Harriet Truman's life as a slave. She sustained a head injury at age fifteen when she blocked the way of an overseer who was chasing another slave when the overseer hit her on the head with a heavy weight. Harriet was ill for a long time and would drift off to sleep at random moments. This made her unattractive to other slave owners. In 1845 She married John Tubman, a free black, but the marriage did not last. It was shortly after her marriage that she hired a lawyer to investigate her legal history, and discovered that her mother had been freed because of the death of a previous owner. But the lawyer advised Harriet that a court would be unlikely to hear the case, so she dropped it. But knowing that she should have been born free, not a slave, caused her to think more and more about freedom. And in 1849 she made her way to Philadelphia, and freedom. Text and html: Maggie K., Julian
Middle School Bibliography: |
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Arminita
Green was born in 1820 and she was called Minty until she changed her
name to Harriet in her early teens. She was born into slavery on a plantation
owned by Edward Brodess. When she was a girl, she was frequently "rented" out
to neighboring plantations and farms to do housework (even though she
was not very good at it and was beaten frequently) but was eventually
given a job working as a field hand.
