Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross) was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army.
In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women’s suffrage. Born enslaved in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate overseer threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another enslaved person, but hit her instead.
The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. After her injury, Tubman began experiencing strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God. These experiences, combined with her Methodist upbringing, led her to become devoutly religious. In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, only to return to Maryland to rescue her family soon after.
Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other enslaved people to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or “Moses”, as she was called) “never lost a passenger”. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she helped guide fugitives farther north into British North America (Canada), and helped newly freed enslaved people find work.
Tubman met John Brown in 1858, and helped him plan and recruit supporters for his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 enslaved people.
After the war, she retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement until illness overtook her, and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. After her death in 1913, she became an icon of courage and freedom.
Here are the best quotes from Harriet Tubman.
- “Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
- “And I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that’s what I’ve always prayed for ever since.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Appears like I prayed all the time – about my work, everywhere, I prayed and groaned to the Lord.” – Harriet Tubman
- “As I lay so sick on my bed, from Christmas till March, I was always praying for the poor ole master. It Appears like I didn’t do anything but pray for ole master. ‘Oh, Lord, convert ole master;’ ‘Oh, dear Lord, change that man’s heart, and make him a Christian.’” – Harriet Tubman
- “Change is not dismantling the old, it’s building the new.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Farewell, ole Maser, don’t think hard of me, I’m going on to Canada, where all the slaves are free.” – Harriet Tubman
- “God’s time is always near. He gave me my strength and he set the North Star in the heavens; He meant I should be free.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I am at peace with God and all mankind.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I can’t die but once.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I freed a thousand slaves I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Then I was not happy or contented.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I had crossed de line of which I had so long been dreaming. I was free; but dere was no one to welcome me to de land of freedom, I was a stranger in a strange land, and my home after all was down in de old cabin quarter, wid de ole folks, and my brudders and sisters. But to dis solemn resolution I came; I was free, and dey should be free also; I would make a home for dem in de North, and de Lord helping me, I would bring dem all dere.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I had crossed the line. I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I had two sisters carried away in a chain-gang – one of them left two children. We were always uneasy.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I have heard their groans and sighs, and seen their tears, and I would give every drop of blood in my veins to free them.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I knew of a man who was sent to the state prison for twenty-five years. All these years, he was always thinking of his home, and counting by years, months, and days, the time till he should be free, and see his family and friends once more.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I never had anything good, no sweet, no sugar; and that sugar, right by me, did look so nice, and my mistress’s back was turned to me while she was fighting with her husband, so I just put my fingers in the sugar bowl to take one lump, and maybe she heard me, for she turned and saw me. The next minute, she had the rawhide down.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I never had anything good, no sweet, no sugar; and that sugar, right by me, did look so nice, and my mistress’s back was turned to me while she was fighting with her husband, so I just put my fingers in the sugar bowl to take one lump, and maybe she heard me, for she turned and saw me. The next minute, she had the rawhide down.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I never had anything good, no sweet, no sugar; and that sugar, right by me, did look so nice, and my mistress’s back was turned to me while she was fighting with her husband, so I just put my fingers in the sugar bowl to take one lump, and maybe she heard me, for she turned and saw me. The next minute, she had the rawhide down.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I prayed all night long for my master. Till the first of March; and all the time he was bringing people to look at me, and trying to sell me. I changed my prayer. First of March, I began to pray, ‘Oh Lord, if you are not ever going to change that man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way’.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that’s what I’ve always prayed for ever since.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I said to the Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I started with this idea in my head, “There’s two things I’ve got a right to, death or liberty.”” – Harriet Tubman
- “I think slavery is the next thing to hell. If a person would send another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell if he could.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I think there’s many a slaveholder that’ll get to Heaven. They don’t know better. They acts up to the light they have.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say – I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I was the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I would have been able to free a thousand more slaves if I could only have convinced them that they were slaves.” – Harriet Tubman
- “I’ve seen the real thing, and I don’t want to see it on no stage or in no theater.” – Harriet Tubman
- “If a person would send another into bondage, he would, it appears to me, be bad enough to send him into hell if he could.” – Harriet Tubman
- “If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more.” – Harriet Tubman
- “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.” – Harriet Tubman
- “In my dreams and visions, I seemed to see a line, and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies, who stretched out their arms to me over the line, but I couldn’t reach them no-how. I always fell before I got to the line.” – Harriet Tubman
- “In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can’t seem to get there no matter how. I can’t seem to get over that line.” – Harriet Tubman
- “It appears like my heart goes flutter, flutter, and then they may say, ‘Peace, peace,’ as much as they liked – know it’s going to be war!” – Harriet Tubman
- “It wasn’t me, ’twas the Lord. I always told him, ‘I trust You. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ and He always did.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to You and You’ve got to see me through.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Marcus Garvey had in their times. We just had a more vulnerable enemy.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Marriages among slaves could be grand and festive.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Most of those coming from the mainland are very destitute, almost naked. I am trying to find places for those able to work, and provide for them as best I can, so as to lighten the burden on the Government as much as possible, while at the same time they learn to respect themselves by earning their own living.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Never wound a snake; kill it.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Now that I’ve been freed, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Oh, Lord! You’ve been with me in six troubles, don’t desert me in the seventh!” – Harriet Tubman
- “Pears like I prayed all the time, ’bout my work, everywhere, I prayed an’ groaned to the Lord.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Quakers almost as good as colored. They call themselves friends and you can trust them every time.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Read my letter to the old folks, and give my love to them, and tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good old ship of Zion comes along, to be ready to step aboard.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Slave parents lived in abject terror of separation from their children. This fear, perhaps more than any other aspect of the institution, revealed the deeply dehumanizing horror of slavery.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Slavery is the next thing to hell.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Some people say I would rather be pushing a ford than driving a chevy, em too I love a good workout.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Stop searching for happiness in the same place you lost it. Change is not dismantling the old, it’s building the new.” – Harriet Tubman
- “The good Lord has come down to deliver my people, and I must go and help him.” – Harriet Tubman
- “The Lord who told me to take care of my people meant me to do it just as long as I live, and so I did what he told me.” – Harriet Tubman
- “The majority of slaves struggled against this tide of indifference to their desires. They engineered love matches and cemented unions with ceremonies.” – Harriet Tubman
- “The sun came up like gold through the trees and I felt like I was in heaven.” – Harriet Tubman
- “There are two things I’ve got a right to, and these are, Death or Liberty – one or the other I mean to have. No one will take me back alive; I shall fight for my liberty, and when the time has come for me to go, the Lord will let them, kill me.” – Harriet Tubman
- “There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.” – Harriet Tubman
- “This fear, perhaps more than any other aspect of the institution, revealed the deeply dehumanizing horror of slavery.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Twant me, ’twas the Lord. I always told him, ‘I trust to you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,’ and He always did.” – Harriet Tubman
- “We saw the lightning and that was the guns and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns; and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.” – Harriet Tubman
- “When I found I had crossed that line, looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees, and I felt like I was in heaven.” – Harriet Tubman
- “Why, the language down there in the far South is just as different from ours in Maryland, as you can think. They laughed when they heard me talk, and I could not understand them, no how.” – Harriet Tubman
- “You’ll be free or die!” – Harriet Tubman
