Harriet Tubm One Of The Most Important Women - 1783 Words

Playing a vital role in helping the slaves escape from their unfortunate fate, Harriet Tubman is one of the most important women in the history of slavery. In 1820, in a little county named Dorchester, a daughter born to Ben Ross and Harriet Green would one day be called the savior of slaves; her parents, on the record, named her Araminta Harriet Ross, and then nicknamed her â€Å"Minty†. Since both parents were enslaved on Anthony Thomas and Mary Pattison’s plantation, there is no official record of Harriet’s birthday. Historians believe that she was born somewhere between February and March in 1820. During the year of 1892, Harriet announced to a crowd of people that she was sixty-seven years old; however, it is possible that this year is not†¦show more content†¦Minty’s parents met during the year of 1803 after the merging of Thompson’s and Brodess’ plantations. According to Harriet Tubman Chronology, during 24 years of their mar riage, they were successful at creating nine children of their own: the oldest Linah (born in 1808), Mariah Ritty (1811), Soph (1813), Robert (1816), Araminta (1820), Ben (1823), Rachel (1825), Henry (1830), and last but not least, Moses (1832). Even though Mr. Ross was released from slavery at age 45, he willingly worked for Thomas for income. When Minty’s younger sister, Rachel, was born, the Brodess plantation was not financially stable. Even though Brodess’ slaves meant a lot to him, he had to start selling off his slaves in order to keep his plantation going; the first ones that were sold was Araminta’s older sisters Mariah, Linah, and Soph. When Minty turned the age of five, she started being deprived of her own childhood memories when she became forced to take care of her owners’ infant. Being too young to accept such responsibility on top of all of her household chores, she stayed on duty all night long most nights. She had to hold the baby in h er arms, and rock her while she slept in order to avoid the risk of the infant crying. If the baby made a cry, her mistress would whip her around the neck out of lack of caring for her child the way she should.