Harriet Tubman: What to know about the Underground Railroad icon

At present, the nation and the world are taking more notice of Harriet Tubman’s American heritage as a hero of liberty.

Her accomplishments often have been entombed in middle school history books, however she was so much more than a symbol for a resistance movement against the brutal injustices of America’s dehumanizing enslavement of Black Americans: She was a real person who lived a full life for the betterment of society and humanity. Tubman, who did not read or write, escaped from slavery in antebellum Maryland to become a leading abolitionist. She helped scores of other slaves escape the South by guiding them north on the Underground Railroad, an informal network that helped escaping slaves evade capture and reach free states.