Moe History Month Spotlight: Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman lived a life powered by courage, conviction, and action. Born into slavery in Dorchester County, Maryland, around 1822, she entered the world as Araminta “Minty” Ross. Enslavement forced her into hard labor at a young age and exposed her to repeated violence, including a brutal head injury that caused lifelong pain and sudden sleep spells. Instead of breaking her spirit, those experiences sharpened her resolve.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. “Harriet Tubman, abolitionist” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1900.

In her early twenties, Tubman escaped slavery and reached freedom in the North. But freedom alone was not enough. She made a decision that defined her legacy: she would go back. Again and again, Tubman returned to slaveholding states to guide others to freedom through the Underground Railroad (List of the rescued and supported her rescue missions can be found here). She traveled mostly at night, relied on instinct and faith, and trusted the stars when roads failed her. Over time, she led dozens of enslaved men, women, and children to safety, never losing a single person.

Tubman understood the stakes clearly. She once said,

“I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had the right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.” – National Women History Museum 

Lindsley, Harvey B, photographer. Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, standing with hands on back of a chair. [Between and 1876] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.

That clarity made her fearless. Those she rescued called her “Moses,” a name earned through action, not legend. She carried a weapon for protection and to discourage anyone from turning back, knowing that hesitation could cost lives. Tubman believed freedom demanded discipline, trust, and courage.

Her fight didn’t stop with the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, Tubman served the Union cause as a nurse, scout, and spy. She gathered intelligence behind enemy lines and helped plan missions that freed enslaved people and disrupted Confederate operations. In one military expedition, her leadership helped secure freedom for hundreds — a rare role for a woman, and an extraordinary one for a formerly enslaved Black woman.

After the war, Tubman turned her focus to care and justice. She settled in Auburn, New York, where she opened a home for elderly and formerly enslaved people who had nowhere else to go. She also joined the fight for women’s voting rights, standing alongside suffragists and reminding them that freedom without equality was incomplete. Tubman remained humble about her work, driven not by praise but by purpose. She once reflected,

“I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.” — National Women’s History Museum

She lived to see slavery abolished, though equality remained unfinished business. Harriet Tubman passed away in 1913, leaving behind a legacy built on sacrifice and action. Her life proves that freedom is not simply claimed — it is fought for, protected, and shared.

Harriet Tubman didn’t wait for permission to change history. She moved with certainty, guided others through darkness, and showed the world what courage looks like when it refuses to stand still.

Left to right: Harriet Tubman; Gertie Davis [Tubman’s adopted daughter]; Nelson Davis [Tubman’s husband]; Lee Cheney; “Pop” Alexander; Walter Green; Sarah Parker [“Blind Auntie” Parker] and Dora Stewart [granddaughter of Tubman’s brother, John Stewart]

Image + Video Citations

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. “Harriet Tubman, abolitionist” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1900. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/69778b60-c5f2-012f-6a1c-58d385a7bc34

Lindsley, Harvey B, photographer. Harriet Tubman, full-length portrait, standing with hands on back of a chair. [Between and 1876] Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/2003674596

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Photographs and Prints Division, The New York Public Library. “Harriet Tubman; Gertie Davis; Nelson Davis; Lee Cheney; “Pop” Alexander; Walter Green; Sarah Parker; and Dora Stewart ” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1890 – 1899. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/690e2660-c5f2-012f-22ad-58d385a7bc34

Featured Image: Dr. Kate Clifford Larson’s website about Harriet Tubman http://harriettubmanbiography.com/

Featured Video: The Real Harriet Tubman in this compelling documentary narrated by Alfrelynn Roberts and featuring expert interviews with leading scholars, including Dr. Eric Lewis Williams of the Smithsonian Institute and Carl Westmoreland of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Director: Robert Fernandez https://www.youtube.com/@visionvideo