Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad - Ann Petry

The Horn Book called this classic biography of Harriet Tubman an "unusually well-written and moving life of the 'Moses of her people.'" An accessible portrait of the woman who guided more than 300 slaves to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad was an ALA Notable Book and a New York Times Outstanding Book, and includes an index.

Amazon.com

 

 

 

 

This small biography introduces middle-grade readers to the life of Harriet Tubman in an accessible, almost novelized way that should greatly appeal to students. Harriet Tubman, born Araminta Ross to enslaved parents, grew up in a time when plantation owners were often making false promises of manumission (the promise to free slaves after a plantation owner's death). Other times, while the owners might have had the best of intentions, the lack of follow-through was due to surviving family members not carrying out the wishes of the deceased. Either way, false promises of manumission let to an increased number of runaway slaves. The slaves that were caught on the run would be made to endure whippings, beatings, brandings, or being resold into chain gangs. This gives you an idea of what inspired Tubman take on the role she did.

 

This bio looks at what Tubman might have been like as a little girl and what the day-to-day life of slaves in that era might have looked like -- duties, fears, home & family life, etc. Harriet's mother tries to push her towards being a house slave, thinking it would be a somewhat easier, safer life. Harriet however seems to prefer the outdoors. She likes being out among nature, the challenge of hard work, and takes pride in her physical strength that allows her to do any of the strenuous jobs normally left for male slaves (felling trees, hauling lumber, etc.) There's even a story of how she arranges a business deal with a plantation master in which she would seek out her own paying jobs, pay the plantation master about $60 a year and then she would be allowed to keep the rest of her earnings. Go girl!  

 

The reader learns that at age six, Tubman was "hired out" (slave owners would sometimes rent out their slaves to people who could not afford to own slaves themselves) to a weaver / trapper couple. The conditions of their home were so bad that Tubman ends up simultaneously getting measles and bronchitis. In time she recovers but the illnesses affect the sound of her voice for the rest of her life. 

 

As a near-adult, Tubman is nearly killed trying to help a fellow slave escape. She ends up taking a 2 lb iron weight to the side of the head. Though it's touch and go for a bit, she again recovers but suffers lifelong struggles with narcolepsy, migraines and a permanent scar on her forehead. She marries a free man by the name of John Tubman but alas, the love match was a bust, him not being exactly the man she thought. So starts the period of her life she would be most remembered for, as a conductor of the Underground Railroad, helping get slaves across borders into free territories. Even during her lifetime, her rep grew to near-mythic proportions, earning her the nickname "Moses". She was so serious about her work that she would carry a gun and whenever slaves seeking her help would have a change of heart & try to turn back, she would respond with the phrase "Go Free or Die", pointing the gun at them. She would not tolerate anyone chickening out, possibly ruining the chance for freedom for others. One of the biggest challenges she seemed to face was working to get her own family members to freedom. 

 

I thought the writing, in the very beginning, seemed a little simplistic even for a middle-grade read. This seems to taper off as the story progresses so it might have just been a case of Petry getting her groove. I really liked how at the end of each chapter Petry includes a paragraph explaining what was going on in history elsewhere at that particular point in Tubman's life. It helps the reader make connections, teaching them the importance of all these moments and how everything is interwoven. As a whole, I got to know Harriet Tubman in a new way that made me feel as if I understand her life a little better. The history books I grew up with, while they did mention her, it was in a very washed-over, bullet-points kind of way when now I see there was so much more to her that deserves to be more widely known.