#blacklivesmatter
The life of Tubman, who was called the “Moses of his people" and the Underground Railroad, was marked by impressive cruelty and supreme courage.
She is one of the most famous Americans in history - a woman so brave that she twice tried to escape from slavery and with such determination that she inspired many more slaves to flee. Admired by some of the most influential minds of her time and with nicknames such as “Moses" and “General", she brought hope to generations of Americans, both slave and free. She was Harriet Tubman and her life was marked by breathtaking cruelty and improbable success.
She was born Araminta “Minty" Ross in Maryland around the year 1820, from enslaved parents. As a child, her master was the slave trader Edward Brodess. When she was 13 years old, a supervisor threw a metal weight at a enslaved man to get him back to work, but it eventually struck her and caused head injury. He began to have vivid dreams and symptoms similar to epilepsy in the temporal lobe; he interpreted the visions as divine symbols and received a deep religious feeling.
As a young woman, she married John Tubman and changed her name. John was free, but his status was not enough to protect his wife, now called Harriet, from random sales. In 1849 Brodess tried to sell it, but could not find a buyer because of Harriet's health. When Brodess died, it seemed certain that she would be separated from the rest of her family. So Harriet fled for the first time with her brothers. The escape failed when her brothers returned to Brodess estate. Shortly after that, she decided to go alone.

Tubman came from Maryland to Pennsylvania with the help of the Underground Railroad. Once there, he tried to free other members of his family from slavery. He would return to Maryland 13 times to save them. Along the way, he gave information to other slaves to help them in their own struggle. Armed with a revolver and with her faith, she led to 70 slaves to freedom.

Although she was illiterate and had no official education, she used her experience in slavery to help the abolitionist cause. He became friends with prominent black and white abolitionists and intellectuals and took advantage of these favorable ties to get financial support for his cause. As the most famous “engineer" of the Underground Railroad, she was nicknamed Moses, referring to the biblical character who led his people out of slavery. During the Civil War, she helped escaped slaves in Unionist camps and worked for the Unionist Army as a scout and spy. In 1836 he led an armed expedition to Confederate territory
After the Civil War, Tubman continued her activism, fighting for women's suffrage and defending free African-Americans. Although in his later years he was poor and in poor health, he never gave up activism. In 1896, he bought a 10-hectare estate in the state of New York that would later become a residence for the elderly and needy people of color. He died there in 1913.

Harriet Tubman: the woman who risked everything for enslaved African-Americans