Harriet Tubman's Role In American History

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American history has many important figures that played an important role in shaping the way the country is today. A prime example of an important figure that made an impact in American history is Harriet Tubman. By first escaping to freedom, then retracing her steps in order to help guide her family, friends, and other slaves that encountered the same cruelty that she once endured to freedom. Harriet Tubman was born in 1820, in Dorchester County, Maryland. Because she was born and raised in a family of slaves, nobody knows the exact day of her birth due to the conditions she was born in, she was never given a birth certificate with the day and year she was born. At the young age of twelve years old she was put to work in a field on a large farm. Harsh punishments would take place for such little mistakes that were made. She lived most of her young adult life enslaved until she was twenty-nine. At twenty-nine she found out she was going to be sold by her owner and decided to run to the north where she knew she could be free. A lot of…show more content…
Before she died, with all of her friends and family surrounding her bedside, she told them “I go to prepare a place for you.” When she was buried, she was buried with military honors in the Auburn’s Fort Hill Cemetery. Harriet was between eighty-eight to ninety-eight years old when she passed away. Due to all of the tough labor she endured, she always looked much older than what she really was. Her brain injury from so long ago was debilitating to her, she had brain surgery in Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital to alleviate pain. She outlived many of the abolitionists of her era such as Frederick Douglass, William Seward and William Lloyd Garrison. Even though she had passed away, the tremendous endurance, drive, and strength she had gave her the opportunity to completely change the way our society functions today. Her spirit and accomplishments will forever live

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