54
Our Pennsylvania Story
L E S S ON 2 5
Harriet Tubman in Pennsylvania
Get ToKnowMe
1. slave hunters 2.NorthStar 3.UndergroundRailroad
FindMe on theMap (On Page 50)
1. southern states 2. northern states
Parts of our country allowed slavery formore
than 200 years. It was not until the Civil War that
slavery ended in the southern states.
Howwould you like to be a slave? Youwould
have no freedoms. Youwould have towork 16
hours a day, every day of theweek. Youwould not
be paid for this work. Youwould be beaten and
whipped if you did not do your work. Youwould
not be free to travel.
Suchwas the early life of Harriet Tubman.
Harriet was born into slavery.
At age 25, Harriet married John Tubman, a
free African-Americanman. She dreamed of being
free someday.
About five years later, she learned that shewas
being sold. Shewould have tomove farther south.
Harriet wanted to escape to the North.
In 1849, she left. She had a very scary trip. You
see, she had to travel at night. The
slave hunters
were out looking for her. She also had no food.
Harriet followed the
North Star.
She escaped to
Philadelphia. Shewas free but her familywas not.
In Philadelphia, Harriet got a job. She saved her
pay. She used themoney to help free other slaves in the South.
Shemet some peoplewhowere helping runaway slaves to be free. She joined this
group. She learned how to transport slaves by using secret hideouts, houses, and people.
These escape routes became known as the
UndergroundRailroad
.
Harriet Tubman spent her entire life helping other people. She died in 1913 at the
age of 93.
This is a photo of Harriet Tubman.
