Harriet Tubman

Known as the Conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman was an African American abolitionist. She is most known for leading hundreds of slaves out of slavery and into freedom.

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Known as the Conductor of the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman was an African American abolitionist. She is most known for leading hundreds of slaves out of slavery and into freedom.

Harriet Tubman, who was initially named Araminta before taking her mother’s first name, was born in the 1820s in Maryland. From a young age of five, she began working different jobs such as a cook, field hand, and a woodcutter. At the age of 12, while trying to help an enslaved man, she was violently struck in the head by a white slavemaster, leaving her with long term side effects.

In 1849, Harriet had left to escape north with her two brothers. She first began leading people to freedom around 1850, she traveled to Maryland with her sister and children. From then on, Tubman traveled to and from the South to help countless enslaved people get to freedom, and not once did she ever lose a passenger on her journeys. Harriet Tubman will forever be remembered as one of the great pioneers of the Black and African American community.

– Cristina Benn

This profile was created in 2021 as part of The Savvy Singer, an EXCEL Lab course at the University of Michigan, School of Music, Theatre, and Dance and a collaboration with the Hampsong Foundation via the Classic Song Research Initiative.

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