"Honoring Harriet Tubman" "Moses of her People"

"Honoring Harriet Tubman"

"Moses of her People"

On July 23rd nearly 100 people walked more than a half mile from the Seward House Museum gardens to Fort Hill Cemetery and back, for the Harriet Tubman's third-annual Strawberry Stroll for Harriet Tubman in Auburn, New York. The tribute was led by Tubman's great-great-grandniece Pauline Copes Johnson.

Born Armanita "Minty" Ross, she took the name of her mother Harriet and Tubman from her first husband John Tubman. Her date of birth remains uncertain today, it is only a speculation between 1822 and 1824.

 It was during her childhood that Tubman was forced to haul muskrat traps through frozen swamps, wearing no shoes feet only covered with cloth. She suffered a injury to her skull after she was hit in the head with a two pound iron weight, still suffering and bleeding she was forced back to work in the fields after 2 days. As the years passed she recovered but experienced uncontrollable episodes of motionless, a dream state, hallucinations lasting for hours at a time. 

Without warning in the middle of a conversation she would suffer an attack. When the attack ended she resumed her conversation where it stopped. She described the episodes as visions, she would see herself stronger flying above the earth and over water, hearing voices, screams, the sounds of rushing water and music. 

By the late 1840's a young Harriet Tubman grew stronger. She was digging out stumps, plowing fields chopping wood, and hauling timber. During this time she feared would be sold and decided to escape from bondage. She boarded the Underground Railroad and walked 90 miles to Philadelphia. During the next fifteen years of her life she would return approximately 19 times to the south as a conductor on the Underground Railroad bringing more than 300 slaves out of slavery. 

Her guide, the North Star, her narcoleptic attacks, rest and endurance, her reassurance a pistol as she stood five feet tall, the price on her head started out at $300, a combined total of bounties of $40,000 was offered. By today's standards Harriet Tubman would be considered disabled. By the standards of the 1850's she was considered a Fugitive when the fugitive slave law was passed in 1850. Not to be slowed down she would sing a code song "I'm bound for the promised land," and "Go Down Moses," when she arrived on the southern plantations. 

During this time she made it clear to any slaves on her train that jeopardizing the ride and thoughts of returning to bondage was not an option and reassured them with her pistol. She made her way through the Buffalo and Western New York area making several trips over the Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge,  enroute to Canada. She settled in St. Catherine's Ontario, Canada during the 1850's. By 1859 she purchased her home in Auburn, NY. Harriet Tubman remained active during the Civil War working as a nurse, cook and spy. 

She never lost a passenger on the Underground Railroad. She died in 1913 and was buried with full military honors at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn. Harriet Tubman remains an inspiration today around the world, statues, streets and landmarks commemorate her life.