Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman

This autobiographical volume on the life of Harriet Tubman is a first edition that was initially published in 1868 with the help of Sarah H. Bradford, a white schoolteacher from Auburn, Massachusetts. Araminta "Harriet" Ross Tubman Davis (1822-1913), best known as Harriet Tubman, was a fugitive slave whose work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad made her a legend. Born in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and supported herself by working in Philadelphia hotels before relocating in Canada and, later, New York. Tubman first returned to Maryland in 1850, when she helped a niece escape from Baltimore. Over the next ten years she frequently risked her life to liberate family members and other slaves in the area. During the Civil War, Tubman worked as a nurse and a spy for the Union army in South Carolina, where she was known as General Tubman. After the war, Tubman established a retirement home for indigent African Americans and spoke at women's suffrage meetings. This remarkable account of her life underscores just why Tubman remains such a powerful example of selflessness in the face of danger. She regularly risked her life for other people, most of whom she did not even know.