Harriet Tubman, the Moses of Her People

A biographical account of Harriet Tubman, drawn from interviews and contemporary testimony, documenting her work as conductor, guide, and leader on the Underground Railroad. Sarah H. Bradford's narrative presents Tubman's life through a series of episodes that trace her escape from enslavement and her repeated returns to the South to assist others to freedom. The work is grounded in direct recollection and preserves details that later retellings often smooth over or omit. Bradford's account emphasizes Tubman's practical intelligence, endurance, and moral resolve, situating her within the broader context of abolitionist activity while maintaining a close focus on her individual actions. The narrative also reflects the conditions of publication in the nineteenth century, when Tubman's story circulated both as documentation and as advocacy. This edition presents the original text in a clear and stable format, retaining the tone and structure of the source while ensuring readability for contemporary use.

After reaching Philadelphia, Tubman began thinking of her family. "I was a stranger in a strange land," she said later. "My father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were in Maryland. But I was free, and they should be free." For 11 years Tubman returned again and again to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, rescuing some 70 slaves in 13 expeditions, including her three other brothers, Henry, Ben, and Robert, their wives and some of their children. She also provided specific instructions for about 50 to 60 other fugitives who escaped to the north.