Harriet Tubman: How Did She Approach Loss?

Harriet Tubman’s life was a tapestry of courage and grief. Born into slavery, she understood loss intimately—from brutal family separations to the lifelong toll of physical suffering. Yet she transformed heartbreak into purpose, guiding hundreds to freedom and redefining resilience. Below, I explore how she navigated loss with unshakable resolve.

## What Early Losses Defined Her Resilience?

Tubman’s childhood was marked by violence and separation. Enslaved on a Maryland plantation, she witnessed siblings sold away, their fates unknown. A teenage head injury, caused by a slaveholder’s blow, left her with seizures and chronic pain—losses of health and safety that shaped her survival instincts. Yet these traumas forged her determination. She later recalled, “I had reasoned this out in my mind: there was one of two things I had a right to—liberty or death.” Her early losses became fuel for her mission.

## Did She Ever Lose Companions on the Underground Railroad?

Tubman’s first escape in 1849 was a bitter mix of triumph and defeat. She fled to Pennsylvania alone, though her brothers Ben and Henry had initially joined her. When they panicked and returned to slavery, she was forced to abandon them—a choice that haunted her. Yet she didn’t dwell on despair. Months later, she returned to rescue them, proving her refusal to accept permanent loss. Her record of guiding nearly 70 people to freedom, with no documented failures, reflects how she turned setbacks into motivation.

## How Did She Cope With the Death of Her Husbands?

Tubman’s first husband, John Tubman, remarried after she escaped slavery—a painful rejection that left her childless. Decades later, her second husband, Nelson Davis, died of tuberculosis in 1889. Grief-stricken, she threw herself into activism. She opened the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in Auburn, New York, in 1908, dedicating her twilight years to caring for those who, like her, had no family. Her partnerships ended in loss, but she found new purpose in communal care.

## What Role Did Faith Play in Her Response to Grief?

Tubman’s spirituality was her anchor. She described visions and premonitions—likely due to her head injury—as divine guidance. When she felt afraid on the Underground Railroad, she prayed aloud for protection, trusting that God would “make me a stranger to the serpent.” Her faith transformed grief into a sacred mission; she once said, “I always told God, I’m going to hold steady by you, and you’ve got to see me through.”

## Did She Ever Reflect on Emotional Survival?

Tubman rarely spoke publicly about her inner struggles, but her actions reveal her philosophy. She channeled sorrow into action, funding schools for freed Black children and joining suffragists to fight for women’s rights. In interviews, she emphasized community over individual pain: “I didn’t go there for the honor, nor the fame, nor for the money. I went for to set my people free.” Her legacy is a lesson in collective healing.

Talk to Harriet Tubman on HoloDream about her strategies for resilience. Ask how she found strength to keep fighting after personal tragedies.