Civil Rights Activists: Harriet Tubman

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Name: ______Period: ______Date: ______Article of the Week Directions: Read the following article carefully and annotate. You need to include at least 1 annotation per paragraph. Be sure to include all of the following in your total annotations.

Annotation = Marking the Text + A Note of Explanation

1. Great Idea or Point – Write why you think it is a good idea or point – ! 2. Confusing Point or Idea – Write a question to ask that might help you understand – ? 3. Unknown Word or Phrase – Circle the unknown word or phrase, then write what you think it might mean based on context clues or your word knowledge – 4. A Question You Have – Write a question you have about something in the text – ?? 5. Summary – In a few sentences, write a summary of the paragraph, section, or passage – #

By Biography.com Editors and A+E Networks, adapted by Newsela staff

Synopsis ______Synopsis: Harriet Tubman was an American woman who escaped from bondage and became a pivotal person in the ______abolition, or antislavery, movement. She was born in Maryland in ______1820 and escaped in 1849, but went back many times to free family and friends. She gave hundreds of people their freedom. Paragraph #1 ______Early Life ______Para #1 Harriet Tubman was born to slave parents in Maryland, one of nine children. She was originally named Araminta Harriet ______Ross. While her exact birth date is unknown, it was probably between 1820 and 1825. ______

Para #2 Her early life was very tough. Her owner sold three of her sisters to faraway plantations, splitting the family. When a Paragraph #2 trader from Georgia asked Tubman's owner about buying her ______youngest brother, Moses, Tubman's mother managed to prevent ______him from being sold, thereby setting a strong example for her young daughter. ______

Para #3 Physical pain was a part of daily life for Tubman and her Paragraph #3 family. There was a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast. She carried the scars for the rest of her ______life. Her most severe injury occurred when she was a teenager. ______After being sent to a dry-goods store for supplies, she encountered a slave who had left the fields without permission. ______The man’s overseer demanded that Tubman help stop the runaway. When Harriet refused, the overseer threw a 2-pound ______weight that struck her in the head. ______Para #4 The line between freedom and slavery was hazy for Paragraph #4 Tubman and her family. Harriet Tubman’s father, Ben, was freed from slavery at the age of 45, as stipulated in the will of a ______previous owner. But Ben had few choices but to continue ______working for his former masters. Although similar stipulations applied to Harriet's mother and siblings, their owners chose ______not to free them. ______Para #5 By the time Harriet reached adulthood, around half of the African-American people on the eastern shore of Maryland Paragraph #5 were free. In 1844, Harriet married a free black man named ______John Tubman. Little is known about John Tubman or his ______marriage to Harriet. Araminta changed her name to Harriet when she married, possibly to honor her mother, who had ______also been named Harriet. ______Escape From Slavery Paragraph #6 Para #6 Tubman decided to escape slavery after her owner died ______in 1849. Tubman feared that her family would be further separated, and feared for her own fate as a sickly slave of low ______economic value. She initially left Maryland with two of her ______brothers, Ben and Henry, on September 17, 1849. A notice published in the local newspaper offered a $300 reward for the ______return of the three siblings. Once they had left, Tubman’s brothers had second thoughts and returned to the plantation. So ______Tubman set off alone for Pennsylvania. Paragraph #7 Para #7 Tubman made use of a secret network of safe houses, ______then known as the Underground Railroad, to travel nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of ______Pennsylvania with a feeling of relief and awe. She recalled later, ______“When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over ______everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.” ______

Para #8 Rather than remaining in the safety of the North, Paragraph #8 Tubman made it her mission to rescue her family and others ______living in slavery. Over time, she was able to guide her parents, several siblings and about 60 others to freedom. One family ______member who declined to make the journey was Harriet’s husband, John, who preferred to stay in Maryland with his new ______wife. ______

Para #9 Things changed in 1850 with the passage of the new Paragraph #9 Fugitive Slave Law. This law stated that escaped slaves could be ______captured in the North and returned to slavery. Law enforcement officials in the North began to aid in the capture of slaves, ______regardless of their personal principles. In response to the law, Tubman rerouted the Underground Railroad to Canada, where ______slavery was not allowed. ______

A Scout And A Spy Paragraph #10

Para #10 In December 1851, Tubman helped a group of 11 ______escaped slaves get to the North. There is evidence that the party stopped at the home of famous abolitionist and former slave ______Frederick Douglass. ______

Para #11 In April 1858, Tubman was introduced to the Paragraph #11 abolitionist John Brown, who aimed to violently destroy the ______system of slavery. Tubman shared Brown’s goals. When Brown began recruiting supporters for an attack on slaveholders at ______Harper’s Ferry, he turned to Tubman for help. After Brown’s execution, Tubman praised him. ______

Para #12 Harriet Tubman remained active during the Civil War. ______Working for the Union Army as a cook and a nurse, Tubman Paragraph #12 quickly became an armed scout and a spy. She guided the ______Combahee River Raid, which liberated 750 slaves in South Carolina. ______

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TURN TO BACK PAGE FOR QUESTIONS

Quiz Standard 2: Central Idea 1. Which detail BEST supports the article's central idea?

(A) In 1844, Harriet married a free black man named John Tubman. Little is known about John Tubman or his marriage to Harriet.

(B) She initially left Maryland with two of her brothers, Ben and Henry, on September 17, 1849. A notice published in the local newspaper offered a $300 reward for the return of the three siblings.

(C) Rather than remaining in the safety of the North, Tubman made it her mission to rescue her family and others living in slavery. Over time, she was able to guide her parents, several siblings and about 60 others to freedom.

(D) When Brown began recruiting supporters for an attack on slaveholders at Harper’s Ferry, he turned to Tubman for help. After Brown’s execution, Tubman praised him.

Standard 2: Central Idea 2. What is the correct and complete summary of the section “A Scout And A Spy”?

(A) Harriet Tubman worked with other abolitionists to fight slavery, helped the Union during the Civil War and kept freeing slaves.

(B) Harriet Tubman wanted to destroy the system of slavery, but did not support John Brown and his use of violence.

(C) Harriet Tubman focused only on guiding slaves to freedom in the North until the Civil War ended slavery in the South.

(D) Harriet Tubman was a spy for the Union Army during the Civil War and also worked as a scout, a cook and a nurse.

Standard 3: People, Events & Ideas 3. In the section “Early Life,” Harriet Tubman is FIRST introduced in what way?

(A) through a compare and contrast with her siblings

(B) through the story of a lesson she learned from her mother

(D) through an explanation of how her father achieved his freedom

Standard 3: People, Events & Ideas 4. What is MOST likely the reason why the author included the information about the Fugitive Slave Law?

(A) to explain why Harriet Tubman first decided to escape from slavery

(B) to explain why Harriet Tubman was introduced to abolitionist John Brown

(D) to explain how fearful Harriet Tubman was of law enforcement officials in the North