nPostednon September 17, 2013
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nTodaynwe can celebrate a woman breaking laws, stealing, and running awaynfrom her crimes.
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nWell—runningnaway WAS her crime! n
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nInnthe early United States, it was perfectly legal to own other people.nYou could buy and sell other people, and you could pretty much donwhat you wanted to do with “your own” people. n
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nWhatnwas against the law was for those people to run away. Not only was itnillegal for a slave to run away, it was illegal for anyone to help anslave run away. And, in a sense, the runaway was depriving his or hern“master” of property that had been paid for. n
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nOfncourse slavery was horribly wrong, and so in this case, breaking thenlaws was a good thing, and following the laws was an immoral thing. Inwonder if you think that any laws we have today are bad laws thatnshould be broken?
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nAtnany rate, on this date in 1849, a woman named Harriet Tubmannsuccessfully escaped slavery. She made it to Philadelphia,nPennsylvania, where slavery was illegal and she was free. n
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| Why do you think that Tubman’s nickname was “Moses”? |
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nButnTubman didn’t sit around up north just enjoying her freedom. Instead,nshe continued her “crime spree” by returning to her home state ofnMaryland to break out her family. One group at a time, returning overnand over again into dangerous territory, Tubman helped dozens ofnenslaved people find their way to freedom. n
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nSoon,nanother bad law was created: the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 requirednlaw officials in free states to help recapture escaped slaves. SonPennsylvania and other free states were no longer safe. Tubman didn’tnbuckle—she just started traveling further with the groups shenled—all the way north to Canada.
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Whennthe Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army. She served asna cook, a nurse, an armed scout, and even a spy! She was the firstnwoman to lead an armed expedition during the war—and this raid wasnvery successful, freeing more than 700 slaves!
Whennthe Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army. She served asna cook, a nurse, an armed scout, and even a spy! She was the firstnwoman to lead an armed expedition during the war—and this raid wasnvery successful, freeing more than 700 slaves!n
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nTonlearn more about the Underground Railroad, which was a system of safenhouses for escaping slaves, check out the Scholastic website.
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nTonlearn more about Tubman, check out this earlier post.
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nAlsonon this date:
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Constitution Day
Constitution Day n
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Anniversarynof the Doors defying Ed Sullivan
Anniversarynof the Doors defying Ed Sullivann
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nAnniversary of Van Leeuwenhoek’s discovery of “animalcules”
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nPlannAhead!
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nChecknout my Pinterest pages on Septembernholidays, Septembernbirthdays,nand historicalnanniversaries in September.
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest pages on Octobernholidays, Octobernbirthdays,nand historicalnanniversaries in October.
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