Recognizing the contributions of a true African-American Patriot
- Harriet Tubman (Araminta Ross).
For hundreds of years African-Americans have made significant
contributions to our nation. The month of February is designated
to recognizing their contributions to it. Black History Month
was the brainchild of historian Carter G. Woodson, who wanted to
bring national attention to the large contribution of African
Americans to the history of their country. He chose February
because in this month Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and
Langston Hughes were born. Actor Morgan Freeman recently
expressed disapproval of Black History Month, remarking that
"the history of black people is the history of America."
In many ways, Freeman is right-African-American history should
not be relegated to one chapter in textbooks, one month of the
year. But is this writer's opinion, until U.S. history classes
and books include the history of African Americans throughout
their pages, it is still important to focus on African-American
history during February.
One patriotic African-American who deserves to be honored is
Harriet Tubman, who is perhaps most well known as a Underground
Railroad's "conductors."
During a ten-year span, it is said that she made 19 trips into
the South and escorted over 300 slaves to freedom. And, as she
once proudly pointed out to Frederick Douglass, in all of her
journeys she "never lost a single passenger."
This patriot, Harriett Tubman was born a slave in Maryland's
Dorchester County around 1820. It is said that at age five or
six, she began to work as a house servant. Seven years later she
was sent to work in the fields. While she was still in her early
teens, she suffered an injury that would follow her for the rest
of her life.
Always ready to stand up for someone else, Tubman blocked a
doorway to protect another field hand from an angry overseer.
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 1844 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 1849, in fear
that she, along with the other slaves on the plantation, was to
be sold, Tubman resolved to run away from white captivity. 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.
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. It is reported that on her third return, she went after her
husband, only to find he had taken another wife. Undeterred, she
found other slaves seeking freedom and escorted them to the
North.
Harriett Tubman returned to the South again and again. Tubman
even carried a gun which she used to threaten the fugitives if
they became too tired or decided to turn back, telling them,
"You'll be free or die." By 1855-1856, Tubman's capture would
have brought a $40,000 reward from the South. On one occasion,
she overheard some men reading her wanted poster, which stated
that she was illiterate. She promptly pulled out a book and
feigned reading it. The ploy was enough to fool the men who
would like to capture or kill her for the reward.
By all estimates, Harriett Tubman had made the perilous trip to
slave country 19 times by 1860, including one especially
challenging journey in which she rescued her 70-year-old
parents. Of the famed heroine, who became known as "Moses,"
Frederick Douglass said, "Excepting John Brown -- of sacred
memory -- I know of no one who has willingly encountered more
perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than [Harriet
Tubman]." Harriett Tubman Became friends with the leading
abolitionists of the day. She took part in many antislavery
meetings. During the Civil War Harriet Tubman worked for the
Union as a cook, a nurse, and even a spy. After the war she
settled in Auburn, New York, where she would spend the rest of
her long life. She died in 1913.
Harriet Tubman arose out of the bonds of slavery to become one
of the strongest leaders of African-Americans. She was fiercely
patriotic because she did not hide from the truth, as most
Americans did at the time. Harriet Tubman embodied the very
definition of Blacks in America: She was honest, upright,
unafraid and loving-a true patriot.
If every African-American or better yet, if every "American"
would exhibit the patriotic traits of Harriet Tubman, the racial
inequities that infect our nation would soon dissolve and be
healed. That is my opinion. What's yours?