Harriet Tubman Pushes Through Epilepsy “When I had found that I had crossed that line, I checked to see if I was the same person. There was such glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees, and I felt like I was in Heaven” (A&E). Harriet Tubman was born and raised as a slave. She went through hardships, beatings, and suffrage every day. Tubman kept going. She stayed strong, even after the accident that changed her life. Harriet’s accident occurred in 1834 at the age of twelve. She witnessed a slave about to be beaten (Nielson 24). The slave then ran out the door attempting escape and the man told her to stop him. Instead, she blocked the door so he could not pass. The slave owner decided to throw a two-pound weight, the slave ducked but Tubman did not. She was hit right in the middle of her forehead and fell to the ground and lay unconscious (McDonough 21). Consequently, after the hit Harriet had many symptoms of Epilepsy (A&E). The first symptom that occurred was major headaches and excessive blinking. Next, she started fainting a lot. Eventually she started having brief seizures (Nielsen 38). The main thing that brought attention to “Mintys” disability was her noticeable symptoms and her personality standpoint. The symptoms …show more content…
included severe sleeping spells. She would be in the middle of something, minor and difficult labor both, when she would just pass out. Even though, it was not her concern at the time. Tubman’s personality was never the same after the accident (McDonough 24). Tubman’s disability has affected her in many ways. Regardless of her terrible head pain, she chose to move on and to “Keep the Underground Railroad lit”(Nielsen 24). Harriet’s personality changed the most throughout the course of her accident (McDonough 22). She started getting more frustrated with herself. However, her severe headaches, dream states, and seeing a bright light didn’t make matters better . Frequently Tubman heard faint voices as she was working (Adler 13). By all means, her behavior has taken a turn for the different as well. The hit to the head made it harder for Harriet to work as a slave (A&E). Not only are the things with her changing, but her surroundings are changing as well. Tubman came back after the accident and heard rumors that her owner was going to sell her and her brothers. She did not like the idea of that, so she told them they were all going to escape ( McDonough 25). Harriet’s brothers changed their minds and decided to go back. “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” (A&E). This quote by Tubman shows her determination to end slavery, and if she can not end it, she will find a way (WebMD). Harriet never actually did “overcome” her disability. There is medication people can take in modern days for it. Furthermore there is a surgical process that some patients have to do because the medicine is not processing well. After all, there is “Anti Seizure Medicine” that is proven to help many people with Epilepsy (Gordon 9). Tubman also never went to the doctor. She took two days off of the fields and then went right back to work. However, the two-pound weight did break her skull. Therefore, she should have been out for a lot longer (Adler 12). In Harriet’s early life the doctors weren’t as advanced as they are now. During 1950s they started realizing that when someone is having a seizure, take action. Therefore, if someone is having one, there are helpful things to do. According to the book “Let’s talk about Epilepsy”, if someone is having a seizure put a pillow under their head and turn them to their side so they do not choke on their own drool. Their eyes are usually open, but they are not aware of what is going on (Gordon 13). Anyone can have epilepsy, even a dog. Yet one in twenty-six Americans will develop Epilepsy in their lifetime, and 65 million people in the world are living with it right now (Gordon 8). Harriet Tubman is a brave, selfless, and dedicated heroic figure.
She made it her goal to make the world a better place for African Americans (WebMD). She risked her life with every trip on the Underground Railroad for over ten years (A&E). In her later years of life she married a Civil War veteran Nelson Davis in 1869. Sadly, he died of tuberculosis in 1888. Tubman had always needed the funds from the Department of Retired Veterans. When Harriet was finally settled in her nice house in Auburn, New York, former slaves found their way to her doorstep. In no time she was taking care of a group of sick and aging former slaves. That being the case, she was still able to support two schools for former slaves (Nielson
38). This amazing lady had numerous inspirations. Her largest inspiration was the desperation to get out of slavery (Adler 16). Harriet was used to being called by the nickname “Miny” because her real name was Araminta. She soon got the honor of going by her mother’s name, Harriet (McDonough 14). Eighty-one years Harriet Tubman lived with her epilepsy, and her tiny scar in the middle of her forehead. The scar symbolizes her her ability to push through her bad times. The Underground Railroad was about ninety miles long, which equals up to about ten years of personal risk for Harriet Tubman (Nielson 24).
Consequently, Harriet Tubman was born a slave into a slave family. As a slave, at five years old, Tubman was "rented" to families where she was put to work winding yarn, checking animal traps, cleaning the houses and nursing children among many more laborious tasks. When she was older, she decided she prefered to work outside of the house as opposed to laboring inside the house with domestic chores. As a teenager, she would upset her owners and often was reprimanded and sent home because of her rebellious attitude. Later on in Tubman’s life, she married a free man and also found out that her mother was freed by her owner, but her mother was never informed of her freedom. This directly affected Tubman because her mother’s freedom also meant that Tubman was b...
“ 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.”~Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman sacrificed her life and freedom as well. She organized the Underground Railroad, and freed hundreds of slaves. As if the journey wasn’t difficult enough,stated by the book, Who Was Harriet Tubman, “But the trip was even more dangerous after 1850. That was because the Fugitive Slave Law had been passed.”(pg.56) The Fugitive Slave Law meant that runaway slaves who made it to the free states had to be sent back to their masters. People were allowed to beat the slaves and sell them back into the South too. Even though the situation was tough, Harriet Tubman never gave up on what she thought was
The greatest distress to a slave mother was realizing that her children would inevitably inherit her status as a slave. Jacobs writes of a mother who responded to the death of her infant by thanking "God for taking her away from the greatest bitterness of life (Jacobs 16). Furthermore, when Dr. Flint, her master, hurled her son Benjamin across a room Harriet experienced a fleeting moment of panic, believing that he could potentially dead; however, when she confirms that he is alive she could not determine whether she was happy that he son survived. Harriet experienced inadequacy and doubted her femininity in times that she could not protect her children from the harsh realities of the world in which they were born.
We know her as the “Moses” of her people; she left a remarkable history on the tracks of the Underground Railroad that will never be forgotten. Harriet Tubman born into slavery around 1820 in Dorchester County, Maryland, Harriet Tubman was a nurse, spy, social reformer and a feminist during a period of economic upheaval in the United States. For people to understand the life of Harriet Tubman, they should know about her background, her life as a slave, and as a free woman.
Civil rights activist, Harriet Tubman once said, “Always remember, you have within you the strength the patiences, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” (Tubman). Harriet Tubman had the courage to save hundreds of propel through the underground railroad. She had faith in her beliefs, and knew that even though she was risking jail time, she was doing the right thing. Civil disobedience is is when people are trying to bring attention to a law. They break that law knowing that they might go to jail, but to them it is worth it. Harriet Tubman’s involvement in Civil Disobedience was done to influences she chose to participate in Civil Disobedience to protest slavery, and she did achieve success using the controversial method of standing up for what she strongly believes to be right.
“I freed thousands of slaves, and could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves.” (History.com) This Harriet Tubman quote is a great representation of the kind of person she was. Harriet Tubman was a great woman, not only did she escape slavery; she went back several times to save more people. She conducted the Underground Railroad and did great things that have changed our history in one of its darkest times in our history. Being a slave was not easy but that didn’t stop her.
demanded her voice to be heard. Because she believed every person had a right to be free, Harriet Tubman risked her life to save others.
One of Harriet Tubman’s important achievement was being a nurse in the civil war.In document D it States how she would help heal sick solider during the war.These soliders were survivors of the 54th Massachusetts volunteers. She would bathe the wounds of the hurt soldiers.During this time she never
One of the things that Harriet Tubman did to overcome slavery was by escaping persecution. Escaping slavery was always on Harriet's mind ever since she was just a young child. Harriet was born straight into bondage when she was born in 1825. Majority of Harriet's family were involved in slavery. Her mother was sent from Africa on a slave ship to America to be a slave. Harriet, whose real name was Rit, began working in hard as a house servant when she was just five. Two years later Harriet knew that she had to escape from her hard life as a slave. When Harriet was seven she ran away from her homeowner to freedom alone. It was not until a short time later that she realized that she could not make it living on her own just being seven years old. She soon ret...
Harriet Tubman was born a slave in Maryland in 1820. She was a house servant at ages five through six and became a field worker at age seven. She received an injury while protecting another slave from an angry overseer and was hit in the head. She would fall into deep sleep randomly for the rest of her life. She married John Tubman in 1844 who was also a free black man.
Harriet Tubman was a selfless woman, who devoted her life to save others. Many other slaves from the South escaped to freedom in the North like Tubman. Many of these people stayed where they were free, frightened to go anywhere near the South again. However, that was not Tubman, she was different. She wanted everyone to have the feeling of freedom that she had newly discovered. Harriet was known “to bring people of her race from bondage to liberty,” (S Bradford et al 1869). Harriet Tubman was known as a hero to lots of people during the Civil War.
Harriet Ross Tubman was an African American who escaped slavery and then showed runaway slaves the way to freedom in the North for longer than a decade before the American Civil War. During the war she was as a scout, spy, and nurse for the United States Army. After that she kept working for rights for blacks and women.
She also feels that Harriet Tubman is a prime example of a strong African American woman. In this biography, author, Catherine Clinton gives an accurate take regarding the conditions for slaves in Eastern Shore, Maryland. Her description of the conditions empower readers to construe how Harriet Tubman more than likely lived in her early years. This is a fascinating, elegantly composed early account that will equip readers with a realistic insight around the life of an African American saint. There are many good points throughout this biography. The authors’ point about Harriet Tubman being brave is confirmed by evidence in which she detailed. Case in point, voyaging on numerous occasions from the South toward the North by way of the Underground Railroad was considered exceptionally strong evidence of bravery. This biography furthered confirmed my positive view of Harriet Tubman. It also provided me with new insight of the struggles that Harriet Tubman encountered. For instance, I was able to learn that her original name was Arminata Ross and she was forced to change her name to Harriet in order to maintain a false
Harriet Tubman was born between 1820 and 1825 in Dorchester County, Maryland. She was born with the name Araminta Harriet Ross. She was of the nine children to be born to “Rit” Green and Ben Ross. As a child Harriet went through a lot of tough times, three of her brothers were sold off to distant plantations, but also at the age of five or six, she began to work as a house servant. In her later life she recounted the time where she had received five lashes before breakfast. Approximately seven years later she was sent to work in the fields.
Epilepsy is a neurological condition that effects the nervous system and effects neurons in your brain. When the neurons in your brain are disturbed you get seizures, which is the most common sign of epilepsy. There are many causes to epilepsy, and most stem from a problem with the brain. A person is usually diagnosed with epilepsy after they had more than one seizures. There is no known cure for epilepsy, but there is medication to control the countless seizures. Epilepsy is a common condition that 4 in every 1000 people have. Epilepsy is a serious matter and should not be dealt with lightly.