Mr. Sullivan Name

Mr. Sullivan Name:

One of the most notable people of the Civil War Era is assuredly Harriet Tubman, who escaped from slavery, then assisted other fugitive slaves make their own escapes via the Underground Railroad. Yet, as often happens with such people, Tubman has taken on a legendary aura, such that most of us do not know the details of her life. This biography goes a long way towards changing that. Learn more as you read Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (2004) by Catherine Clinton.

1. What did Tubman recognize would be an even more difficult struggle than the struggle of blacks for their rights?

2. While the author acknowledges that “Harriet Tubman became an icon during the last years of the twentieth century,” what is the goal of this book?

3. What was Tubman’s name when she was born on the Eastern Shore of Maryland around 1820?

4. What happened at the close of the 18th century which “fueled a stampede of slaveholders further south and west”? 5. What gang would abduct free blacks in Maryland and sell then in Virginia?

6. By the age of 12, Tubman (at the time still Araminta Ross) moved from domestic labor (i.e., in the household) to what type of work?

7. What happened when Araminta tried to stop an overseer from punishing a slave who had left the fields?

8. At what time would slaves perform the ritual of “jumping the broom”?

9. What causes may have led to strain on the marriage of Araminta and John Tubman?

10. In what year did Araminta flee to the North, changing her name to Harriet?

11. What Act did Congress pass in 1793? What did it do?

12. What was the difference between “runaways” and “fugitives”?

13. Fear of what “was a constant within free black communities in early America, especially for parents of free black children”?

14. How did the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 make it “open season on northern blacks”?

15. While he ran a blacksmith shop and hardware store during the day, what activity “absorbed [Thomas Garrett’s] energies at night”? 16. What was the difference between a “conductor” and an “abductor”?

17. Why did many abolitionists frown upon paying slave owners to free their slaves?

18. Did most fugitives escape alone, or in groups? Why?

19. Tubman went back South for the first time to rescue whom? Was she successful?

20. Why did John Tubman not wish to be rescued?

21. What was a daguerreotype? Why was it so important to Tubman?

22. What did Tubman do with an escaped slave who considered leaving the group to return to the plantation?

23. Why did Tubman have her father blindfolded?

24. Was Solomon Moseby successful in his escape to Canada?

25. Blacks were guaranteed their freedom in Canada. Did racism still exist there?

26. What anti-slavery novel, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe (in Brunswick, Maine, by the way), sold nearly one million copies in its first year of publication? 27. Why was it especially risky for Tubman to attempt to rescue her parents during the summer months?

28. Margaret was always held out as Tubman’s favorite niece. In fact, the relationship might not have been aunt/niece, but actually what?

29. Who said, “Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery!”?

30. Where did John Brown and his followers attack on October 16, 1859? Where was Tubman at the time? Why?

31. Was Brown’s raid successful? What became of him?

32. In 1860, who was elected president? How did this make slave owners feel?

33. Who was inaugurated as president of the Confederate States of Amrica in early 1861?

34. As the Civil War began, did Lincoln intend to free the slaves? What was his primary goal?

35. During the Civil War, Tubman volunteered to go to the Sea Islands to help thousands of escaping slaves. The Sea Islands are of the coast of which state?

36. What diseases did Tubman help to battle at Port Royal? 37. After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the Union cause was switched from being one of unification to now being one of unification and what else?

38. Tubman led a new operation under the direction of Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. What was the nature of this new operation?

39. Was Tubman’s raid near Combahee Ferry a success, or a failure? How many slaves were freed?

40. Who wrote a feature article which “catapulted Tubman into the international spotlight”?

41. Did the assault by African American soldiers on Fort Wagner (i.e., the climactic scene of the movie Glory) succeed? What became of Colonel Shaw?

42. In 1863, who wrote a biographical sketch of Sojourner Truth “which catapulted Truth from relative obscurity?”

43. Why was Tubman upset with President Lincoln?

44. After the Civil War, Tubman dedicated her remaining years to what important mission?

45. “During Reconstruction, Tubman launched another crusade – one that turned into a thirty-year battle.” A battle for what?

46. What role did Private Nelson Charles eventually play in Tubman’s life? 47. Was Tubman able to prove that she was the widow of a Civil War veteran? If so, what monthly pension did she receive?

48. Finally, in 1899, to what amount was her pension increased?

49. In her eighties, why did Tubman stay up all night in the Rochester, New York train station?

50. What famous African-American woman was born the same year that Tubman died?

jms/Harriet Tubman 221 pp.