(about 1820 - March 10, 1913)
Araminta Green - birth name

Image courtesy Library of Congress. Modifications ©2002

Born a slave in Maryland, Tubman escaped to freedom, and later led more than 300 other slaves to the North and to Canada to their freedom, too. The best-known conductor on the Underground Railroad, she was acquainted with many of the social reformers and abolitionists of her time, and spoke against slavery and for women's rights.

During the Civil War, Tubman served with the U.S. Army in South Carolina, as a nurse, scout, spy and soldier. Most famously she led the Combahee River expedition, under the command of James Montgomery, helping to blow up Southern supply lines and free hundreds of slaves.

In the nearly half-century she lived after the war ended, Tubman helped a biographer publish her life story, spoke for the rights of women and African Americans, helped organize the AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church, and set up a home for indigent aged African Americans.

She fought for a military pension, but was only able to win a widow's pension on account of her second husband's service. When she died, the people of Auburn buried her with full military honors.