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Harriet Tubman
The 'Moses of her people' who walked back into danger again and again to free the enslaved.
The rise
Born enslaved in Maryland, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia in 1849, then risked recapture and death by returning repeatedly to the South to guide others to freedom.
What they did
She made about 13 missions on the Underground Railroad, freeing some 70 enslaved people, and during the Civil War served as a scout and spy, guiding the Combahee River raid that liberated hundreds. She later worked for suffrage and the elderly poor.
The full picture
She lived much of her life in poverty and pain from a childhood head injury, and struggled for years to receive a military pension for her wartime service.
Why it matters
Tubman is the enduring symbol of courage and self-sacrifice — freedom won not by words alone but by repeated personal risk.
“I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”