Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross around March 1822 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was one of nine children born to enslaved parents. As a child, she was forced to work as a house servant and later as a field hand. When she was about 12 years old, an overseer struck her in the head with a heavy metal weight, causing severe injury. This injury gave her headaches and sudden sleeping spells for the rest of her life. Despite this, she grew into a strong, determined young woman.

In 1849, Tubman escaped slavery by traveling nearly 90 miles on foot to Pennsylvania, following the North Star at night. But freedom for herself was not enough. Over the next 11 years, she returned to the South approximately 13 times, personally leading over 70 enslaved people to freedom through the Underground Railroad, a secret network of safe houses and routes. She became known as 'Moses' because, like the biblical figure, she led her people to freedom. Slaveholders offered a $40,000 reward for her capture, but she was never caught. During the Civil War, she served the Union Army as a cook, nurse, armed scout, and spy, becoming the first woman to lead an armed assault during the war.

After the Civil War, Tubman settled in Auburn, New York, where she continued working for the rights of formerly enslaved people and women. She opened the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged to care for elderly African Americans. She was active in the women's suffrage movement alongside Susan B. Anthony. Tubman died on March 10, 1913, at approximately 91 years old. In 2016, the U.S. Treasury announced plans to put her portrait on the $20 bill, making her the first African American to appear on U.S. currency.