Fourth Grade
Worksheets
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was born a slave around 1820. But she did not stay a slave. Harriet ran away and then helped other slaves make their way to freedom. She is known for being a conductor on the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses. It was used to help runaway slaves escape to safety in the North.
Tubman's parents were both slaves. This meant that she was a slave as soon as she was born. When she was around five years old, she started working as a house slave. When she was a teenager, she was sent to work in the fields.
She was always ready to stand up for other people. Tubman tried to protect another slave who was going to be punished for running away. While doing this, she was hit in the head with a two-pound weight. The effects stayed with her the rest of her life. The injury caused her to have headaches and seizures.
In 1844, she married a free black man, John Tubman. In 1849, Tubman was afraid that she was going to be sold. She decided the best thing to do was to run away. She left one night on foot. A white woman helped her. At night, she followed the North Star. She made it to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There she found work. She also joined an abolitionist group in the city. Abolitionists were people who worked to end slavery.
