Harriet Tubman was born in Dorchester County, Maryland on March, 1822. This novel talks about how Harriet Tubman was able to escape slavery in the south in the year of 1849 and found work in the north. Specifically in Philadelphia, where she worked in hotels to raise enough money to support her needs. She would then relocate to Canada and eventually New York. Harriet Tubman returned to Maryland in 1850 for the first time since her escape. Her first take was to aid her niece in a plot of escaping the cruel confinements of slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. The upcoming ten years proved to be a very key point the legend of Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman frequently placed her life in utter danger as she began to gather and liberate family members and other slaves residing in the area. During the Civil War, Tubman worked as a nurse and a spy for the Union army in South Carolina, where she was known as General Tubman. After the war, Tubman returned to Auburn, New York, where she spoke at women's suffrage meetings with other prominent figures such as Susan B. …show more content…
Congress in 1850, posed a terrible threat to both fugitives and free black people. This so-called bloodhound law gave regional authorities and bounty hunters the legal power to capture and return fugitives to their masters. Even free black people were sometimes captured and taken south. Abolitionists, most notably Quakers, created “liberty lines,” a system of escape routes called the Underground Railroad, that assisted fugitive slaves on their way north. Because of the severe legal penalties for assisting fugitives, the movement was shrouded in secrecy. Those who provided safe houses were called stationmasters; those who transported the slaves from place to place were conductors. Most daring of all were the abductors, who ventured into the South to steal willing slaves from their masters.
Harriet Tubman, driven by her passion to free all slaves, was the first fugitive slave, and first woman, to make these dangerous forays into the South. She soon became notorious among slave owners, who put a high price on her head. Her status as a fugitive willing to risk her life gave her great credibility as a spokeswoman for the abolitionist