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On Tubman's Trail
The Underground Railroad in Maryland
Harriet Tubman, hailed during his lifetime as the "Moses of her people," is even more admired today, a century after her passing. Born in Dorchester County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849. But she didn't rest there. Over the next decade, Tubman returned to Maryland at least a dozen times to bring family members and friends to freedom.
Tubman became the most celebrated "conductor" of the nation's vast Underground Railroad. This network of blacks and whites, around for centuries but first named in the 1830s, ushered thousands of slaves north. Slaves fled Maryland at a record pace in the 1850s, challenging bankrupt notions about their happiness living in bondage.
Harriet Tubman continued helping others, often at great personal risk, for the rest of her life. As a Union scout and spy during the Civil War, she liberated hundreds of slaves. Later, Tubman became active on behalf of women's suffrage, and opened a home and hospital for indigent and ages African Americans.
"The idea of being captured by slave-hunters or slave holders, seemed never to enter her mind."
-- William Still, abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor
Tasting Freedom:
In September 1849, fearing she might be sold south, Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross and called "Minty") ran away with her brothers. Harry and Ben soon panicked and the threesome returned. But not for long. Later that fall, Tubman left again, this time for good.
Among Family and Friends:
Tubman settled in Auburn, New York, surrounded by family and friends. Shown left to right in this photograph: Tubman; adopted daughter Gertie Davis; Gertie's husband Nelson Davis; Tubman's great-great-niece Lee Cheney; "Pop" Alexander; Walter Green; "Blind Aunty" Sarah Parker; and, Tubman's great niece Dora Stewart.
Moses of Her People:
Standing only five feet tall and unable to read or write, Harriet Tubman was nonetheless a force to be reckoned with. Intensely religious, she faced devastating physical pain and emotional setbacks throughout her life.
Daring Escape:
Using directions provided by Tubman, some 44 men, women and young children escaped from Dorchester County in October 1857. Many eventually settled near Tubman's Auburn, New York, home. One couple, Nat and Lizzy Amby, moved to Baltimore after the Civil War to rejoin friends and family they left behind.
Follow the North Star:
Tubman's Underground Railroad network included friendly "stations" in Baltimore (her brother-in-law lived in present-day Little Italy), Maryland's Dorchester and Caroline counties, and a handful of cities, towns and villages in Delaware.
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass is another giant of American history who emerged from slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Born in Talbot County, Douglass spent much of his youth and early adulthood "hired out" to shipbuilders in Baltimore's Fell's Point neighborhood. There he learned to read and write.
In early September, 1838, Douglass disguised himself as a sailor, clutched a friend's "sailor protection" papers, and nervously boarded a northbound train, leaving behind his life as a slave.
A brilliant orator and thinker, Douglass went on to become the nation's foremost anti-slavery spokesman. Maryland, a boarder state suspended between slavery and freedom, had done much to shape his character as it had Harriet Tubman's.
Douglass was proud of his Eastern Shore origins, even as he railed against the evils of slavery. And he never forgot Baltimore, returning late in life to build four rowhouses on the former site of the church in which he worshipped as a slave. Those houses still stand in Fell's Point.
An American Giant:
Born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, Douglass adopted a new surname after gaining his freedom in 1838. He sat or this portrait after publishing his autobiography, an immediate bestseller. Douglass later gave his daguerreotype to longtime friend and fellow reformer Susan B. Anthony.
Escape by Any Means:
Henry Brown gained his freedom in 1849 by having himself shipped by rail to Philadelphia, by way of Baltimore.
Brown's escape became a powerful symbol of the inhumanity of slavery and the subject of a popular print. The man holding the crowbar is Frederick Douglass. |