Tubman, Harriet Ross (1821–1913)

US abolitionist Harriet Tubman, seen here in the 1910s. She helped thousands of slaves to escape to free states.

US abolitionist. Born a slave in Maryland, she escaped to Philadelphia (where slavery was outlawed) in 1849. She helped set up the Underground Railroad, a secret network of sympathizers to help slaves escape to the North and Canada. During the American Civil War (1861–65) she spied for the Union army. She spoke against slavery and for women's rights, and founded schools for emancipated slaves after the Civil War.

After escaping to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Tubman worked as a domestic servant and soon began to travel back to Maryland to help family and friends escape to freedom. She made 19 trips, freeing an estimated 300 slaves, and became known as the Moses of her people. After the Civil War she established the Harriet Tubman Home for Indigent and Aged Negroes at her house in Auburn, New York. In 1896 she was a founder of the National Association of Colored Women.

Tubman was born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, and was hired out as a baby nurse when she was six. She began to be called Harriet, her mother's name, while still a child. As a teenager, she was struck on the head by a supervisor, the injury causing blackouts throughout her life. She married John Tubman, a free black, in 1845, but he refused to accompany her when she escaped. In 1869, after learning of the death of her husband, she married war veteran Nelson Davis.