Editorials & Other Articles

struggle4progress

(118,295 posts) Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:32 AM Apr 2016

You have no idea how hardcore Harriet Tubman really was

By Ana Swanson April 21 at 12:27 PM

... Her dramatic career included defying slaveowners, smuggling dozens of slaves to freedom as part of the Underground Railroad, leading raids in the Civil War, and fighting for women's right to vote -- all of which she accomplished with a disability.

... Tubman was as tough as nails. The former slave risked her life countless times, and even performed an ad hoc dental surgery on herself while on the road for the Underground Railroad, knocking her front tooth out with a pistol ...

... One night during the Combahee River raid, she led Union gunboats up river to liberate over 750 slaves, deep in the heart of Confederate territory. Because she was working as a spy, she didn’t have the proper documentation, so after the war she couldn’t file for a pension. It wasn’t until 1899 that she received one. Not a widow’s pension, but a pension for her contribution as a military leader ...

She died the same year that Rosa Parks was born ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/04/21/the-audacious-career-of-harriet-tubman-the-new-face-of-the-20-bill/

13 replies

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You have no idea how hardcore Harriet Tubman really was (Original Post) struggle4progress Apr 2016 OP

I love that she is on the bill. northernsouthern Apr 2016 #1

America needs more like her. villager Apr 2016 #2

We do need more like her. Instead, we get Hillary. Hoppy Apr 2016 #12

She'd have made a great President! She deserves the damn twenty--it's the most popular bill. MADem Apr 2016 #3

Not only the most popular, but the only bills coughed out of ATM's angstlessk Apr 2016 #5

Unfortunately my ATM coughs out $100's whenever it can progree Apr 2016 #8

I chose her for my third grade history report. ViseGrip Apr 2016 #4

Dern, I went to Catholic school...we did saints angstlessk Apr 2016 #6

Here's Wikipedia's Intro progree Apr 2016 #7

Kicked and recommended! Firebrand Gary Apr 2016 #9

Thanks for this post. byronius Apr 2016 #10

I did not know that she was a spy for the Union. Good for her. JDPriestly Apr 2016 #11

Imagine the freakout if they had this image on the 20 n2doc Apr 2016 #13

northernsouthern

(1,511 posts)

1. I love that she is on the bill.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:35 AM

Apr 2016

It is about time, no one cared for Jackson anyways. I think both her and Jon Brown never go the respect they deserved. I did not know she died the day Rosa was born though. Mind blown.

villager

(26,001 posts)

2. America needs more like her.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:37 AM

Apr 2016

I suppose she'd be punished for "whistleblowing," or perhaps being "too extreme," were she around now...

Hoppy

(3,595 posts)

12. We do need more like her. Instead, we get Hillary.

Reply to villager (Reply #2)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 08:10 AM

Apr 2016

MADem

(135,425 posts)

3. She'd have made a great President! She deserves the damn twenty--it's the most popular bill.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:37 AM

Apr 2016

Hardcore doesn't begin to describe her--she was smart, tough, re-fucking-LENTLESS...the baddest badass in town.

Now that's a role of a lifetime, with the right script.

AUDACIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

angstlessk

(11,862 posts)

5. Not only the most popular, but the only bills coughed out of ATM's

Reply to MADem (Reply #3)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:42 AM

Apr 2016

Like another poster said...can't wait to see red neck racists having to receive and spend Harriet Tubman's!

progree

(10,909 posts)

8. Unfortunately my ATM coughs out $100's whenever it can

Reply to angstlessk (Reply #5)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 01:46 AM

Apr 2016

So if I withdraw $300, out comes three $100 bills.

So I withdraw like $180, $80, and $80 (3 separate transactions) to get one $100 bill and twelve $20 bills. Unless someone is in line behind me, then I'll maybe do two $180 withdrawals.

I hate breaking $100 bills, but so far nobody has said anything or refused. I try to use them only in big stores, and only when purchasing more than $20.

In case anyone is wondering, Ben Franklin is on the $100 bill. Ulysses S. Grant is on the $50 bill (someone in another thread says his ATM spits out $50's whenever it can).

ViseGrip

(3,133 posts)

4. I chose her for my third grade history report.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:40 AM

Apr 2016

I'll always remember the smile on my teachers face, when she called on me to ask who I chose. I didn't understand that smile then as a young girl. I get it now.

angstlessk

(11,862 posts)

6. Dern, I went to Catholic school...we did saints

Reply to ViseGrip (Reply #4)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 12:45 AM

Apr 2016

Glad you did Harriet, and am specially glad your teacher approved!

progree

(10,909 posts)

7. Here's Wikipedia's Intro

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 01:40 AM

Apr 2016

Harriet Tubman (born Araminta Ross; c. 1822 – March 10, 1913) was an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and a Union spy during the American Civil War. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved families and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era was an active participant in the struggle for women's suffrage.

Born a slave in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman was beaten and whipped by her various masters as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate slave owner threw a heavy metal weight intending to hit another slave and hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. She was a devout Christian and experienced strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God.

In 1849, Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night and in extreme secrecy, Tubman (or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger". Her actions made slave owners anxious and angry, and they posted rewards for her capture. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she helped guide fugitives further north into Canada, and helped newly freed slaves find work.

When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than seven hundred slaves. After the war, she retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women's suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she had to be admitted to a home for elderly African-Americans that she had helped to establish years earlier. After she died in 1913, she became an icon of American courage and freedom.

More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubman

Firebrand Gary

(5,044 posts)

9. Kicked and recommended!

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 02:43 AM

Apr 2016

byronius

(7,395 posts)

10. Thanks for this post.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 03:06 AM

Apr 2016

JDPriestly

(57,936 posts)

11. I did not know that she was a spy for the Union. Good for her.

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 03:32 AM

Apr 2016

So was my great-grandfather. He was 12 at the time and went to the war with his father. My great-grandfather did reconnaissance for the Union and was also not eligible for any pension or recognition because like Harriet Tubman he was not officially a soldier. My great-grandfather had a war injury but still he was not enlisted and therefore was not recognized.

Harriet Tubman will be great on the $20. Because of her courage, her willingness to work hard, her determination and her strong dedication to doing what was right, she represents the best in American women of all races. That she was African-American and disabled and still showed courage, willingness to work hard, determination, dedication to doing what was right and suffered pain without complaining -- make her a great image for us all to aspire to.

And on top of that she not only freed herself but other slaves.

We American women are proud to have her represent us on the $20 bill.

n2doc

(47,953 posts)

13. Imagine the freakout if they had this image on the 20

Reply to struggle4progress (Original post)

Fri Apr 22, 2016, 07:54 PM

Apr 2016

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