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Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom QUOTES

Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom QUOTES

1 " Democratic and radical impulses defined the Revolutionary generation that founded America. The egalitarian ideals of abolitionist activists, especially [Underground Railroad] agents, were perceived as a tribute to the country's founding generation. Promoters of the liberty lines echoed the sentiments of American's founders: impassioned opposition to tyranny and oppression....To that end, radicals advocated civil disobedience, especially in regard to fugitive slaves. Thus the [Underground Railroad] was a full-fledged grassroots resistance movement, representing the true national goals of democracy and liberty. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

2 " Of course, in these racial passion plays, though the “good guys” might have been either black or white, the villains were nearly always white. It was tricky for the majority of blacks during the antebellum era to separate friend from foe. As one African American confided: “They [whites] was all . . . devils and good people walking in the road at the same time, and nobody could tell one from t’other.”4 "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

3 " The free black community, especially in the border states, steadily increased at the turn of the nineteenth century. No black population grew more dramatically during the early years of the republic than Maryland’s. Its free people of color made up the second largest free black population in 1790—and became the largest free black population of any state by 1810. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

4 " I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”40 "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

5 " Tubman despised the licentious atmosphere that plagued towns where Civil War soldiers gathered. As one of the Union doctors complained, the mistreatment of black women was a shame and scandal of occupied Carolina, where lawless conditions reigned during the first year of occupation. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

6 " South Carolina slaveholders were the staunchest of Rebels, belligerent for independence and ready for blood. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

7 " She believed her ability was a kind of second sight, something she inherited from her father, who she said could forecast the weather and had predicted the war with Mexico. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

8 " Family members lost to slave sales were worse than dead, as there was no peace or closure. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

9 " Owners, physicians, and overseers regularly accused female laborers of pretending to be pregnant. The charge of “shamming” was a self-serving lament as much as a legitimate concern, as it was rare for pregnant women to be given any dispensation. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

10 " Although African Americans toiling in the field might be seen as the quintessential image of slavery, the more potent symbol of the system was the auction block. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

11 " One day, Tubman recalled, she was whipped five times before breakfast—and her neck bore the scars from this incident for the rest of her life. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

12 " jumping the broom,” in lieu of or in addition to the exchange of vows. The bride and groom would each jump backwards over a broom handle held a few inches above the floor, and raised slightly with each leap. Whoever stumbled first was, according to lore, forced to heed the wishes of the other. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

13 " More than a decade before, another young woman in her twenties, Isabella Baumfree, born a Dutch-speaking slave in rural New York, resolved her spiritual crises by running away from her master and eventually changing her name to Sojourner Truth. She seized the opportunity for emancipation in 1826, "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

14 " By the 1840s, informal networks were well established, as was the reigning metaphor of the Underground Railroad (UGRR). "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

15 " The problem was so widespread that in 1793 Congress passed the first Fugitive Slave Act. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

16 " Free African Society, founded in April 1787, "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

17 " Thus demographic shifts stimulated an increase in race prejudice and mob violence, especially among working-class whites and European immigrants also pouring into the city.16 "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

18 " If you are tired, keep going; if you are scared, keep going; if you are hungry, keep going; if you want to taste freedom, keep going.” Along with the inspirational spirituals for which Moses became so beloved, this motto has been handed down to the present generation as part of her enduring legacy. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

19 " I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other. "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom

20 " The Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of the Abolition of Slavery, "

― , Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom