Harriet Tubman [politics]

Calvin

Welcome to Headstones and Microphones where we use AI to step into the past through a researched, first-person simulation of history's most interesting people. I am your host, Calvin. While we’ve added some creative storytelling, our goal is to inspire your own study of these fascinating lives. Now, let’s meet our guest.

Calvin

For those who may somehow not know who you are... who are you?

black female guest

Well, hello there, Calvin! Most people know me as Harriet Tubman, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, a nurse and a spy during the Civil War, and a woman who simply refused to let others live in chains when freedom was waiting.

Calvin

When and where were you born?

black female guest

I was born down in Dorchester County, Maryland, on the Eastern Shore. Back then, they didn't keep exact records for people like me, but it was around the year 1822 on the Brodas plantation.

Calvin

What was your given name at birth?

black female guest

My given name at birth was Araminta Ross. Everyone called me "Minty" when I was little.

Calvin

Is there a story behind your birth name?

black female guest

There sure is! When I was a young woman, around eleven years old, it was the custom on our plantation to start wearing a bright cotton bandana around your head to show you weren't a child anymore. When I took up that bandana, I decided to leave my "basket name" Minty behind. I took the name Harriet, after my beautiful, brave mother, Harriet "Rit" Green. It felt like stepping into my own strength.

Calvin

What was your hometown like growing up?

black female guest

Dorchester County was a place of deep woods, winding rivers, and large plantations. It was beautiful to look at, but for us, it was a landscape of hard labor and constant fear. The woods and swamps were thick, which later on became a blessing because I learned how to navigate them perfectly, outsmarting the slave catchers using the very land I grew up on.

Calvin

What was your family life like?

black female guest

I was one of nine children born to my mother Rit and my father, Ben Ross. My father was a free man, but my mother was enslaved, so by the law of the land, we children were enslaved too. My master, Edward Brodess, didn't care about keeping us together. He worked hard to split us up, sending us to different farms, so my mother had to fight tooth and nail just to keep what family she could close to her.

Calvin

What kind of kid were you?

black female guest

Oh, I was a tough little thing, though I had a lot of sorrow early on. I was working from the time I was six years old. I wasn't built for indoor weaving or cleaning—I slacked off at those and got whipped for it. I preferred being outside, even when they made me check muskrat traps in the freezing water. I was independent, a bit stubborn, and always looking at the sky.

Calvin

What did you dream of becoming as a child?

black female guest

When you are born into chattel slavery, your biggest dream is simply to see the North Star and stand on free soil. I dreamed of a place where a person's life belonged to them, where marriages couldn't be torn apart by a bill of sale, and where my family could sit under their own vine and fig tree without fear.

Calvin

What was your first job?

black female guest

When I was only about six years old, my master rented me out to a couple. My very first duties were checking muskrat traps in the cold marshes, where I actually caught the measles because of the dampness, and later on, babysitting. I remember having to keep the baby from crying, and if I nodded off, the mistress would whip me. I was so small, I used to toast a fat chunk of pork on the coals to keep my own little brother quiet when I had to watch him!

Calvin

Was there a moment where you realized you were different from everyone else?

black female guest

That moment came when I was about thirteen years old. I was at a local crossroads store when I saw another enslaved young man trying to escape his overseer. The overseer demanded I help tie him up, but I refused. As the young man ran out the door, the furious overseer picked up a heavy two-pound iron weight and hurled it. It missed the runner and struck me right in the skull. It fractured my head and altered my life forever. I teetered between life and death for months, but when I woke up, I carried what I called "sleeping spells"—what folks today call narcolepsy. But along with those spells came vivid, powerful visions of freedom and messages from God. That's when I knew I had a specific purpose.

Calvin

What’s a decision that changed everything for you, but felt small at the time?

black female guest

In 1844, I married a free Black man named John Tubman. I loved him, but he didn't share my dream of going North. When I told him I feared being sold further South and wanted to run, he told me he wouldn't go, and even threatened to tell my master if I left. Walking away from that marriage and deciding to step into the dark woods alone in 1849 to find my freedom—that changed absolutely everything.

Calvin

What was your biggest break?

black female guest

My biggest break was successfully crossing that invisible line into Pennsylvania in 1849. I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now that I was free. There was such a glory over everything! The sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven.

Calvin

What were your biggest struggles before success?

black female guest

When I first got to Philadelphia, I was free, but I was completely alone. There was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land, working as a maid, saving every penny. My heart was still down in Maryland with my parents, brothers, and sisters. I knew I couldn't truly enjoy my freedom until they were free too.

Calvin

Did you ever consider quitting?

black female guest

Never. Not once. Once I became a conductor on the Underground Railroad, I told my passengers, "You'll be free or die." If anyone got too tired or wanted to turn back because of the danger, I'd show them my pistol. If they went back, they would risk betraying the whole network. I never lost a single passenger on my thirteen trips, and I wasn't about to start by letting myself or anyone else quit.

Calvin

Were there any specific daily habits or routines that you feel are essential to your success?

black female guest

My faith and my survival skills were my daily routine. I fasted every single Friday, a habit I learned from my father, Ben. He also taught me how to read the woods, how to move silently through the timber, and how to find wild sassafras, black cherry, or paw-paw for nourishment when there was no food to be found.

Calvin

What job would you have had if fame never happened?

black female guest

If the world had been right and just from the beginning, I would have happily been a cook, a baker, or a nurse caring for the elderly. During the Civil War, I ran an eating-house in Beaufort, South Carolina, where I baked gingerbread and brewed root beer through the night to sell to the Union soldiers. I always loved feeding people and keeping them comforted.

Calvin

How did relationships change after success?

black female guest

When I became known as "Moses" and worked closely with great minds like Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, and Governor John Andrew of Massachusetts, I found myself walking in circles I never could have imagined as a child in the slave quarters. But my focus always stayed on my family and the people who needed me. I managed to bring my aging parents up to Auburn, New York, to ensure they spent their days in peace.

Calvin

Did fame bring happiness?

black female guest

Fame itself means very little. True happiness came from seeing the look on my sister's face, or my parents' faces, when they realized the slave catchers could never touch them again. Happiness was leading an armed raid at the Combahee River during the war and watching more than 750 people rush out of the rice fields toward freedom.

Calvin

What misconceptions did people have about you?

black female guest

A lot of folks thought that because I couldn't read or write letters, I wasn't clever. Once, during the days of the Underground Railroad, I overheard some men reading a wanted poster about me. It explicitly said "Harriet Tubman" was illiterate. I quickly pulled a book out of my bag and pretended to read it with a straight face. The men took one look at me reading and decided I couldn't possibly be the woman on the poster!

Calvin

What was your darkest moment?

black female guest

On my third trip back to Maryland, I went specifically to bring my husband, John Tubman, North with me. I had saved up money and risked everything to get to him, only to find out he had taken another wife and had no desire to leave. It broke my heart right then and there. But I swallowed my tears, found some other brave souls who wanted their freedom, and led them North instead.

Calvin

Who had the biggest influence on your life?

black female guest

My father, Ben Ross. He was the one who taught me how to predict the weather, how to walk without making a sound in the brush, and how to find the North Star. He gave me the physical tools to survive, and my mother gave me the spiritual strength to keep going.

Calvin

What was life like in your final years?

black female guest

After the wars were over and slavery was ended, I settled into my home in Auburn, New York. I spent my time advocating for women's right to vote alongside Susan B. Anthony and working to care for the needy.

Calvin

What were you working on in your career before you passed away?

black female guest

My last great project was establishing the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent on my property in Auburn. It opened in 1908, ensuring that elderly, penniless Black folk who had spent their youth in servitude would have a warm, dignified place to live out their days.

Calvin

And when and where did you pass away?

black female guest

I passed away from pneumonia on March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York in the very home I had established. I was 91 years old.

Calvin

What’s a random fact about you most people have never heard?

black female guest

Most people don't know that I was the very first woman in United States military history to plan and lead an armed assault! During the Civil War, under the command of Union generals, I guided gunboats up the Combahee River because I had mapped out where the Confederate torpedoes were hidden.

Calvin

What’s the craziest rumor ever told about you?

black female guest

There were rewards offered for my capture that people rumored went all the way up to $40,000! That was an enormous amount of money back then. Slaveholders couldn't believe a disabled, illiterate woman was outsmarting them, so they rumored that "Moses" must be a white northern man in disguise or some kind of magician.

Calvin

What was your favorite food?

black female guest

Oh, I always loved a good, hearty piece of cornbread baked with salt pork. My friends' families used to bake it for me whenever I visited them to share stories.

Calvin

What was your favorite book?

black female guest

Even though I never learned to read the printed page, the Bible was the book I held closest to my heart. I knew its stories by heart, especially the story of Moses leading the children of Israel out of bondage.

Calvin

Did you have any known rivalries?

black female guest

My only rivalries were with the slave catchers, the plantation overseers, and the Confederate army! We played a deadly game of hide-and-seek for over a decade, and I'm proud to say I won every single time.

Calvin

Tell us a story nobody talks about.

black female guest

Once, I was on a rescue mission and walked right into a town market where I spotted my former master walking straight toward me. Talk about a scare! I was carrying two live chickens by their legs, so I quickly let go of their legs, dropped them to the ground, and began frantically chasing them around, causing a massive, hilarious scene. Everyone, including my old master, laughed at the silly woman chasing her escaped chickens, and I bypassed him without him ever looking at my face.

Calvin

What advice would you give people chasing success?

black female guest

I would tell them that 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. Do not let the heavy weights of life stop you from marching forward.

Calvin

Miss Harriet, do you have any closing remarks about the interview or the stories you shared that you would like to share with the listeners before we sign off?

black female guest

Just that freedom is a hard-won thing, and it requires all of us to look out for one another. If you see someone struggling under a heavy burden, reach out your hand and help them cross that river. Thank you so much for having me on the show, Calvin. It's been a real pleasure sharing these memories with you.

Calvin

And that wraps up another conversation from beyond the grave. Thanks for joining us on The Headstones and Microphones Podcast. Remember—legends may die, but their stories never do. Please help spread the word by sharing and following the pod.