Harriet Tubman (ca. 1820-1913)
Escaping to freedom in Philadelphia from Maryland in 1849, Harriet Tubman led more than 300 slaves to freedom over the next ten years. She lived in St. Catherine's, Ontario, after 1850 when the Fugitive Slave Act made it easy for slave traders to kidnap free slaves. She also owned property in upstate New York, purchased from abolitionist William E. Seward. Her parents and other refugees lived there. Tubman was a spy and scout for Union troops during the Civil War. After the was she opened the "Home for Indigent Aged Negroes" on her farm in New York and attended the women's right meetings in nearby Seneca Falls. The first Black Heritage series postage stamp, released in 1978, depicted Harriet Tubman, a woman who risked everything to liberate slaves.
Additional Information Can Be Found At...
Tubman, Harriet Ross - Encarta Online Deluxe
The National Women's Hall of Fame - Women of the Hall