 Hello from the National Archives. My name is Missy McNat and I'm an Education Specialist in Washington, D.C. And welcome to the National Archives Comes Alive Young Learners Program. You can find information about future programs on the National Archives website under events and on the National Archives Facebook page. This morning, we will meet Harriet Tubman called Moses, but also a scowled, a nurse and a spy with the Union Army during the Civil War and after the war, an activist for women's rights and a humanitarian throughout her life. Harriet Tubman is portrayed by Dr. Daisy Century, talented teacher and inspirational actor with the American Historical Theater. February is Black History Month and it is a time for us to acknowledge and reflect on the African-American experience in America. Both the trials and tribulations and the inspirational deeds and people and surely Harriet Tubman is an inspiration to us today. In the holdings of the National Archives, we have numerous records related to Harriet Tubman, including this one, a photograph of Harriet Tubman from the 1870s and this document and many, many others can be found in docsteach.org. And the next slide is the featured activity for this program and we encourage you to check it out at the end of our program. And again, we will share this information at the end. After Harriet Tubman's presentation, we will have a question and answer session. So please write your questions in the YouTube chat box. We have a National Archives staff member who is monitoring it and let us know where you're watching from today. This program is brought to you by the National Archives Education staff, the National Archives and the National Archives Foundation. And we hope you enjoy this program and now it is my great pleasure to introduce to you Harriet Tubman, a determined woman who changed the lives of individuals and the nation. That Harriet Tubman wasn't scared of nothing. She wasn't scared of nobody, neither. She didn't come in this world to be no slave and she didn't stay one, neither. Early one morning, she stole the way. She ran and ran and ran through the rivers, through the forest, hung dogs on her trail, but she ran and ran until she got to freedom. Well, she didn't stop there. She went back time and time again, making well over 13 trips and bringing well over 500 with her to freedom land. $40,000 on her head, dad all live, but that old Harriet Tubman was too clever. She never did take the same route twice. She would go around in circles. She said, that's what I do. That Harriet Tubman, I tell you, was braver than brave. I swore to run it through her veins. She was known to the Union soldiers as General Tubman. She was known to the abolitionists as the prophet. She was known to the slaves as Moses. Now I figure, I figure in this life, I'm old two things, either death or freedom. If I can't have one, I'll have the other. Now go way back. Go way back in your mind. Way back to the 1800s, 1820s. Maryland, Eastern shores. Oh, life was beautiful. Big house on the hill, animals grazing, white picket fence, flowers. Maryland, Eastern shores in the 1820s was beautiful. But not for the slaves. My daddy say, my daddy say, I'm five years old. That's what my daddy say. He know cause he ought to plant the corn five times since I've been born, so that make me five. And when you plant the corn some more, I'm gonna be old again. I don't know how old, but I'm gonna be old again. My dad knows. My daddy know everything. But there was something about me. I noticed everything around me. I noticed that when the leaves come on the tree, pretty soon it will be warm. And I noticed that when the leaves fall off the tree, pretty soon it will be cold. And my daddy would lick his thumb and say, ah, that's a west wind that's blowing. I wonder how my daddy know that. And I noticed that all the older slaves would sit on the south side of the cabin cause it's warmer there. So I noticed everything around me. And the master of the plantation noticed it too. He said that little one right there. That little one right there, I gotta keep my eye on that little one right there. Always gotta face all found up. When I tell her to look at me, she won't look at me, so that little one's gonna be a trouble maker right there. So master would send me off to work to the next plantation. My first job was to take messages from one place to another. Master would write something on a paper, give it to me and I would run to the next person, give it to them, they would write something on it, and I would go back and forth all day long in that hot sun. That was my first job. My next job was to mind the little baby. I don't know nothing about minding no little babies. And Mrs. says, every time that baby cry, you're gonna get beat. And I tried to rock that baby to sleep. I tried to keep that baby quiet, but that little baby cried day and night and I got beat day and night cause I couldn't keep that little baby quiet. So I would go by the fireplace and lay down on the floor, try to sleep the best I could. So the only salvation I had, the only salvation I had was being with my daddy. My dad is what they call a woodsman. He would take his wagon and saw and go out in the wood and cut logs and I would help him put the small branches in the wagon. When I was out in the woods with daddy, my dad would show me everything. He would say, Minty, see that Jack rabbit right there? It's got a thick fur. That means it's gonna be a cold winter. And you see that little bushel over there? With the white blossom? Oh, that's powerful, Minty. Put some of that in your mouth, put you off into a deep sleep. You got that, Minty? I said, yes, sir, daddy. Cause I followed right behind my daddy. And he said, let's see now there's one more around here. Oh, this little one over here. With the red beads at the top. That's good for any kind of itch you might have. Or any kind of swelling. Rub some of that on the itch stop. The swelling just disappeared in no time. And that one right there with the three leaves up going from the top. That one's good for any kind of fever you might have. Drink some of that, feel better in no time. You got that, Minty? I said, yes, sir, daddy. He said, now, I'm gonna teach you how to walk through the woods so quiet not even the birds would flutter. You walk right behind me now, you hear? He said, yes, sir. So daddy would put his toe down and curl it around. Put his toe down and curl it around. And I followed right behind him. Pretty soon I got so good at it I could sneak up on anybody and I would just touch them and they would say, oh, Minty, you scared me. Oh, I got good at sneaking up on people cause I was real quiet. Oh, I just like being out in the woods with my daddy and my daddy teaching me everything. So he would go back in the house and my dad would wait until it got real dark and says, everybody, come on out, come on out. I got something to show you. All right, where is it, where is it? Oh, where is it? Gotta be somewhere around here, where is it? Oh, let me see, I'm facing the north. Gotta be this way to the right. Let's see, let's see. There it is, Minty, the north star. You follow that star, Minty, you're going north, you hear? See how it looks? Looks just like our Gord Dipper, we use the dipwater out of the well, Minty. See how it looks, Minty? It's got the handle and the dipper. You get that in your head, you get that pitch in your head, Minty, you hear? Handle, dipper. You follow that star, Minty, you're going north. Now, if it's too cloudy out and it's raining and you can't find that star, you feel the tree for the moss. Moss only grows on the north side of the tree. You remember that night here? I said, yes, sir, daddy. Little did I know what my daddy was teaching me, I could use later on in my life. I started making preparation. He says, no, they're not going to sell me. I said, no, I started packing everything I could Some of the herbs my daddy told me about. Some meat skins, some whole cakes, some water. I got three brothers. I told them, I says, I'm getting ready to run off. Y'all going with me? They said, yeah, Minty, be going. I said, well, meet me in three days' time. Down by the pond, that big old tree, you know the place, meet me there. We'll be there, Minty. She says, okay, don't be late. Three days' time comes, I'm down by the river. Wait for my brothers. Here, footsteps. She says, come on. Y'all ready? Come on. I said, Minty, we ain't going again. We're too scared. I said, don't you think I'm scared, too? I'm scared. I don't know if I'm going to go the right way. I don't know if I can find a star. I don't know if I can find a star. I'm going to be all alone at night in the swamp. And I know what's going to happen if they catch me. They said, Minty, please don't go, Minty. Please, they're going to hurt you bad, Minty. I said, I've got to go. I've got to go. Just one minute. Being a free woman on free dirt is enough for my soul, just being free for one minute. I've got to go. I went in the cabin to tell Mom and Daddy by. Daddy turned his back. Daddy said, I'm not going to look at you, little girl. Because when they asked, did I see you run off, I can say I actually didn't see you run off. So I'm not going to look at you. I know this day was coming since you've been a little old girl. That's why I teach you everything I know. You remember about the star, Minty? I said, yes, sir. You remember how to walk through the woods quiet? Yes, sir. Where you going, Minty? You're going to feed me here one as fast as you can, Minty. You're going to feed them. Thank you, Daddy. Thank you. Mama said, Minty, all I got to give you, Minty, is this old quilt. All I got to give is this old quilt to keep you warm at night. But you're going, Minty, you're going to feed them. Thank you, Daddy. We'll be just fine. You're going now, you hear? Thank you, Mama. Thank you. I ran, and I ran two weeks, two weeks and a half, three weeks. Now in the fields, I said, when you get ready to run off, after about three, three and a half weeks, you're going to find a little cottage down in the valley belonging to a Quaker woman. She will tell you all about the safe houses on the Underground Railroad. Oh, and I've been seeing how many times the sun across the sky, it seems like about three weeks. There it was. A little house. I says, oh, Lord, please let this be the house. But I watched that house for about an hour, make sure nobody coming in or out. I went up and knocked at the door. I was about to walk away and the voice says, what is it? It's me, Minty, down from the Broders Place, down in Maryland. You by yourself? Yes? There's a flash that don't open. A safe house on the Underground Railroad. They gave me food and water, dried clothes and shoes because I was running through the streams and rivers. I stayed there for two days to rest up. I said, now, from here on in, this is how you can tell if it's a safe house or not. You look for a broom. If you see a broom by the door, that means it's a safe house. And not only is it a safe house, but a fifth, right on your trail, you run up to that porch, you get that broom and you start sweeping. Like you've been living there all along. You got that? I said, I got that. Now I can't read nor write, but you give me a paper. She gave me a paper with Pennsylvania on it. She said, when you get to the fork in the road, there's going to be a sign. You match the letters up. If it looks just like what's on your paper, you made it to Pennsylvania. You got that? I said, I got that. I said, all right, Harriet. Godspeed, you keep on following the rivers like you've been doing. That'll take you down through Dover or Dessa, into Wilmington, Chester, Philadelphia, through the marsh. You got it? I said, yes, I got it. Farewell, Harriet. Oh, I took off. I ran and I ran as fast as I could. I ran, I ran. Going on five weeks. At the end of five weeks, there it was. The fork in the road and there was a sign. It looks just like what's on my paper. I made it. I made it. My mom and daddy could see me. Now my brother's going to see me. I made it. On this side of the line, I was a slave woman. On this side of the line, I was a free woman. Oh, I can't look the same. Now that I'm free, I can't look the same. Oh, but when I crossed that line, it was like gold came over everything. I looked up at the sun and the sun was like gold. It made my skin and clothes and leaves and the grass and trees. Everything was golden. And there was a hush. This is how freedom feels. Freedom is quiet and golden. I was free, but I was all alone in freedom land. I looked around, I didn't see anybody. I thought there would be a big group of people to drag me across the freedom line. I thought there would be singing and shouting and waving flags and food, but there was nobody to greet me in freedom land. I got to Philadelphia. They gave me a place to stay and food and clothes, and I took and washed to make a few panties here and there. Oh, freedom was nice. I look all around. I see colored people fancy clothes on. Walking around, nobody tied up, nobody getting beat. Oh, freedom was nice. And then I sit down with a colored man. His name was William Steele. He said, Miss Harriet, tell me everything. He could read and write. Did my heart good? And I tell him everything, and he would write it down. How many people come up with me? Did I come by myself? Which way did I come? He would write everything down. Oh, freedom was nice. But after about a month, they said, Harriet, no. You got that look in your eye, Harriet, no, no, no, Harriet. You're not even thinking about going back. Please don't go back, Harriet. There's no reward for you dead or alive, Harriet. They're looking for you real bad, Harriet. You can go into New Jersey, into New York, into Canada, where you'll truly be free. Please don't go back, Harriet. Please. I said, I got to go back. I promised my brothers I'd come back for them. And my mom and daddy back there and a lot of other people who want to be free. I know the way. I know the way. I can bring them to freedom land. Oh, so I got to go back. I can't step in, pretend to enjoy freedom there back there. I ain't free until they're free. I got to go back. And I went back, time and time again. Anybody who wanted to come to freedom land, man, woman, boy, girl, baby, didn't matter. I would give the signal there to meet me. And they would come. I says, you can come to freedom with me. But one rule, there'll be no turning back. No one's going to be turning back. I said, all right. The person in the front got to carry the stick. The person in the front carry the stick. So they got to go back and forth, back and forth. Because sometimes the slave catches plant beagle kind of traps. In the woods, bear traps. They can snap off your ankle just like that. And sometimes they dig big pits, filled with stakes and spikes. If you're following one of that, that's going to be the end of you. So that person in the front will have to find the holes or any kind of trap. The person in the back will have some kind of bush tied to them. And as we walk, that bush will erase some of the tracks. It says, all right. Be ready to go. All right. Let's go. But we're going through the mud. I said, wait. I give the signal. I'm quiet. The leaves on the tree are not moving. I don't hear a cricket. I don't hear a frog. It says, go back. Go back. And sure enough, after I go all the way around and check, slave catch is waiting for us in the clearing of the swamp. So the whole time I could hear my dad's voice. He says, listen to the forest, Minty. Listen to the forest. We made our way out. That's what I did. And all my journeys till I got everybody out, got my mom and daddy, got my brothers and sisters, and hundreds of other folks who wanted to be free. Because you see, that Harriet Tubman wasn't born to be no slave. And she didn't stay one, neither. No, sir. She didn't stay one, neither. Harriet Tubman, this Tubman, that was a wonderful, wonderful performance. And wow, dangerous. So dangerous. So yeah, we'll clap here. Fantastic. And we now have our question and answer session. But let me start by saying we have folks from across the United States with us today, from Oregon, Alaska, New Orleans, Colorado, all the way, St. Augustine, Florida, a special hello to all the students and teachers at the Colberton School, St. Mary's, North Carolina, goodness gracious. I know I'm not going to get them all. Denmark, Indiana, and somebody from Auburn, New York, where Harriet Tubman is buried. So my apologies if I missed your, where you are from. But wow, I am so excited that we have so many folks here, Rhode Island. Yeah, fantastic. So we've got some questions for you. And first question. So why did you continue to return south to rescue slaves? Well, first of all, there's compassion in my heart. And I knew how hard it was for me as a child. And I didn't want anybody else to go through that. And the good Lord provided a way for me to run off to freedom, to find a way to get there. So now that I've known the way, I could go back and get others. And I know it was dangerous, but I trust the good Lord. And I know He would provide for me. So that's why I continue going to get people because I didn't want them to go through what I went through as a child. So what would you say was your most dangerous moment on one of the missions? Oh, it's hard to say. Every time I went on a mission, it was just as dangerous as the other ones, sometimes more dangerous. But I was very careful not to be seen, not to be heard, like my dad said, to walk real quiet, to sneak up on people. The most dangerous one, of course, was one time I was on the train. Slate catchers were crawling the train. Slate catchers outside. And how am I going to get off? But back then, you could travel with your chickens and hogs and little containers. So there was a woman that had some chicken in her little container. And I said, let me hold your chickens. And I let the chickens go. And I run behind the chicken and I said, oh, my chicken, my chicken, my chicken. So I run right past the train catchers, play with my arms. My chicken's my chicken. So that was perhaps the closest they ever come to being shot after being caught. Wow. That sounds like you were always, always thinking. And just coming up with plans just very, very quickly. That's pretty amazing. How many people did you take to freedom? Well, with me sometimes I lost track of myself. It was well over 300. Wow. Well over 300, yes. That's quite a few. And well, you kind of talked about this, but your siblings, how many siblings do you have? Well, with nine all together, I made number nine. I had four brothers and four sisters. And you got them all out to freedom? Got them all out to freedom. Except my older sister. She died shortly before I got a chance to rescue her. And I always think about that. I had a chance to rescue her. She died just before I was about to rescue her. Wow. So a question about what you would put on the, somebody didn't quite hear what you said, what you put on the baby's gums to keep them quiet. Well, early in my life, my dad would take me out into the woods and show me everything. And he showed me a little plant that had white blossom. And that was, he says, he takes some of that and puts you out into a deep sleep. So that's what I wrote on the baby's gum, that plant. We put you out into a deep sleep. So today's turn, we are in the future, will be something like the poppy plant. We are in the future. We just call it the green plant with the white blossom. So here's another question. What was it like traveling through thick and thin or, you know, all the different places that you traveled? And so I guess the marshes, the rivers and all the, and it's kind of going along with that. How long would it take you to make, take a group to freedom? Well, now, see, you should take us about six weeks or so, maybe before, but sometimes we have to stay one place, but sometimes three, four days, could sleep the shoulders all over the place. So we have to look into that and the count of the weather. So we have to take all of that into account. But usually for the most part, all the way from Maryland into Philadelphia into New York into Canada, I'll take at least about six, seven weeks, maybe at the most. Now that's a, that's a long time. And did, here's a question. Did you always, I mean, you had to trust people. And was that ever an issue for you? Um, everybody who worked with you, did you ever think somebody was going to turn against you or anything like that? Oh, all the time. All the time I had to watch myself. And I learned that from my daddy. Never exposed too much. Sometimes people would ask me, let's tell them we're leaving. I said, we're leaving. First thing in the morning, when I know we're going to be leaving in two days, then I would go to the place where I set a meeting. And I would see the slave cat is there, that person. So a lot of times I would give them false information. And I'm not going to do, I would say false information, false name. So I would always think of through things or think in my head what's going to happen. But I never, without my information to nobody. You want to go to freedom to do as I say, don't ask questions. Wow. And then question. Why did you change your name to Harriet Tubman from Minty? Well, when I was a little girl, they used to call me Areminta. That's a big old name, Areminta. Sometimes they called me Minty. I just didn't like that name, Areminta. So I liked my mama name better. My mama name was Harriet. So I changed my name to Harriet. And of course I got married to a free man by the name of John Tubman. So I got the Tubman for the last name. So Harriet Tubman became a name for the rest of my life. And how old were you when you made it to freedom? When you were first born? I took off and saw me around 28, 29 years old. Wow. And how did you get food on your trips? On your journeys. Get what? Get food. Food. Well, most of the times I took meat skins and I took some of the roots that we had roasted with me. I would roast that ahead of time. I knew the barriers to get. I looked for the roots. As we come through, we would take that. We would get to a safe house and give us food. So that would last us until we could get to the next safe house. OK. And where did you stay in Philadelphia when you first escaped to Philadelphia? There was somewhere on 13th Street. I can't remember the name of the street, but I remember they said 13th Street. Mr. Williams still lived there. And he had a house, two houses down the block. So somewhere on 13th Street, a lot of spruce I think it was. If I remember correctly, I think it was 13th in spruce. Right in that area. OK. And when, because you mentioned taking people to Canada, when did you start taking people to Canada and not just to across the line to Philadelphia, to Pennsylvania? Well, see, now we always went to Canada. But in Spain, still adults are too long. But the blues will get around. That's huge. There's slaves back in the law they had. The slave catchers could come to Philadelphia, take any black people, free or not, pick them up right off the street and take them back and sell them into slavery. So it wasn't too safe right off. We stayed there for a little while. We're going to New Jersey, stayed there for a little while into New York and into Canada. So my trip was going to Canada all the time. The most I would go to St. Catherine in Canada. That was like my head course. I would stay there and think out of my head. What's my next trip? Where I was going to go? How many people I was going to pick up on each one of the trips and some of the cold words we would have and my connection with each one of the safe houses. So that's where I would go. Now, figure that out in about a month or so, two months, I'd be ready again for my journey. My bag, I'd be ready to go. So I have a question. This is actually for me because you talked about the fact that you were able to connect, figure out you were in Pennsylvania because you had a piece of paper with writing on it and you were to match it. Did you ever, I mean, and you were such a planner. Did you ever learn to read and write? No. All the times that I've ever learned to read and write, I could look at some of the letters and I know what the letter looked like, but I couldn't quite decipher what it was. And here's an interesting one on any of your escape journeys with taking people to freedom. Did you ever help a mother give birth to a child? No, because at the beginning of our trip, if I know she's expecting, I know, of course, I would rule against it. I would wait. If she's too close to birth, I would wait until she had that little baby. But taking a woman along, you never know what would happen. So that was one of the things that didn't do with, she was expected to be getting very close. I would wait until she had the baby then she would come along. All right. I think that's all of our questions for this morning. So thank you so much. Wow. I mean, just as I said, you are such an amazing, amazing, amazing person. Thank you for joining us today and talking about your story and just an inspiration to all of us. So thank you and have a good rest of your day. Thank you. And please do check out the activity on Doc's Teach, connected to our program today about Harriet Tubman. It's docsteachdocsteach.org. And you can search for it under documents or activities. And finally, please join us in March for our program on Alice Paul. And the information for that again can be found on the National Archives website under events and also on the National Archives Facebook page. Look forward to seeing you in March for the Alice Paul program for Women's History Month. Thank you and have a good afternoon.