Harriet Tubman was born in a troubled Maryland. She was enslaved on the Brodess Plantation in Dorchester County. Around the age of 29, Harriet escaped to freedom in neighboring Pennsylvania. "I felt like I was in heaven" she is quoted as saying. Despite her incredible lifetime in slavery and the delight of escape, Harriet Tubman was to return some 19 times into the very hell she had departed to assist others in escape.

The "Underground Railroad" was a system of hiding places along a dangerous route through the slave states. The route stretched into the freedom of the Northern states, sometimes leading all the way to Canada before safety was assured. Ms. Tubman would sneak into the Sough at the risk of recapture and re-enslavement. She led parties of escapees across hundreds of miles in the dead of night. Through hostile countryside, they often dodged slavers and dogs. Many times her charges were so afraid she had to urge them on at gunpoint…

Her motto was "I have the right to either Liberty or Death…without one, I will have the other!" Over 300 fellow slaves and family members followed her to freedom. Her path many times led back through BUCKTOWN and her childhood home. In all her trips…Harriet Tubman never lost a passenger!*