Read the text below and do the tasks which follow:
HARRIET TUBMAN
“Before I’d be a slave, I’d be buried in my grave, and go home to my Lord and be free!”
These words were the creed by which Harriet Tubman lived from her childhood as a slave until her death in 1913. Harriet Tubman was different from other slaves. She believed in her creed so much that she risked her life many times while leading 300 others to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
Harriet rebelled against slavery almost from birth. She often ran away and hid out for days as a young child. When found, she was always whipped severely. Harriet lived on a plantation owned by a named Brodas. She escaped for good from the plantation when she was about twenty-five years of age. She left her husband and family behind her when she went North. However, Harriet would not forget the others. After working for a while in Philadelphia, she returned to Maryland hoping to persuade her husband to escape with her. He refused, so she left without him and led others northwards. Harriet became bold by her success, so she returned three times in the next two years to rescue her brothers, a sister and her family, and twelve others. The missions were extremely dangerous because a law called the Fugitive Slave Act was passed in 1850. This law meant that human slaves could be captured anywhere in the United States and returned to their masters. But Harriet was a fearless and fearsome leader. Once a slave agreed to go with her, that person went all the way to freedom, lest the others would become jeopardized. Harriet carried a loaded pistol and told the fainthearted to continue or die. Her greatest triumph was helping her parents escape when they were over seventy years old. In all, Harriet made nineteen trips on her Underground Railroad and never once lost a passenger.
Harriet was uneducated and had the harshest experience as a slave. She never learned to read or write; and she was plagued by periods of unconsciousness caused by a blow to her head from an iron weight when she was a young girl. The weight was thrown at an escaping slave by an overseer and Harriet blocked the way. Despite these handicaps, she was active in the Abolitionist Movement and the Woman’s Suffrage Movement in New England. She made speeches at public gatherings even though there was a huge reward offered for her capture.
Harriet Tubman lived for fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. She resided in Auburn, New York, after the war. She always believed in freedom for her people as true visionary people will often do.
TASK I:
Are the following True or False:
1. Harriet Tubman was a person who easily became discouraged......
2. When she first escaped, Harriet was accompanied by her husband......
3. She used to shoot the slaves she helped escape if they wanted to turn back......
4. All those she helped reached liberty safely …..….
5. She was so brave that she appeared in public although she was in danger of being captured. ………..
TASK II:
Answer the following questions:
1. Explain both Harriet’s fearless and fearsome characteristics:
Fearless:………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Fearsome:………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………………………….
2. How many slaves did she manage to free?
......
3. How many members of her family did she bring to freedom?
......
4. What are the following:
THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
………………………………………………………………………………………………………......
THE ABOLUTIONIST MOVEMENT
………………………………………………………………………………………………………......
WOMAN’S SUFFRAGE MOVEMENT
………………………………………………………………………………………………………......
THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT
……………………………………………………………………………………………………......
TASK III:
Give an example and some details of a person that fits this description:
She always believed in freedom for her people as true visionary people will often do.