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Promised to end segregation; LBJ fulfilled promise. (Jan 2012)

FactCheck: 1960 election 70%-30% for JFK among black voters. (Apr 2011)

1960 election: Won African American vote 70%-30% over Nixon. (Oct 2005)

1961: created Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity. (Jun 2005)

We should not counsel patience and delay on equal rights. (Mar 2003)

Courage to apply equal rights to minorities. (Mar 2003)

Push to register black voters to help Democrats in 1964. (Dec 1997)

Encouraged federal offices to hire blacks. (Dec 1997)

1960: Called Martin Luther King's wife when MLK was jailed. (Jun 1996)

Impatient for school desegregation in early 1960s. (Jan 1965)

Civil rights in public, not private intermarriage. (Jan 1965)

Executive action for immediate civil rights progress. (Jan 1965)

1920s Know-Nothing Party: formed to fight Irish immigrants. (Jan 1963)

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Life of John F. Kennedy - John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum

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Larry Buchanan and Tim Wallace/The New York Times

Del.

At some point in the swelling rhapsody around Harriet Tubman's remarkable life, it is easy to wonder, with perhaps a bit of guilt, where Tubman's heroism ends and tall tales begin.

Somewhere between mythic and make-believe slave narratives, you want to hit pause and go searching for the truth of how, for instance, a fugitive slave slipped into Poplar Neck, Md., on Christmas Day in 1854 and stole off with her three brothers and several loved ones.

I traveled Maryland's Eastern Shore, hoping to gain a deeper, more accurate understanding of Harriet Tubman, a complex American hero.

Trailhead

Cambridge, Md.

I set off on a three-day trek across the Eastern Shore, Tubman's birthplace and the landscape she traversed, fugitive slaves in tow, from Dorchester County through Delaware into Philadelphia.

My trip coincided with the state's renewed fervor around Tubman: On March 11, the Maryland State Park Service and the National Park Service will open the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Center, a $21 million project in Church Creek that commemorates Tubman's journey, from slave to Underground Railroad "conductor" and, later in life, Civil War scout, spy and nurse. Sitting on 17 acres, the center will be part of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, a 125-mile self-guided driving tour that wends through 36 significant sites along the Eastern Shore.

From the early 1600s until the mid-1800s, thousands of African-Americans would encounter the marshy wooded landscape of the Chesapeake Bay region, first as a gateway through which slave traders forcibly brought them from Africa into the colonies and later as essential paths and waterways that formed the Underground Railroad.

In 1850, Maryland had 279 runaway slaves, leading the nation's slave states in successfully executed escapes, the author Kate Clifford Larson says in the Harriet Tubman biography "Bound for the Promised Land." "But few returned to the land of their enslavers, risking capture and re-enslavement, even lynching, to help others seek their own emancipation," Ms. Larson writes.

Among those few was Tubman.

1. Harriet Tubman Museum

I listened as a group of museum volunteers traded in vivid, harrowing detail stories about Tubman. In these volunteers' eyes, Tubman's roots in Dorchester County not only gave them bragging rights but also carried an obligation to illuminate her story in a way that a zillion children's books - or her face on the $20 bill - could never achieve.

In the Mire

Bucktown, Md.

The exact date of Harriet Tubman's birth is unknown, but historians generally agree that she was born Araminta Ross in 1822 to Benjamin and Harriet (Rit) Greene Ross, taking on her mother's first name when she married in 1844. She was born in nearby Peters Neck, on a farm owned by Anthony Thompson, a medical doctor and timber magnate, and was later moved to Bucktown.

The morning after my arrival in Cambridge, I took the 20-minute drive to the Bucktown farm of Edward Brodess, Dr. Thompson's stepson and Tubman's owner. It is a serene drive, as the landscape shifts quickly from urban to wide-open rural spaces, with acres of barren, tan-colored land stretching miles into the distance, punctuated by the occasional farmhouse.

Along the way I encountered some fascinating sites:

2. Joseph Stewart's Canal

From 1810 to 1832, enslaved and free blacks dug a seven-mile canal through the marsh for commercial transportation. The canal was owned by the wealthy slaveholding Stewart family; and Tubman's father, who worked at a nearby timbering operation, transported materials on the canal.

3. Stanley Institute

I also stopped briefly at the Stanley Institute, a one-room 19th-century schoolhouse that doubled as a church, and I sat at one of its wooden desks. It is one of the state's oldest schools operated by the black community.

Tubman herself never learned to read or write. Starting at around 5 years old, she was lent out to nearby families to work; she checked muskrat traps in streams and rivers, and worked as a nursemaid to a planter's child and later as a field hand on timber farms.

4. Bucktown Village Store

From Tubman's era, the Bucktown Village Store, though renovated, still stands. It was there that Tubman, as a teenager, showed early signs of rebellion - and she paid dearly for it.

First Flight

One day, Tubman had arrived at Bucktown Village Store with a slave owner's cook, crossing paths with an overseer arguing with his slave. The slave apparently had left the farm without permission. When the overseer ordered Tubman to help him restrain the man, she refused and the slave broke away. The overseer then grabbed a two-pound weight off the counter, threw it at the fleeing slave and instead struck Tubman. The blow fractured Tubman's skull and caused her to suffer severe headaches and seizures throughout her life.

Nearly a decade later, she married John Tubman, a free black man, even as she continued in servitude to the Brodess family. When her master died in 1849, Tubman and two of her brothers, Harry and Ben, fearing they would be sold, ran away - later returning for fear of punishment.

5. Brodess Farm

A note apparently written by Edward Brodess, who owned Harriet Tubman, which states the purchase of a woman that could be a relative of Harriet. Tubman was a slave at the Brodess Farm here along with members of her family. When he died, she and her brothers fled.

The Return

Shortly after returning to the farm, Tubman set out on her own, guided through the night by the North Star and well-worn paths of the Underground Railroad up into Pennsylvania, where slavery was illegal.

Tubman's freedom proved to be bittersweet, as she would recount in her biography. In Philadelphia, she was free, working odd jobs, but lonely. Tubman began plotting her return home to bring her kin back with her: "I was free and dey should be free also. I would make a home for dem in de North, and de Lord helping me, I would bring dem all dere."

In 1850, Tubman made her first trip back to Maryland, where, on the steps of the Dorchester County Courthouse (which was rebuilt in 1854 after a fire), Tubman's niece, Kessiah, was scheduled to be auctioned off. But Tubman had plotted with Kessiah's husband, who had been manumitted, to free his family. He secured the highest bid for Kessiah and their two children, smuggled them to a local safe house, then sailed up the Chesapeake to Baltimore, where Tubman greeted them and guided them to Philadelphia.

The rescue must have inspired Tubman. Over the next decade, she would return to Maryland's Eastern Shore a dozen times, rescuing some 70 family members and friends.

Tubman was no-nonsense on these journeys, unwilling to suffer weakness among those joining her perilous flight. "For the faint of heart she carried a pistol, telling her charges to go on or die, for a dead fugitive slave could tell no tales," Ms. Larson writes in her Tubman biography. "She used disguises; she walked, rode horses and wagons; sailed on boats; and rode on real trains...She bribed people. She followed rivers that snaked northward. She used the stars and other natural phenomenon to lead her north."

Due North

Poplar Neck, Md.

Heading north from Dorchester County, with the sun setting, I entered Caroline County and into Poplar Neck. Along with gorgeous views of the Choptank River, the area is rich with history. Not only is it home to Mount Pleasant Cemetery, but it's also where Tubman herself escaped slavery in 1849 and would return later, in 1857, to rescue her parents from their then-owner, Dr. Thompson, who owned 2,200 acres of this area.

6. Mount Pleasant Cemetery

This is where free blacks and slaves met with Tubman in secrecy to plot escapes along the Underground Railroad.

'Witness Tree'

I stopped at a small log cabin built in the 1850s by James Webb, a free black farmer who lived there with his enslaved wife and four children.

These days, Paulette Greene and Donna Dear, an African-American couple, own some 130 acres of that property. Beneath a giant poplar called the "Witness Tree," where folks travel from miles away to pray and hold spiritual retreats, we talked about the sacred history of this land. Then they invited me inside their home and treated me to a delicious soup of kidney and navy beans grown on their farm.

Safe Houses of Worship

Along Maryland's Eastern Seaboard, fugitive slaves pushing to reach Pennsylvania moved through Caroline County and into Kent County in Delaware. They often stopped in Dover, where they would frequently be aided by free black and Quaker abolitionists. There the black community would later build Star Hill A.M.E. Church, which today houses a small museum.

7. Star Hill A.M.E. Church

The museum inside the church also tells the story of white Quakers, who, opposing slavery because of religious beliefs, had freed their slaves several decades before the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. As Robin Kravitz, a historian at Delaware State University, put it: "The Quakers started their manumission processes by the American Revolution. So these abolitionist connections run deep through families in this area."

The Stationmaster

The Quakers' commitment to the Underground Railroad inspired me on my final day on the Eastern Shore to stop at the Friends Meeting House in Wilmington, Del., the burial ground of Thomas Garrett, a Quaker abolitionist, a close friend of Harriet Tubman and one of the most important "stationmasters" on the Underground Railroad.

For more than four decades, Garrett assisted some 2,700 enslaved people on their journey to freedom, providing them with food, shelter, money and connections to other abolitionists. Garrett, it turns out, was the inspiration for the character Simeon Halliday, the benevolent Quaker in Harriet Beecher Stowe's famous novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin." In a 1868 letter, Garrett gave Tubman his highest praise: "For in truth, I never met with any person, of any color, who had more confidence in the voice of God."

A decade earlier, Tubman had described her faith in a letter to Ednah Dow Cheney, the philanthropist and suffragist.

"God's time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens. He gave me the strength in my limbs. He meant I should be free."

Produced by:

Umi Syam, Angelica McKinley, Tim Wallace, Alicia DeSantis, Monica Drake, Steve Reddicliffe

Video:

Editing and Color: Daphne Rustow; Footage: Larry Buchanan, Tim Wallace

Photography:

Darren S. Higgins for The New York Times

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Larry Buchanan and Tim Wallace/The New York Times Del. At some point in the swelling rhapsody around Harriet Tubman's remarkable life, it is easy to wonder, with perhaps a bit of guilt, where Tubman's heroism ends and tall tales begin.

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When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South. A bloody civil war then engulfed the nation as Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union, enforce the laws of the United States, and end the secession. The war lasted for more than four years with a staggering loss of more than 600,000 Americans dead. Midway through the war, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves within the Confederacy and changed the war from a battle to preserve the Union into a battle for freedom. He was the first Republican President, and Union victory ended forever the claim that state sovereignty superseded federal authority. Killed by an assassin's bullet less than a week after the surrender of Confederate forces, Lincoln left the nation a more perfect Union and thereby earned the admiration of most Americans as the country's greatest President.

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When Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860, seven slave states left the Union to form the Confederate States of America, and four more joined when hostilities began between the North and South. A bloody civil war then engulfed the nation as Lincoln vowed to preserve the Union, enforce the laws of the United States, and end the secession.

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President's Day is a good time to think about the lessons past presidents have taught us, especially those leaders like Abraham Lincoln whose words and actions changed the world we live in today.

While researching a new book on individuals who stand out in every field, I learned that the most inspiring leaders are great communicators, but great communication is sharpened by practice.

Long before Lincoln crafted and delivered the Gettysburg Address-the short speech students and celebrities recite publicly to this day- he became known as a storyteller, honing his skill on the American frontier. If it hadn't been for Lincoln's skill as a storyteller, he would not have won the presidency and America may look far different than it does today.

In Team of Rivals, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin details Lincoln's storytelling skills and credits it as a key component of his success as a young lawyer and the nation's leader. "Storytelling played a central role in the president's ability to communicate with the public," she writes.

Like all great storytellers, Lincoln was inspired by the storytellers who came before him.
Stories Drove Lincoln's Desire for Self-Improvement
At the age of six or seven, Lincoln listened to the stories adults shared by his father's fireplace at night, the stories of life on the frontier and the characters they met. The next day, Lincoln translated the stories using language his young friends would understand, "mesmerizing his young listeners." Contemporary speakers walk onto the red carpet of a TED talk to share ideas; Lincoln used a tree stump as his stage. But like today's most popular TED speakers, Lincoln's storytelling skills made him stand out.

Goodwin reminds us that for years after the American Revolution, the event released a pent-up demand to improve one's position in life. When a person could become the equal of another person based on talents-and not royal bloodlines-every American was "eaten up with longing to rise," in the words of Alex de Tocqueville.

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Abraham Lincoln Used A Tree Stump Like A TED Stage To Captivate His Audience

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President's Day is a good time to think about the lessons past presidents have taught us, especially those leaders like Abraham Lincoln whose words and actions changed the world we live in today. While researching a new book on individuals who stand out in every field, I learned that the most inspiring leaders are great communicators, but great communication is sharpened by practice.

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John F. Kennedy was the 35th president of the United States. Kids learn about his biography and life story.

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Educational Videos for Students (Cartoons on Bullying, Leadership & More)

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A Must See Sojourner Truth for Kids Biography! (Black History Cartoon)

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Sojourner Truth: Voice for Abolition and Women

Sojourner Truth was one of the most powerful advocates the abolitionist and women's movements ever had. Tall with a commanding presence about her, she worked tirelessly for both the end of slavery and the beginning of new rights for women.

She was born into slavery in 1797, in Hurley, New York. Her birth name was Isabella Baumfree, and she was one of 13 children but never got to know her siblings because they were all quickly sold. She was enslaved in a Dutch settlement and spoke only Dutch until she was 11. (When she finally did learn English, she spoke it with a Dutch accent, one that she would never lose.) She worked for a total of five masters. She gained her freedom with the passage of the New York Anti Slavery Law of 1827. She was married and had five children.

She lived with a Quaker family for awhile and gained an appreciation for religion, education, and public speaking. From that point onward, she devoted her life to speaking out in public, first about religion and then against the evils of slavery and the oppression of women. She educated many people in the North to the terrible things that slaves had to endure at the hands of their masters, describing in detail beatings and separation of families and such.

She changed her name to Sojourner Truth in 1843. In that same year, she arrived at the Northampton (Massachusetts) Association of Education and Industry, a community of people dedicated to the abolition of slavery. There, she met such famous people as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison.

One of the main results of the antislavery movement in the North was a renewed focus on the rights of women. A drive for equal voting rights began in earnest with a national convention in 1848 at Seneca Falls, New York. Other gatherings followed, and awareness of women's unhappiness grew. Truth attended the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, in 1851 and gave a famous speech titled "Ain't I a Woman?" In this speech, she reminded the large audience that the right to vote shouldn't extend to only white women.

She moved to Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1857 and continued to travel and speak out for the rights of slaves and women. After the Emancipation Proclamation was announced, she moved to Washington, D.C., and helped with the new Freedmen's Village. She met President Abraham Lincoln, who assured her that he had heard of her and her famous speeches.

Truth's last great cause was to have a national plan for giving land in the newly explored West to former slaves. This plan had many people behind it but never mustered enough support in Congress to get it enacted.

Amazingly, Sojourner Truth never learned to read or write. She spent much of her early years in slavery and then, as she put it, didn't have time to learn. She was a powerful speaker, though, and had much to say about the treatment of women and African-Americans. A quick wit, she often turned hecklers into admirers with sharp barbs of her own. She found a friend in fellow abolitionist Olive Gilbert, who wrote down her dictations and published them as The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave.

She died in 1883, at her home in Battle Creek.

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Sojourner Truth: Voice for Abolition and Women

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Sojourner Truth was one of the most powerful advocates the abolitionist and women's movements ever had. Tall with a commanding presence about her, she worked tirelessly for both the end of slavery and the beginning of new rights for women.

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Sojourner Truth was an African-American women's rights activist and abolitionist and the first black woman to win a court case against a white man. She was born Isabella Baumfree in approximately 1797 to slaves James and Elizabeth Baumfree, in Swartekill, New York. She may have had as many as 11 brothers and sisters.

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Kids learn about the biography of Sojourner Truth, a slave who escaped, fought for her son in the courts, and then became an abolitionist working for the freedom of all slaves.

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Coretta Scott King Biography - life, family, children, parents, death, history, wife, school, mother

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Coretta Scott was born on April 27, 1927, in Perry County, Alabama. Her parents, Obadiah and Bernice Scott, were farmers. The Scott family had owned land in the area since the American Civil War (1861-65). Even though the Scotts were more successful than most African Americans in the area, life for them and their three children was difficult.

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Quick facts and a short bio video.

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9 Frederick Douglass Facts For Kids

navajocodetalkersadmin on December 25, 2014 - 10:00 am in Fun Facts for Kids

Slavery is a part of history that is painful to remember, but there were many heroes along the way that bravely fought for the rights of all no matter race or color. Frederick Douglass was a prominent figure in the Abolitionist Movement, which was the fight to end slavery. He was born a slave and has a inspiring story that tells of the struggles he faced during his lifetime due to the color of his skin. Frederick Douglass is regarded as one of the most influential people in the fight to end slavery.

Here is a closer look at his background and a few little known facts surrounding his life:

What Were His Contributions to the Fight to End Slavery?

1. He was born a slave, but did not just accept this situation. Frederick Douglass escaped at the age of 20 and dedicated his life to being an activist against slavery. Over time he wrote 3 autobiographies that are considered by many historians to be important works of slavery narrative. They offer a unique perspective and are considered to be classic works of literature.

2. He attacked Jim Crow laws and lynching during the late 1890s and also edited a black newspaper that showcased abolitionist thoughts. He also traveled speaking and writing encouraging others to join the fight against slavery. Douglass always spoke with words designed to elicit emotion and action in those that agreed with him that slavery and racism were inherently wrong. He was a voice that many in the black community respected and one of the abolitionist movements leaders.

Most Prominent Black Leader of the 19th Century

3. He was a writer and orator that quickly became the most important black American leader during this time period in history. He was born the son of a slave woman, and most likely his father was her slave master. His immortalized works include "My Bondage and Freedom," and the "Life and Time of Frederick Douglass." His written works are seen by many to paint a clear picture on what slavery really was and how those living as slaves were treated. The insight that he offered made his writings historical work that had no precedent at the time that they were published.

Welcomed the Civil War

4. In 1861, Douglass was a firm supporter of the Civil War and saw it as a crusade against slavery. It was during wartime that Frederick Douglass worked to continue the charge of the war and even help recruit black troops for the cause. He even stood as an advisor for President Abraham Lincoln at critical times during the Civil War. He thought that the Union win could bring about huge change in the rebirth of America, but some of his visions were dashed when these rights were not given right away. However, he still continued his fight and was vocal on his opinion that all races and sexes should be equal. He was invested in not only racial issues, but also political issues and women's rights.

How Was He Remembered?

5. Frederick Douglass was remembered as a brave and brilliant man that was a symbol of change and humanism in a time period where this was not the overriding belief. He was a voice for social justice and always spoke of the importance that he felt he had due to being a black American born during this time period. Frederick Douglass felt that it was his mission in life to inform others through his writings and speeches that oppression of any form was not right. Douglass died in 1895 after his long fight trying to preserve rights for all races and to end slavery.

Born Frederick Augustus Washington

6. When he was born in1818 he was given the name Frederick Augustus Washington. He actually changed his name based on a character from the book The Lady of the Lake. This led to him being known primarily as Frederick Douglass.

Supporter of the Women's Rights Movement

7. Frederick Douglass was not just motivated to end slavery, but also to fight for social justice for all. he was even present at the famed Seneca Falls conference in 1848 that was important in the fight for women's rights.

North Star

8. Not only did he write literature on the time that he spent as a slave, but Frederick Douglass also founded his own abolitionist newspaper known as the North Star. In this paper he wrote freely on his views against slavery and all forms of racism.

Vice President Nomination

9. In 1872 Frederick Douglass was nominated for Vice president of the United States. He was nominated as a member of the equal rights party. Due to his skin color and history as a slave, this was a profound nomination and spoke to the importance that he played in society.

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9 Frederick Douglass Facts For Kids | Navajo Code Talkers

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navajocodetalkersadmin on December 25, 2014 - 10:00 am in Fun Facts for Kids Slavery is a part of history that is painful to remember, but there were many heroes along the way that bravely fought for the rights of all no matter race or color.

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Frederick Douglass: Interesting Facts for kids ***

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Check out this site for interesting facts about Frederick Douglass for kids. Short Summary, Biography and Fun Facts about Frederick Douglass. Biography and Interesting Facts about Frederick Douglass for kids.

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Frederick Douglass: Great Foe of Slavery Part 1: Humble Beginnings

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Frederick Douglass campaigned for better conditions and rights for Black Americans all his life.

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Kids learn about the biography of Frederick Douglass an enslaved person who taught himself to read and then became a leader in fighting for the civil rights of African-Americans and women.

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Video highlighting Ruby's life.

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Student-created documentary on Ruby Bridges.

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Complete overview of her life.

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MLA - Michals, Debra. "Ruby Bridges." National Women's History Museum. National Women's History Museum, 2015. Date accessed.

Chicago - Michals, Debra. "Ruby Bridges." National Women's History Museum." 2015. www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ruby-bridges.

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Trailblazer Ruby Bridges was only six when she advanced the cause of civil rights in November 1960 when she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South. Learn more about her on womenshistory.org.

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Educational Videos for Students (Cartoons on Bullying, Leadership & More)

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John F Kennedy Biography for Kids (Educational Videos for Students) Learning Cartoon Network

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Educational Videos for Students (Cartoons on Bullying, Leadership & More)

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Rosa Parks! Watch this educational video for children with a Rosa Parks Biography

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Escaped slaves were called 'passengers' and a slave who embarked on a journey along a route was described as 'having obtained a ticket'. A single conductor was responsible for transporting passengers from one station to the other after which the passengers were handed over to the next conductor.

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What do YOU think Harriet Tubman stood for based on this quote?

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What do YOU think Harriet Tubman stood for based on this quote?

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A hero is born

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. At the time in that part of the country, segregation-or the separation of races in places like schools, buses, and restaurants-was the law. He experienced racial predjudice from the time he was very young, which inspired him to dedicate his life to achieving equality and justice for Americans of all colors. King believed that peaceful refusal to obey unjust law was the best way to bring about social change.

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A hero is born Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1929. At the time in that part of the country, segregation-or the separation of races in places like schools, buses, and restaurants-was the law.

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Legacy means what someone is known for, this will explain what Lincoln was known for and why it was important!

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Today, Abraham Lincoln is widely considered the greatest president in American history. His management of the Civil War was absolutely essential to the eventual outcome - reintegration of the Union. With a lesser leader, the United States might not have included the southern states. Lincoln's impoverished beginnings, self-education,oratory skills, humility, humanity, and political genius making have made him legendary in American history. No other American has been written about more, or written about with such great admiration as our 16th president. Since his tragic death, cities, counties, parks, buildings, highways, and museums have been named in his honor. His face appears on both the United States penny and five dollar bill. His immortal words from the Gettysburg Address are considered priceless treasures. The Library of Congress commissioned the actual invention of specialized cases that replace oxygen with argon to protect the physical documents forever. The Lincoln Memorial, one of the most visited places in Washington D.C., was built for "anyone who seeks inspiration and hope." The iconic Washington landmark is open 24 hours a day. The nineteen-foot marble statue of Lincoln weighs 159 tons. It was at the memorial, where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I have a Dream Speech" in 1963, thereby giving hope to over 250,000 people that African-Americans would one day have the same rights at Whites on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

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Today, Abraham Lincoln is widely considered the greatest president in American history. His management of the Civil War was absolutely essential to the eventual outcome - reintegration of the Union. With a lesser leader, the United States might not have included the southern states.

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Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. Learn about his biography, the Civil War, and his life story.

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DIRECTIONS: When you click on the link it will take you to a webpage with a lot of stuff on it. The focus of this post is for your to watch the video about Ruby Bridges.

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Ruby Bridges: A Simple Act of Courage; Facts and Photos for Kids

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See pictures of Ruby Bridges and civil rights movement photos, get facts about Ruby Bridges, watch a Ruby Bridges video, and more with this Ruby Bridges for kids learning activity

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Go here to watch avideo about Harriet Tubman.

Biography

Occupation: Nurse, Civil Rights Activist

Born: 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland

Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York

Best known as: A leader in the Underground Railroad

Biography:

Where did Harriet Tubman grow up?

Harriet Tubman was born intoslavery on a plantation in Maryland. Historians think she was born in 1820, or possibly 1821, but birth records weren't kept by most enslavers. Her birth name was Araminta Ross, but she took the name of her mother, Harriet, when she was thirteen.

Life as a Slave

Life as an enslaved person was difficult. Harriet first lived in a one-room cabin with her family that included eleven children. When she was only six years old, she was loaned out to another family where she helped take care of a baby. She was sometimes beaten and all she got to eat was table scraps.

Harriet Tubman
by H. Seymour Squyer

Later Harriet worked a number of jobs on the plantation such as plowing fields and loading produce into wagons. She became strong doing manual labor that included hauling logs and driving oxen.

At the age of thirteen Harriet received a horrible head injury. It happened when she was visiting the town. An enslaver tried to throw an iron weight at one of his enslaved, but hit Harriet instead. The injury nearly killed her and caused her to have dizzy spells and blackouts for the rest of her life.

The Underground Railroad

During this time there were states in the northern United States where slavery was outlawed. The enslaved in the South would try to escape to the North using theUnderground Railroad. This wasn't a real railroad. It was a number of safe homes (called stations) that hid the enslaved as they traveled north. The people that helped enslaved people along the way were called conductors. The enslaved would move from station to station at night, hiding in the woods or sneaking onto trains until they finally reached the north and freedom.

Harriet Escapes

In 1849 Harriet decided to escape. She would use the Underground Railroad. After a long and scary trip she made it to Pennsylvania and was finally free.

Leading Others to Freedom

In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed. This meant that the formerly enslaved could be taken from free states and returned to their owners. In order to be free, formerly enslaved people now had to escape to Canada. Harriet wanted to help others, including her family, to safety in Canada. She joined the Underground Railroad as a conductor.

Harriet became famous as an Underground Railroad conductor. She led nineteen different escapes from the south and helped around 300 of the enslaved to escape. She became known as "Moses" because, like the Moses in the Bible, she led her people to freedom.

Harriet was truly brave. She risked her life and freedom to help others. She also helped her family, including her mother and father, to escape. She was never caught and never lost one of the enslaved.

The Civil War

Harriet's bravery and service did not end with the Underground Railroad, she also helped during theCivil War. She helped to nurse injured soldiers, served as a spy for the north, and even helped on a military campaign that led to the rescue of over 750 enslaved people.

Later in Life

After the Civil War, Harriet lived in New York with her family. She helped poor and sick people. She also spoke out on equal rights for blacks and women.

Interesting Facts about Harriet Tubman

Her nickname as a child was "Minty".

She was a very religious woman having learned about the Bible from her mother.

Harriet bought a house in Auburn, New York for her parents after helping them to escape from the south.

Harriet married John Tubman in 1844. He was a free black man. She married again in 1869 to Nelson Davis.

She usually worked the Underground Railroad in the winter months when the nights were longer and people spent more time indoors.

There is a story that slaveholders offered a reward of $40,000 for the capture of Harriet Tubman. This is likely just a legend and not true.

Harriet was very religious. When she led fugitives across the border she would exclaim "Glory to God and Jesus, too. One more soul is safe!"

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Read a longer detailedbiography of Harriet Tubman.

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More Civil Rights Heroes:

Susan B. Anthony
Cesar Chavez
Frederick Douglass
Mohandas Gandhi
Helen Keller
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Nelson Mandela
Thurgood Marshall
Rosa Parks
Jackie Robinson
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Mother Teresa
Sojourner Truth
Harriet Tubman
Booker T. Washington
Ida B. Wells

More women leaders:

Works Cited

Back to Biography for Kids

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Go here to watch avideo about Harriet Tubman. Biography Occupation: Nurse, Civil Rights Activist Born: 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland Died: March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York Best known as: A leader in the Underground Railroad Biography: Where did Harriet Tubman grow up? Harriet Tubman was born intoslavery on a plantation in Maryland.

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Kids learn about the history of the Montgomery Bus Boycott that started when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. Led by Martin Luther King, Jr., African-Americans stopped riding the buses for over a year.

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Kids learn about the biography of Rosa Parks, civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on the bus.

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Who was this little girl and why should YOU know and care? Watch and find out!

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The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross

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Ruby Bridges Desegregates a School

On the road to Civil Rights, even children became public figures, such as six-year-old Ruby Bridges, who integrated an all-white elementary school in New Orleans on November 14, 1960. Four years later, Norman Rockwell depicted her brave act of just walking to school, escorted by federal marshals, in a painting, "The Problem We All Live With." Episode Five: Rise! includes historic footage of Ruby Bridges' first day at school and a conversation with her today.

When recalling the first trip to her school, Ruby Bridges recalls today, "I saw barricades and police officers and just people everywhere. And when I saw all of that, I immediately thought that it was Mardi Gras. I had no idea that they were here to keep me out of the school. "

Six years earlier, after decades of struggle, the NAACP had won a major legal victory in the Supreme Court, represented by then-lawyer Thurgood Marshall, a future U.S. Supreme Court Justice. In Brown vs. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared that the doctrine of separate but equal schools was unconstitutional. For years after the ruling, the South simply refused to integrate. Ruby became one of six New Orleans children chosen to desegregate several all-white elementary schools in the city.

Of the people who gathered at the school to taunt her, Bridges says, "They didn't see a child. They saw change, and what they thought was being taken from them. They never saw a child."

The story of Ruby Bridges and desegregation is part of Rise!, Episode Five of the six-part series, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Episode Five premieres on PBS on November 19, 2013, 8-9 pm ET. Check local listings on the broadcast schedule.

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Ruby Bridges Goes to School | Video | The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross | PBS

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On the road to Civil Rights, even children became public figures, such as six-year-old Ruby Bridges, who integrated an all-white elementary school in New Orleans on November 14, 1960. Four years later, Norman Rockwell depicted her brave act of just walking to school, escorted by federal marshals, in a painting, "The Problem We All Live With."

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Abraham Lincoln was more than JUST our 16th president, watch the video and find out who he was and what else he did to make him SOOO important.

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Abraham Lincoln is credited by many with saving a nation. From humble beginnings to a tragic end, follow the events that shaped the life of the United States' 16th President.

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This is a combination video made by a student for a History project, it features a song that that student came up with that tells you all about Harriet like who she was and what she did to become SO famous. So listen carefully!

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SafeShare.tv removes unwanted distractions from YouTube and Vimeo videos and reduces ads, so you can focus on the content. Perfect for schools and businesses!

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John F. Kennedy stood for peace and equality, this is a small portion of his famous "Peach Speech".

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SafeShare.tv - John F. Kennedy's greatest Speech on Pea...

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One of my favorite JFK's speeches (American Univeristy speech): "What kind of peace do I mean and what kind of a peace do we seek? Not a Pax Americana enforced on the world by American weapons of war. Not the peace of the grave or the security of the slave.

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Learn the basics of who Rosa Parks was and why you need to know her name.

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In Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was jailed for refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man, a violation of the city's racial segregation laws.