and at one point suffered a serious head wound which led to her having seizures, headaches and very powerful visions. A devout Christian, she believed her visions to be revelations from God.

In 1849, after her master died, she was sent to work on a neighboring farm. Management was slack, and it took almost two weeks before it was realized that she never showed up for work. After being convinced to return to work, she escaped again shortly thereafter via the Underground Network (a network of safe-houses, run by anti-slavery activists).

Harriet went to Philadelphia, but quickly returned to free her family. Traveling by night, she eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. She became fondly known as “Moses”, and it was said she never lost any of the charges under her wing. When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she simply guided fugitives further up north to Canada where slavery was illegal.

Harriet Tubman "Dead negroes tell no tales —You go on or you die.”