Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was five years old when she was first hired out to another family. She was beaten so badly as a child that a two-pound weight thrown at another enslaved person struck her in the head instead, causing seizures and visions for the rest of her life. She escaped slavery in 1849, walking nearly 90 miles to Pennsylvania. Most people would have stayed free and counted themselves lucky. Tubman went back. Thirteen times she returned to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, leading roughly 70 people to freedom through the Underground Railroad, often in winter, often while sick. She never lost a passenger. During the Civil War, she served as a scout and spy for the Union Army and became the first woman to lead an armed assault in the war. She lived to 91, spending her final years running a home for elderly African Americans in Auburn, New York. She never stopped serving others. She couldn’t.