Birth of Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born around 1821 in Dorchester County. An American abolitionist and humanitarian, Tubman was born into slavery in Maryland, and suffered a head injury as a young girl that caused her lifelong seizures. In 1849 she escaped to Pennsylvania, and then returned to the South many times to guide enslaved people, including family members, to freedom along the network known as the Underground Railroad. She was never captured and later said she never lost a passenger. During the Civil War she served the Union Army as a scout, nurse and spy, and led a raid at the Combahee River. Later she supported women's suffrage and cared for the elderly.

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