Harriet Tubman: ‘American Icon and Pioneer of Freedom.’

“If you are tired, keep going.
If you are scared, keep going.
If you are hungry, keep going.
If you want to taste freedom, keep going.”

This quote has often been attributed to Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) Abolitionist and Humanitarian. 

When Hillary Clinton paraphrased this quote in her 2008 speech at the DNC, she captured Tubman’s spirit:

 “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they’re shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”

Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, but escaped it in 1849.  Harriet, who was nicknamed ‘Moses,’ was a courageous, pioneering black woman, who led seventy slaves to freedom in thirteen missions.  She rescued family, friends, and guided dozens of others to freedom.  She traveled by night and in total secrecy, and she would use spiritual songs as coded messages to guide her refugees when there was danger.  On her missions she used the Underground Railway network of safe houses and antislavery activists.  Her missions into slavery territory put her in enormous danger, and she had to use her incredible ingenuity to keep safe and sometimes used disguises.  Her missions to freedom sometimes took up to three weeks by walking on foot through northern states, and sometimes into Canada.  There, she would find newly freed slaves work and homes.

Harriet Tubman was a nurse during the Civil War.  She was also a spy for the Union, for whom she led an armed expedition and liberated over 700 slaves.

When Harriet was a slave, she was beaten by her masters and suffered a severe head injury which caused her seizures, headaches and powerful visions and dreams for the rest of her life. The powerful dreams that she had; intensified her spirituality and she claimed that her dreams foretold the future, influenced her actions and the way others viewed her.  Her deeply spiritual experiences were rooted in Evangelical teachings and African cultural traditions.  Her faith in a Supreme Power was very strong.

In 1844, Harriet married John Tubman, a free man.  Four years later, Harriet’s freedom was threatened and she fled to the north. John Tubman was not interested in joining her and remarried a free woman and had four children.  Although she was broken hearted, Harriet refused to sacrifice her freedom for her marriage and committed herself to liberating her family and friends.

Tubman lived in Ontario, Canada and Auburn, New York towards the end of her life where she attended anti-slavery meetings, black rights conventions and woman’s suffrage meetings.

Tubman was a great activist for the women’s suffrage movement, and even on her death bed, Tubman encouraged women to “stick together”and win the battle for the right to vote.  Women finally got equal voting rights when the The Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920.

Harriet Tubman is a reminder to us all of what women activists were willing to sacrifice to give women the right to vote.  During the Civil War, suffrage activists largely worked with the abolition movement to gain rights for both women and African Americans. After the Civil War, many women hoped to be granted the same rights of citizenship as freed slaves.  The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 and was a monumental step forward in African-American rights.  Suffrage for African American men took precedence over women’s suffrage, and the constitutional amendment granting women’s suffrage did not pass until 1920.

Harriet Tubman risked her life for equality and freedom, and she had a life long passion for family and community.  Her self-determination and resolve to secure justice was fearless and unyielding.

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