Harriet tubman what was she famous for

She would wander the streets under Confederate control and learn from the enslaved population about Confederate troop placements and supply lines.

Tubman helped many of these individuals find food, shelter, and even jobs in the North. She also became a respected guerrilla operative. As a nurse , Tubman dispensed herbal remedies to black and white soldiers dying from infection and disease.

She married a Union soldier Nelson Davis, also born into slavery, who was more than twenty years her junior. Residing in Auburn, New York, she cared for the elderly in her home and in , the Davises adopted a daughter.

In , she established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged on land near her home. MLA - Michals, Debra. National Women's History Museum, Date accessed. Chicago - Michals, Debra. National Geographic. Bradford, Sarah, H. Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Auburn: W. Moses, Printer, McGovern, Ann. Scholastic Paperbacks, McMullan, Kate.

New York: Parachute Press, The overseer picked up and threw a two-pound weight at the field hand. It fell short, striking Tubman on the head.

She never fully recovered from the blow, which subjected her to spells in which she would fall into a deep sleep. Around she married a free black named John Tubman and took his last name. She was born Araminta Ross; she later changed her first name to Harriet, after her mother. In , in fear that she, along with the other slaves on the plantation, was to be sold, Tubman resolved to run away.

She set out one night on foot. With some assistance from a friendly white woman, Tubman was on her way. She followed the North Star by night, making her way to Pennsylvania and soon after to Philadelphia, where she found work and saved her money.

The following year she returned to Maryland and escorted her sister and her sister's two children to freedom. She made the dangerous trip back to the South soon after to rescue her brother and two other men. Tubman died of pneumonia on March 10, , surrounded by friends and family, at around the age of As Tubman aged, the head injuries sustained early in her life became more painful and disruptive.

Tubman was eventually admitted into the rest home named in her honor. She was buried with military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn. Widely known and well-respected while she was alive, Tubman became an American icon in the years after she died. A survey at the end of the 20th century named her as one of the most famous civilians in American history before the Civil War, third only to Betsy Ross and Paul Revere.

She continues to inspire generations of Americans struggling for civil rights. When Tubman died, the city of Auburn commemorated her life with a plaque on the courthouse. Tubman was celebrated in many other ways throughout the nation in the 20th century. Dozens of schools were named in her honor, and both the Harriet Tubman Home in Auburn and the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge serve as monuments to her life.

A movie, A Woman Called Moses , commemorated her life and career, and the film Harriet chronicled Tubman's service as a conductor for the Underground Railroad. In April , the U. The ultimate decision to have Tubman replace Jackson, a slaveholder who played a role in the removal of Native Americans from their land, was widely praised.

However, in May , Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that no new designs will be unveiled until at the earliest due to what he called counterfeiting issues. The movie Harriet , featuring Cynthia Erivo as Tubman, chronicled Tubman's life from her first marriage through her service freeing the enslaved. We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us! Subscribe to the Biography newsletter to receive stories about the people who shaped our world and the stories that shaped their lives.

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Her defiance sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Harriet Tubman escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad.