Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad PDF

**Harriet Tubman** was born into slavery in Maryland where she suffered severe abuse from her enslaver. In 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia and saved money to return for her family. She made several return trips to bring family members, friends, and then other enslaved people, from Maryland into Ph...

**Harriet Tubman** was born into slavery in Maryland where she suffered severe abuse from her enslaver. In 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia and saved money to return for her family. She made several return trips to bring family members, friends, and then other enslaved people, from Maryland into Philadelphia. After the passage of the **Fugitive Slave Act in 1850**, the Railroad had to extend into modern-day Canada (then British North America) as the law required those in Northern states to return enslaved people to their enslavers. Rather than an officially organized pathway, the **Underground Railroad** consisted of a series of safe houses, called \"stations,\" and protected routes that enslaved people could use to reach free states in the North (before the Fugitive Slave Act) and Canada. Most of the station masters in the Underground Railroad did not know each other to protect those involved should someone get arrested and be pressed for information, and most only knew the directions to the next safe house. \"Conductors\" helped guide people along the routes. At its peak, nearly 1,000 people a year used the secret network to escape from slavery. Nicknamed Moses, Tubman aided approximately 70 people, never losing anyone along the way. Tubman also helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harper\'s Ferry and served as a spy and scout during the Civil War, focused primarily on freeing people from slavery. She also spent a lot of time speaking on the abolition circuit, becoming renowned for her story and experiences. After the war, she became an active member of the women\'s suffrage movement.