Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: HOPE (10/29/20)
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TITLE: Minty | Previous Challenge Entry
By John Custer
11/04/20 -
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She experienced more injustice when her master loaned her to neighbors for child-care services. When the children cried, however, Minty got beat, not once but many times. Although she often did domestic work, she preferred working in the fields where it was a little safer. She never gave up her dream of a better life.
Minty’s father was set free when the plantation owner died. It was in the owner’s will that Minty’s mother and Minty’s siblings would also be set free. However, the new plantation owner did not abide by that and kept them as slaves. Minty knew it would be better for her to escape to freedom in Pennsylvania. So in 1849 she took her two brothers and fled. The brothers were scared so they returned. Later she went back, at her own peril, and got her family and led them to freedom.
She wasn’t content to enjoy the freedom for herself and her family, but led many others to freedom making many of her trips into slave territory at night with extreme secrecy knowing there was a bounty on her head. Because she led so many to freedom, she was often referred to as “Moses.” Reports of how many she led to freedom range from 70 to 300. Every trip was perilous!
After the Fugitive Slave Act passed in 1850, the best way to give hope and freedom to other slaves was to help them escape to Canada using the underground railroad, which is a network of “safe havens”. This would allow the slaves to rest in the daytime and travel at night. If she could not help guide the slaves as a conductor, she furnished directions to help them.
She helped many others who were concerned about the plight of the black people. One of those was John Brown. He was executed for his illegal abolitionist activities at Harper’s Ferry.
When the Civil War broke out she joined the Union Army as a cook and nurse. Later she was an armed scout and spy for the Union.
She successfully guided a raid at Combahee Ferry where 700 enslaved people were liberated. She not only had hope but gave it to many others.
It is hard to imagine that anyone who had received that much abuse would have any trust in a loving God, but she did. She was a devout Christian.
After the Civil War ended she became involved in the women’s suffrage movement, giving hope to women who wanted the right to vote.
Incidentally, Minty was a nick name. Her real name was Araminta Ross. After her marriage it was Harriet Tubman. She was one of the most effective activists in American history. It would have been easy for Mrs. Tubman to slack off after she was free, but she didn’t. She kept pressing to give hope and help to her people, even though she may not have fully seen the overall impact of her efforts during her lifetime. She is truly a great hero.
She died penniless in 1913 in Auburn, New York, in a care facility that she founded for elderly African Americans. May her legacy be an inspiration to others.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman
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