Why Harriet Tubman quotes?
Harriet Tubman was a leading abolitionist who successfully escaped and helped others of her race escape the horrors of slavery. She was born to enslaved parents and later subjected to persecution as an adolescent.
She was also subjected to whipping and physical torture by her masters. One of most traumatic incidents in her life was being beaten with a 2 lb (1 kg) weight.
The incident resulted in a permanent head wound, which led her to suffer from narcolepsy. Despite her condition, Harriet remained brave and fled to Philadelphia.
She escaped by walking the 90 mi (145 km) long system of different routes and safe houses, popularly known as the Underground Railroad system. She is known for never losing any passengers when she returned and guided those of her kin to freedom.
She later met the legendary abolitionist John Brown and joined him in his quest to end slavery. She played several roles during the American Civil War.
She was a spy for the Union Army, leading missions that freed thousands more enslaved people. The quotes by Harriet Tubman given below can help you to understand what made her unflinchingly brave and what gave her such willpower.
What parents should know
- Harriet Tubman said she had this great dream about freedom for all enslaved people. She was committed to attaining liberty no matter what she might have to face.
- Harriet Tubman traveled on the Underground Railroad track multiple times to lead nearly 70 enslaved people to freedom, earning the moniker 'Moses'.
- Tubman is an American icon whose efforts during the American Civil War significantly contributed to the ultimate abolition of slavery.
What to discuss with kids
- Harriet Tubman fearlessly led scores of slaves to freedom without once being apprehended.
- Her birth name was Araminta Ross. She was also called by her nickname Minty.
- There are no valid records of Harriet Tubman’s place or date of birth.
Famous Harriet Tubman Quotes
1. “I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.”
2. “We would rather stay in our native land if we could be as free there as we are here.”
3. “I never see such a sight…one woman brought two pigs, a white one and a black one; we took ‘em all on board, named the white pig Beauregard and the black pig Jeff Davis.”
4. “I grew up like a neglected weed - ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it. Then I was not happy or contented:”
5. “I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say—I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”
6. “I have heard their groans and sighs, and seen their tears, and I would give every drop of blood in my veins to free them.”
7. “We’re rooted here, and they can’t pull us up.”
8. “Why, the language down there in the far South is just as different from ours in Maryland as you think. They laughed when they heard me talk and I couldn’t understand them no how.”
9. “God won’t let Master Lincoln beat the South until he does the right thing.”
10. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer.”
11. “The Lord who told me to take care of my people meant me to do it just as long as I live, and so I did what He told me.”
12. “I think there’s many a slaveholder’ll get to Heaven. They don’t know better. They act up to the light they have.”
13. “We saw the lightning and that was the guns and then we heard the thunder and that was the big guns, and then we heard the rain falling and that was the blood falling; and when we came to get in the crops, it was dead men that we reaped.”
Harriet Tubman Quotes On Slavery
14. “Now I’ve been free, I know what a dreadful condition slavery is. I have seen hundreds of escaped slaves, but I never saw one who was willing to go back and be a slave.”
15. “If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If there’s shouting after you, keep going. Don’t ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.”
16. “Every time I saw a white man I was afraid of being carried away.”
17. “I had crossed the line. I was free; but, there was no one there to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.”
18. “From Christmas till March I worked as I could, and I prayed through all the long nights - I groaned and prayed for ole Master: ‘Oh Lord, convert Master!’ ‘Oh Lord, change that man’s heart!’ ‘Pears like I prayed all the time.”
19. “In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line, but I can’t seem to get there no-how. I can’t seem to get over that line.”
20. “You’ll be free or die!”
21. “Quakers are almost as good as colored. They call themselves friends and you can trust them every time.”
22. “Most of those coming from the mainland are very destitute, almost naked.
I am trying to find places for those able to work and provide for them as best I can, so as to lighten the burden on the Government as much as possible, while at the same time they learn to respect themselves by earning their own living.”
23. “If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more.”
Harriet Tubman Quotes On Freedom
24. “God’s time is always near. He set the North Star in the heavens; He gave me the strength in my limbs; He meant I should be free.”
25. “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”
26. “My people are free!”
27. “I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty, or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.”
28. “My home, after all, was down in Maryland, because my father, my mother, my brothers, and sisters, and friends were there. But I was free, and they should be free.”
29. "I should fight for liberty as long as my strength lasted."
Harriet Tubman Inspirational Quotes
30. “Stop searching for happiness in the same place you lost it.”
31. “I can’t die but once.”
32. “I am at peace with God and all mankind.”
33. “I ask of my Heavenly Father, that when the last trump sounds, and my name is called, I may stand close by your side, to answer to the call.”
34. “Change is not dismantling the old, it’s building the new.”
35. “[If my services] do not place woman as man’s equal, what do?”
36. “I said to the Lord, ‘I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.’”
37. “And I prayed to God to make me strong and able to fight, and that’s what I’ve always prayed for ever since.”
38. “Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”
39. “It wasn’t me, it was the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ and He always did.”
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