Description
Book SynopsisHarriet Tubman served a pivotal role in leading slaves to freedom in the decade before the Civil War. This biography offers a demythologized chronicle of her life and work, providing information about her life as a slave, role as conductor on the Underground Railroad, work as a military scout during the Civil War, and postwar activism for blacks and women.
Harriet Tubman: A Life in American History provides valuable context that situates Harriet Tubman against the backdrop of the slavery debate in antebellum America, and the hardships endured by ex-slaves in postbellum America. As such, the timeframe covers nearly a full century, from the first quarter of the nineteenth to the first quarter of the twentieth. In addition to ten biographical chapters and a short timeline, Harriet Tubman includes an interpretive essay reflecting on Tubman's importance in American history, an appendix of primary documents about Tubman's life and work, a bibliography, and a number of sidebars and short commentaries embedded in the text that invite readers to explore connections between Tubman's life and political, intellectual, and social culture.
Trade ReviewThis excellent work is a synthesis . . . , presenting Tubman as the fascinating, headstrong, self-sacrificing, physically damaged, financially destitute, and occasionally gullible person that she was in historical reality. One hopes this book will find its way into many classrooms, and that, in better days to come, she will yet appear on our currency. Highly recommended.
-- Paul Harvey, CHOICE
Table of ContentsSeries Foreword vii
Preface ix
Chapter 1
A Peculiar Institution 1
Chapter 2
Neglected Weed 19
Chapter 3
From Bondage to Freedom 37
Chapter 4
The Underground Railroad 53
Chapter 5
Return to the Jaws 71
Chapter 6
Small-Scale Guerrilla Warfare 87
Chapter 7
The Struggle Widens 105
Chapter 8
“This Black Heroine” 127
Chapter 9
Impoverished Legend 147
Chapter 10
Mother Tubman 165
Why Harriet Tubman Matters 183
Timeline 195
Primary Documents 199
Bibliography 217
Index 223
