Historical Content
In 1820, one of the most famous African American was born; Her name was Harriet Tubman. She was born a slave at Dorchester, Maryland where she and her family worked in the “Big House.” One day, Harriet Tubman was sent to get supplies from the dry-goods store. On arrival, a slave owned by another family left the field without permission, which caused the overseer to become furious. He demanded Harriet Tubman to restrain the slave but she refused. As a result, the slave ran, which caused the overseer to throw a two-pound weight at him but hit Tubman in the head, resulting a broken skull. She suffered temporal lobe epilepsy, causing her to fall asleep suddenly. In 1849, Harriet Tubman was about 29 years old, her owner Edward Brodess tried to sell her but could not find a buyer because her value as a slave diminished because of constantly illness. A week later, her owner died; she knew that Edward Brodess’ wife would sell her and her family would likely be broken apart. On September 17, 1849, Tubman and her brothers Ben and Henry attempted to escape slavery. The first attempt to escape failed but the second attempt succeeded without her brothers. After traveling about 90 miles on foot north, she finally reached Philadelphia. She began to think about her family and how they should also be free. In 1850, she went back to help her family escape; as a result, she started to go back and forth to help other African Americans to escape slavery. Harriet Tubman put her life at risk in order to help slaves gain their basic right to live freely, pursue life, liberty and happiness.