Category: Black History

Harriet Tubman – Joy: Liberty… or Death

Harriet mentioned to her husband about going up north to one of the free states.  The husband didn’t want to hear her talk like that because he didn’t want any trouble.  He (a free black man) told her that if she speaks anything like that again, he was going to tell her master.

Harriet was hurt and couldn’t understand why her husband didn’t want her to be free like him.  She never brought up the subject of freedom to him again, but she thought about it all the time.

She heard about the Underground Railroad that took slaves to freedom in the northern states.  “There is one of two things I have a right to,” she told herself.  “Liberty or death. If I cannot have one, I will have the other, for no man will take me alive.  I will fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasts, and when the time comes for me to go, the Lord will let them take me. ”

One night, Harriet when to a white Quaker who once told her that if she ever needed any help to come to her.  From her, she learned that the Underground Railroad was not a railroad at all.  It was a network of “stations” – farmers and townspeople who were willing to hide slaves and help them reach freedom.

As mentioned in the last Facebook note, Harriet only traveled at night.  At each station, she was told where to go next. She would travel under a load of vegetables in a wagon, hid in a hay stack, spent a week in a potato hold in a cabin that belonged to a family of free blacks, was hidden in the attic of a Quaker family, and was befriended by German farmers.

Harriet had a daily prayer. Her prayer was “Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and you’ve got to see me through.”  Still suffering from her head injury, she sometimes fell asleep right on the road, but somehow she managed to escape being discovered.

After her journey through graveyards and being disguised as a worker in the Thomas Garrett home, famous Quaker who fought to free slave, finally reached Pennsylvania, a free state.  By then, she traveled 90 miles!  It was worth it because she was finally free!  She said, “The sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.”

Joy is a gift from God, a taste of what it will be like in heaven.

From God’s Word:
Crying may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5b)

Let’s Talk About It:

  1. 1. Why do you think John Tubman didn’t want to help his wife run away to freedom?
  2. 2. Try to imagaine what Harriet felt like when she reached freedom.  How would you describe it?
  3. 3. What kinds of experiences here on earth give us a taste of the joy waiting for us in heaven?

Harriet Tubman – Compassion: Blow to the Forehead

At the age of 13, Harriet blocked a slave master from throwing a two pound weight at a runaway slave.  Unfortunately the weight knocked her right in the forehead knocking her backward.  Because of this, she was knocked out for a couple of days and slipped in and out of a stupor for months.  But as she slowly recovered, a constant prayer was on her lips – for her master: “Change his heart, Lord”.  (Something many of us should be saying for those who rock our nerves at work, in our family, etc.)

Harriet suffered headaches and “sleeping sickness” throughout her life due to this incident. She would black out for a few minutes or even a few hours.

While in the slave camp, after the incident, a rumor began to go around around the spring time that the slave owner was going to sale Harriet to the next slave trader because she helped the runaway slave escape.  Now remember that prayer she said earlier?  Well it changed.  She said “Lord, if you’re never going to change Massa Brodas’ heart, then kill him, Lord! Take him out of the way.”

Now check this out, within weeks, Edward Brodas became ill.  He died before the new tobacco crop had planted.  Now, Harriet felt terrible because she thought she was the reason for his death.

Edward Brodas promised Harriet’s parents freedom when he died.  But when his will was read, it stated that none of his slaves could be sold outside the state of Maryland.

Even with this terrible news, Harriet felt sorry because her master never changed his heart. She said “I would give the world full of silver and gold to bring that poor soul back… I would give myself. I would give everything.” Powerful!

Compassion is bearing someone else’s burden as if it were your own.

From God’s Word:

By helping each other with your troubles, you truly obey the law of Christ (Galatians 6:2).

Let’s talk about it:

1. In what way did Harriet have compassion for the runaway slave?  In what way did she have compassion for her master?

2. How is it possible to have compassion both for people who suffer and for people who cause suffering?

3. What is the “law of Christ” that will fulfill when we help each other with troubles? (See Galatians 5:14)

Harriet Tubman – Conductor on the Underground Railroad

Conductor on the Underground railroad - Introduction

Name: Araminta Ross

Born: 1820 (as a slave) on a Maryland Plantation owned by Edward Brodas

Nickname: Minty

Deeply Religious Parents taught her bible stories, gospel songs, and spirituals

-Before the Civil War, slaves were not allowed to gather in churches or in groups to fellowship

When the Edward’s plantation was falling on hard times, they would hire out slaves. Minty would be sent back many times because people thought she was stupid or stubborn. Brodas thought she was hopeless at housework, so he placed her in the hardest working area, the field! But little did he know, she liked it. By the age of 11, she shed the name “Minty” and folks started to call her “Harriet” after her mother.

In 1844, Harriet married a free Negro a the age of 24. His name was John Tubman. She discussed running away with her husband and he said that he would tell her master if she tried it. But Harriet couldn’t give up her hope of freedom. How could she? After all, she heard about an underground railroad that took slaves to freedom in the northern states.

In 1849, she knew it was time to bounce! She would travel ONLY at night. She used all of her knowledge of the woods to make her way the north. At each friendly station or “stop”, she was told where to go next.

When she arrived in Pennsylvania, she was excited by her NEW freedom. But should didn’t feel comfortable enjoying this new found freedom all by herself. So, she decided to go back! She went back to lead other slaves to freedom – over 300 in her lifetime.

Now check this out, during the Civil War, she was recruited as a SPY for the Union Army and a “nurse”. She was well respected, but NEVER got the pay from the Army that was owed to her. (SMH)

When slavery was ENDED, after the war, Harriet had a home for the sick, poor, and homeless in Auburn New York. She died in 1913 at the age of 93.

Stay tuned for Part 1 of the Harriet Tubman Story…

-LaShawnda