A Woman Called Moses

She is remembered as one of the most famous conductors of the Underground Railroad, helping to smuggle dozens of people out of slavery and into safety. But she was also an abolitionist, a Union spy during the Civil War, and spent the last years of her life aiding the poor and aged.

Escaping from slavery in 1849, Harriet Tubman would return to the South first to rescue members of her family, then, later, to help strangers to freedom. She is believed to have rescued over 300 people along the Underground Railroad -- and that's not counting the 750 slaves Tubman helped the Union army to rescue in a South Carolina raid during the Civil War. When she died, she was buried with military honors at the Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York.

Read on to learn more about the life and legacy of this amazing woman:

Online Resources:

-- Harriet Tubman - a biography from History.com (the History Channel's official website). Includes videos and a photo gallery.

-- Harriet Tubman - another look at Tubman's life, featured by Biography.com.

-- Tubman: Civil War Spy - this all-ages article from National Geographic Kids tells the story of Tubman's role in the Civil War: "the first woman in American history to lead a military expedition." (The article mentions the book Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent -- click here to get it from the Library!)

-- Harriet Tubman - from America's Library. An all-ages look at the life and stories of Harriet Tubman, from the Library of Congress.

-- Harriet Tubman's Amazing Grace - from Smithsonian Magazine. A closer look at an artifact from Tubman's past.

-- Petition of Harriet Tubman - Despite her service during the Civil War, Tubman was not awarded any benefits for her service (drawing, instead, a small widow's pension given to her for her husband's war service). See scans of the affidavit which Tubman presented to Congress, petitioning for her rightful benefits.

-- Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged - from the National Park Service. Read more about the home Tubman helped open to aged and impoverished African Americans in the last years of her life.

-- The New Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad State Park - this Maryland state park, slated to open next year, commemorates the life and legacy of Harriet Tubman.

From the Catalog:

-- Harriet Tubman: Imagining a Life by Beverly Lowry.

-- Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Catherine Clinton.

-- Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson.

-- Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, and History by Milton C. Sernett.


Other Resources from the Catalog:

-- Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford; illustrated by Kadir Nelson. A beautifully-illustrated picture book for all ages, about Tubman's first trip north to freedom.

-- They Shall Run: Harriet Tubman Poems by Quraysh Ali Lansana.

-- A Woman Called Moses [DVD] - starring Cicely Tyson as Tubman.



-- Post by Ms. B