Home / History / Remarkable People
Harriet Tubman escapes to freedom
Then she goes back to guide others out
Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland in 1849. She then made about 13 trips back and, by most accounts, helped around 70 people reach freedom.
Tubman was born into slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore. The National Park Service says she learned that she and her brothers Ben and Henry were to be sold. She first fled with them but turned back, and later escaped alone to Pennsylvania in 1849.
The Library of Congress says that from December 1850 through 1860 she returned to Maryland approximately 13 times, leading about 60 to 70 family members and other enslaved people to freedom. It attributes these estimates to the biographer Kate Clifford Larson. The National Park Service adds that she gave instructions to an estimated 50 to 60 others.
The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 made each return trip more dangerous. It required the reporting and arrest of suspected runaways, removed protections for them, and gave financial incentives to kidnap people of African descent.
Her rescues were largely of family. They included her brothers and their wives and, in summer 1857, her elderly parents, Ben Ross and Harriet Green. In October 1857, 44 people escaped from the Cambridge, Maryland area, and Tubman is credited with helping by providing detailed instructions rather than guiding them herself.