On this day in 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped slavery

“When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. 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. ”

— Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman on her first arrival in the free state of Pennsylvania

Born in the 1820s in Maryland, Araminta “Minty” Harriet Ross suffered the breakup of her family during the rise of the cotton plantations in Georgia, Mississippi and Louisiana. When her “owner” died, she made her move, concerned that her family would be further separated and she, a frail slave of low economic value, would have an uncertain and tragic fate.

Harriet had married a free man named John Tubman, who declined to go with her to Pennsylvania. in Maryland in those days, many families were blended — yet the free spouse was barred from moving the family elsewhere if the slaveholder did not allow it.

On September 17, 1849, Harriet traveled the Underground Railroad via a series of safe houses, and made it to Pennsylvania. She later observed:

When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. 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.

Harriet made 19 more trips and rescued more than 300 slaves, including her own family members. She married a Civil War veteran and dedicated her life to helping former slaves and the elderly until her death in 1913. She still suffered severe headaches and seizures from her early injuries as a slave in Maryland. According to Biography:

“Physical violence was a part of daily life for Tubman and her family. The violence she suffered early in life caused permanent physical injuries. Tubman later recounted a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast. She carried the scars for the rest of her life.

“The most severe injury occurred when Tubman was an adolescent. Sent to a dry-goods store for supplies, she encountered a slave who had left the fields without permission. The man’s overseer demanded that Tubman help restrain the runaway. When Tubman refused, the overseer threw a two-pound weight that struck her in the head. Tubman endured seizures, severe headaches and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life. She also experienced intense dream states, which she classified as religious experiences.”