Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

In 1857, Harriet has nightmares about her parents being sold to slave traders. She has always longed to bring her parents north. However, she has never traveled with elderly people before and is concerned that they could not complete the journey. While she isn’t sure how she will manage to help Ben and Old Rit escape, Harriet has faith that God will help her, and she travels south to Maryland. Harriet takes the train directly to Bucktown on this journey, hoping that no one will be suspicious since she is “going in the wrong direction for a runaway slave” (184). When she arrives, Harriet pretends to be an elderly woman and hides her face with a low bonnet to avoid being recognized by locals.

Harriet stops at a cabin that belongs to a free Black family. She purchases two live chickens from them, which she hopes will make her look like a local traveling to the market. She travels down the same road where she had been assaulted by the overseer years before, and she remembers the incident and the injury it caused. Harriet is frightened when she hears a horse coming up the road but decides not to run into the woods since she does not want to tear her clothes, which would make her appear to be a runaway.