Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism and child abuse.

In her determination to liberate herself and improve the lives of others, regardless of the obstacles in her way, Harriet Tubman is a model of resilience and bravery in the face of oppression. Instead of bowing to the violence of her oppressors when she is held in slavery—or giving in to her mother’s demands that she appease her enslavers with subservience—Harriet stands firm in her belief that she is an equal human being with a right to make her own choices. She will not smile at Miss Sarah or apply herself earnestly to becoming a docile and efficient domestic worker; instead, she accepts the consequence of being sent to work in the fields. When she decides that helping Jim liberate himself is the right thing to do, she bravely stands in the way of the overseer trying to capture him, despite knowing how terrible the consequences might be. She eventually gains the right to sell her own labor, provided that she pay her enslaver for the privilege, and she summons the courage to ask for a price to buy her own freedom.