Araminta Ross (she later changed her first name to Harriet after her mother) was born into slavery in Maryland in 1822. Before she was seven, she began to work as a house servant. At age fourteen - she was sent out to work in the fields.

In 1849, at the age of 27, Tubman escaped from slavery to the North. She worked as a maid in Philadelphia and joined an abolitionist group. In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, making it illegal to help a runaway slave and she joined the Underground Railroad. In 1851, she traveled through the backwoods to Baltimore to get her sister and her sister's children and returned to the North. From that time until the the Civil War, Tubman traveled to the South about 18 times and helped close to 300 slaves escape. In 1857, Tubman also led her parents to freedom.

Over 10 years and at great risk, Tubman led hundreds of slaves to freedom along the Underground Railroad, which was a secret network of safe houses where runaway slaves could stay on their way north to freedom. She was a leader in the abolitionist movement and during the Civil War served the Union and provided nursing care to soldiers. Tubman's military service included spying and scouting behind Confederate lines. She also took part in a military campaign that resulted in the rescue of 756 slaves. As her reputation grew, rewards for her capture once totaled about $40,000.

After the war, Tubman lived in Auburn, New York and began a career as a community activist, humanitarian, and suffragist. In 1869, a short biography of Tubman was published called "Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman," bringing her fame and financial help.