Harriet Tubman was born to a family of slaves but managed to escape slavery when she was in her 20s. She used the railroad as her pathway to the North. Her success made her confident about her ability to help others, and the former slave assisted approximately three hundred slaves to come to northern states through the so-called Underground Railroad.
During the Civil War, she provided valuable data to the Union Army, working as a spy. She also led an armed raid that resulted in the liberation of over seven hundred slaves in South Carolina. She was never financially secure, but she still donated to support abolitionist organizations, projects, and former slaves. In addition to her practical contributions to the abolitionist movement, she was also a symbol of the struggle against slavery and slaves’ road to freedom.