HT
Harriet Tubman
1822-03-01 – 1913-03-10
Escaped slave who led hundreds to freedom on the Underground Railroad and served as a Union spy.
abolitionistactivistmilitary leadercivil war
Harriet Tubman escaped slavery in 1849 and became the most famous "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe houses used by enslaved African Americans to escape to free states and Canada. Over approximately 13 missions, she personally guided around 70 enslaved people to freedom, including her own parents. During the Civil War, she served the Union Army as a cook, nurse, armed scout, and spy, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault during the war (the Combahee River Raid in 1863, which freed more than 700 enslaved people). After the war, she was active in the women's suffrage movement and established a home for elderly African Americans.