My wife and I recently spent a day on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay (across the Bay from our home in Annapolis) learning about the life of Harriet Tubman, the most famous “conductor” of the underground railroad that ushered helped hundreds of black slaves into their freedom.
I’m guessing most readers have heard of Harriet but, perhaps like I was, are not well acquainted with her life. Here is her story.
Harriet had a slave mother and free father, thus, according to the law of the land, was born a slave because her mother was a slave.
Examining the exhibits at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Park, I saw with new clarity how the suffering imposed splitting families apart was the most brutal of all consequences of slavery, even exceeding the physical suffering and human maltreatment, which in itself was often horrendous.
Early on, Harriet felt the full brutality of slavery, when she, her mother and her siblings were separated from her father.
As farmers in the Chesapeake region could no longer grow tobacco because of their depleted soil, they had less need for all their slaves, which led to slaveholders commonly hiring out slaves to different Masters for one-year contracts. Harriet was “hired out” as a vulnerable 6-year-old child, and suffered great loneliness and despair living far away from her mother and all her family. The ultimate blow came when both her older sisters sold into the Deep South where slaves were in great demand to raise cotton. She never saw them again.
Harriet spent many of her older childhood years helping her father cut timber in the forests of the Eastern Shore of Maryland. In God’s Providence, she learned many practical survival skills that were later her keys to success, e.g., being comfortable in the forest after dark, taking directional guidance from the North Star, and staying alive in the woods on what she could find to eat.
Even though she was only five feet tall, as a teenager she was incredibly strong, stronger even than most men! In fact, that Harriet’s master had her perform feats of strength to entertain his white friends, such as lifting heavy barrels or pulling heavy loads.
As a young woman, Harriet once visited a general store (which we also saw as we meandered over the back roads following Harriet’s footsteps) and tragically endured the punishment meant for another slave. An overseer was dissatisfied with his slave’s performance and picked up a 2-pound weight from the store counter and threw it at the offending person. He missed his target but the lead weight struck Harriet in the head so forcefully that her skull was fractured. It was a miracle that she lived!
Yet, so little were black lives valued, after being carried home and basically left with her wound untended for two days, Harriet was forced back to work in the fields the third day after her injury. She had severe headaches the rest of her life.
Just as she learned to navigate by the North Start, Harriet’s faith in God was her own personal North Star.
Her faith caused her to pursue a lonely and frightful escape all alone up through Maryland and into Philadelphia. Uncomfortable with her own freedom while her brothers and parents remained in slavery, Harry returned to the eastern shore again and again over the next 10 years, ultimately freeing over 70 slaves including many of her family members.
As I pondered the National Park exhibits about her life, it quickly became apparent that God permeated every part of her life. It was God who gave her the courage and determination to keep moving forward, even when the odds seemed astronomically stacked against her.
I read several firsthand accounts from her “passengers” about how Harriet listened to the Lord in the deep forest darkness and was guided away from her pursuers as she followed the “still small voice” inside her. As she became a “most wanted” person in this slave-holding region, many passengers on the Underground Railroad marveled at her ability to again and again avoid capture and find just the right place to hide from the pursuing slave catchers.
After her 10 years as the lead conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet settled in Canada where most escaped slaves lived and then eventually in Auburn, New York, where she spent the rest of her life.
Harriet continued to live out her faith as a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Through her church and other means, she supported the sick, homeless, disabled, elderly and poor, sharing what little money she had with others in need. At 80 years old, a lifelong dream was fulfilled when Harry opened the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged, a philanthropic organization she created. She died at 90 or 91 (white masters didn’t bother keeping records slaves’ births).
My Takeaways
My day walking in Harriet Tubman’s shoes was more than a pleasant “day out,” as my British friends would say.
- It brought me face to face in a deeply personal way with the daily depredations of slavery that I wonder if many white people in America really comprehend. I, for one, thought I understood but I now understand far better.
- The audio guide we followed as we traced Harriet over a hundred miles of highways included a recorded segment from her living great-great granddaughter, who spoke eloquently about why African Americans today still feel they are fighting for freedom. Yes, I know it all happened a long time ago; but in another way, listening to Harriet’s granddaughter reminded me it is still happening today.
- Harriet cherished her family and her faith, the twin lodestars of her life. Like her, would I not pay any price to see my family free, even though doing so set me against the law of the land and against what most pastors and congregations taught and believed? I hope I have the same courage she did to stand for the truth.
- Harriet’s faith was nurtured at outdoor camp meetings, where only blacks attended and could hear a different gospel message than they heard in white churches (on the occasions they were allowed inside white churches). Most African-American Christians in the U.S. today are deeply evangelical in theology, although they are never counted as such because “evangelicals” are now defined more by white-identity politics than theology.
- Even though others may differ, I 100% believe Harriet was indeed connected to God’s Spirit in ways that defy rational comprehension. God supernaturally guided her and her passengers to safety again and again over 10 years. The Old Testament prophets constantly thunder that God is on the side of the poor and downtrodden–here is a compelling practical example.
- Harriet Tubman deserves her place on the $20 bill. I hope I see her there soon.
