Born Araminta Ross, the daughter of Harriet and Ben Ross, “Minty,” as she was called, was a slave on the eastern shore of Maryland. At about age 22, Minty married John Tubman, who was a free man, and soon thereafter she changed her name to Harriet

Born Araminta Ross, the daughter of Harriet and Ben Ross, “Minty,” as she was called, was a slave on the eastern shore of Maryland. At about age 22, Minty married John Tubman, who was a free man, and soon thereafter she changed her name to Harriet.

In 1849 Harriet Tubman fled to the north to escape slavery, assisted by local Quakers operating on the Underground Railroad, leaving behind her husband and family. Her father Ben was a “term slave,” who had obtained his freedom at age 45 when Minty was about 18 years old. In 1850 Ben purchased his wife’s freedom. Although her parents were free, many of Harriet’s family members, including her brothers, were not, and they were in constant danger of being “sold south.” It was in order to rescue them that Harriet became a conductor of the Underground Railroad, earning her historical reputation as “the Moses of her people.”

Over the next ten years Harriet made numerous dangerous trips back to Maryland, and escorted dozens of slaves to their freedom, including her brothers. On her second trip she sought out her husband John, only to learn that he had remarried and refused to leave Maryland. (In 1869, Harriet married Nelson Davis, who had been a slave in North Carolina before escaping via the Underground Railroad. Nevertheless, it is by her first married name that she was and continues to be remembered.) In addition to her work on the Underground Railroad, Harriet became a celebrity in abolitionist circles and was a sought-after speaker both before and after the war.

During the Civil War, Harriet traveled with the Federal Army to South Carolina, where she served as a scout and spy, helping to liberate hundreds of slaves, and earning widespread praise and admiration throughout the north for her service.

Harriet and her family lived in a home in Auburn, New York that she had purchased from Senator William Seward in 1859. Denied a military pension, she and her family struggled with poverty in the post-war years. In was during this time that Harriet’s life story was greatly embellished by well-meaning biographers, as they produced books in an effort to raise money to assist her and her family. Although many of the embellishments have survived in the popular imagination (as is the case with many American heroes), they do not diminish the truth of her courage, determination, and heroism.

To the end of her life Harriet Tubman remained a household name and an iconic figure in American culture and society, and her stature has continued to grow since then. In 2008 a poll of American high school students asked them to name the greatest figures from American history, exclusive of presidents. Harriet Tubman was in the top three. In recent years there has been a feature Hollywood film based on her life and she is set to soon replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

Harriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross, died in Auburn New York at approximately age 90, on March 10, 1913, one hundred eight years ago today