Harriet Tubman

•Harriet Tubman
•Ninety one years old
•Takes place in 1911
•She was beaten and whipped by several of her “owners”
•Early in her life she was hit by a heavy metal weight, which was thrown by her slave owner at the time. It lead to a very big head wound, and the injury resulted in seizures, headaches, and throughout her life she experienced spells of Hypersomnia. Hypersomnia is an excessive amount of sleepiness.


Harriet Tubman wasn’t one to tolerate how she was treated. She planned an escape from slavery, which, first, was taken place with her two brothers. However, her owner posted a runaway notice for the missing slaves, and the reward for finding and returning them was as much as 100 dollars. It wasn’t long after Harriet returned to her owner that she escaped again, but this time she was alone. She wasn’t sure where exactly she was going, but she knew she was going to follow the Underground Railroad, which was a well-organized system composed of free blacks, white abolitionists, and Christian activists. Her journey required her to travel during the night, so she wouldn’t be caught by any “slavecatchers”. The Preston area near Poplar Neck in Caroline County, Maryland was highly populated by the Quaker community, and was probably an important first stop during Harriet Tubman’s escape, and if not the starting point. From there, it was told that she most likely took a common route for fleeing slaves, which was: northeast along the Choptank River, through Delaware, and then north into Pennsylvania. This trip was a journey of nearly ninety miles, and traveling by foot would take between five days and three weeks. Along the journey, the “conductors” of the Underground Railroad used many different strategies to hide and protect her. They did this by having Harriet doing chores so it made it look as if she worked for the family. She was often hidden in a cart, and then she was taken to the next house. Harriet was in such relief when she crossed into Pennsylvania, and she said years later: "When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.

The tone this character will have in the narrative will be fearful, hopeless, and very sad; however, the tone will change to relieved and very happy when she begins talking about how she accomplished and finished her journey to Pennsylvania.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman – information
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html - information
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html - information
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harriet_Tubman.jpg – picture