Night had fallen. With strategic preparation, a loaded pistol on her hip, and a glance to the stars for guidance, Harriet Tubman and her two brothers intended to free themselves from the grips of enslavement. But not everyone would make it to the other side.
Tubman was determined to make it from Maryland to Philadelphia – where they could all be free from a life of captivity. But along the way, Harriet’s brothers changed their minds. This journey wasn’t for the faint of heart, and there was no way in Hell that she was turning back. So she continued on the journey alone.
On her freedom chase, Tubman hid in plain sight using creative disguises. After reaching Philadelphia, she began working and saving money – but was unsatisfied. How could she live freely without her people? Tubman returned a year later to guide some of her other family up North. And she didn’t stop there.
She never lost a passenger along the way, despite making the perilous journey to the South nineteen times, freeing at least seventy enslaved people. And she empowered dozens of others to make their own escapes using the Underground Railroad.
Like Tubman, we have to be strategic, creative, and war-ready in the fight for freedom. The journey won’t be easy, and everyone won’t make it – but our and our people’s liberation is worth the risk!