HARRIET ‘MOSES’ TUBMAN!

Abolitionist and suffragist Harriet Tubman was nicknamed "Moses" because she led enslaved people to freedom. One hundred seventy-three years ago, in December 1850, Harriet orchestrated and led her first rescue mission. Having escaped slavery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in September 1849, Tubman dedicated her life to rescuing others, all while risking her own life in the process. History books hail Tubman as the first woman to lead an armed raid into enemy territory as she guided Union troops up the Combahee River in South Carolina to destroy Confederate stockpiles of weapons, food and cotton and freed more than 700 enslaved African Americans. She was also referred to as a "train conductor" because she guided escapees along a network of safe houses and secret routes in the United States that were used by African Americans seeking to reach Canada, known as the "Underground Railroad." Catch a ride down the tracks of history to learn more about this inspirational African woman.