Harriet Tubman

- She was a slave.

- In 1849 she escaped from the South to go to the North.

- She helped slaves escape from the South to go to the North where slavery is illegal.

In 1849 Harriet and her husband escaped slavery and went North.

Harriet Tubman was very brave.

She went back to the South

to rescue her family and other slaves.  

19 Trips

She made at least nineteen trips into the South and helped free more than three hundred people. 

Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman was part of a group of people who worked to help slaves escape to the North or to Canada. They organized the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad wasn’t really a railroad, and it didn’t really go underground. 

The Underground Railroad

was not an actual railroad but a secret network of people and places that helped people escaping from slavery reach freedom. 

The Underground Railroad

It was called a railroad because runaway slaves were given transportation from one place to the next. And it was called underground because this work was a secret. 

The Underground Railroad

It was called that because it provided transportation from one place to the next and it was secret. 

Conductors

Helpers, or guides such

as Harriet Tubman, were called “conductors.” The conductors had to think of all kinds of sneaky tricks to keep the slaves from getting caught. They traveled at night. 

Passengers

They hid their “passengers”

in attics and basements

during the daytime.  

Stations

These safe spots were known as “stations.” 

The conductors also knew how to survive in the wilderness. They knew which plants and berries were safe to eat. They studied the stars in the sky to figure out the way North. 

When the sky was too cloudy to see the stars, the conductors would feel around the bottoms of trees. Moss usually grows on the north side of trees, and north was where they were going. 

In 2015, an unofficial vote was taken to replace Jackson’s portrait on the twenty-dollar bill with

that of a woman. Harriet Tubman was selected.

The plan for redesigning the bill

by the year 2020 has been delayed, with a new date of 2028 designated for the release of the new

twenty-dollar bill.