See Also:
Beginning of a FAMOUS Hero: The Mary Jane McLeod Story.
Life Lesson #10 – Stay On Course.
Araminta Ross was born on March 10, but no one is quite sure what year it was. Most people think it was in 1822. You see, Araminta’s parents were slaves on a large plantation in Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Ross had nine children, and life was extremely hard for them. Araminta was often beaten by the people she was forced to work for. As she grew older, she decided she would try to escape and go to Pennsylvania, where slavery was not allowed, and that’s exactly what she did. But when she reached freedom, she realized she wanted her family and other slaves to be free, too.
Araminta started learning about something called the Underground Railroad, which really wasn’t a railroad at all, nor was it underground, although there were some tunnels underground in certain places that runaway slaves could hide in. The Underground Railroad was really a lot of caring people who worked together helping runaway slaves move from one safe house to another as they would hide from the slave owners who would capture or kill them if they could. Araminta learned how to work with the people of the Underground Railroad, and she went back to save her family. Then she went back many more times, and eventually saved over 300 other slaves from captivity and cruelty. All in all, tens of thousands of slaves were helped by the people of the Underground Railroad, and Araminta was a big part of that!
As Araminta Ross grew older, she married a man named John Tubman, so she became Araminta Tubman. But then she changed her first name, too, some say, to honor her mother. Harriet was her mother’s name, so Araminta Tubman became Harriet Tubman, an amazingly special HERO.
– Jim Lord