Fugitive slave Harriet Tubman was nicknamed Moses, like the biblical hero who led his people to freedom.
Many people worked as conductors on the Underground Railroad. Being a conductor was especially dangerous. Conductors often led slaves directly out of the South. They did so in many ways. Sometimes they went on foot. Other times they drove wagons with hidden bottoms. The runaways were hidden there. Some conductors were even ship captains. They hid runaway slaves on their boats.
Among the best known Underground Railroad conductors was an escaped slave named Harriet Tubman. Tubman was a small woman who was born a slave in Maryland in about 1820. Her life was filled with hard work and painful beatings.
Fugitive slave Harriet Tubman was nicknamed Moses, like the biblical hero who led his people to freedom.
Tubman longed to be free. When she was about twenty-five, she ran away. She started out with two of her brothers. Her brothers became fearful and went back but Tubman went on alone. During the day, she hid in wooded areas. At night she traveled by the light of the North Star. Runaways followed the North Star to keep on course to the North. Soon Tubman reached freedom.
Tubman would use the North Star as a guide to lead her charges to freedom.
Tubman began working as a conductor with the Underground Railroad. Over ten years, she returned to the South nineteen times. Going North wasn’t easy. Sometimes, Tubman’s passengers wanted to turn back but she wouldn’t let them. She’d pull out a pistol and give them a choice. They’d go on or die!
Harriet Tubman led more than 300 slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad. She could have been killed if caught. Yet she kept on and never lost a passenger!