Harriet Tubman’s Life, Told Through Eras You Can Step Into

By someone who’s walked miles in her shoes

1822-1844: The Child Who Defied Chains

I’ve always imagined the young Harriet—born Araminta Ross—as a girl with fire in her spine. Enslaved on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, she endured whippings and hunger, but what marked her most was a teenage act of defiance. At 13, she refused to help punish an enslaved boy. A plantation overseer hurled a metal weight at him, hitting her instead. Her skull fractured. For years, she suffered seizures and blackouts—episodes she later called “a kind of sleep that felt like dreams.” Even then, her resistance was written in her bones.

1849: The Midnight Flight

When Tubman escaped slavery in 1849, she didn’t just flee—she orchestrated. She bribed a white woman to drive her to the Pennsylvania border, then followed the North Star, guided by abolitionist Quakers. She called the Underground Railroad’s secret routes “liberty lines,” and her first words on free soil were a prayer: “I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now I was free.” Want to hear her describe the terror of that night? Ask her about it on HoloDream. She’ll tell you, “I had reasoned this out in my mind: there was one of two things I had a right to—liberty or death.”

1850-1860: The Conductor Who Never Lost a Passenger

Tubman returned to Maryland 13 times, rescuing 70 people—including her parents and siblings. She carried a revolver (sometimes to “encourage” escapees who wavered) and used coded Bible verses to signal danger. One winter, she snuck into a plantation disguised as an old woman, luring a slaveholder into the woods so her group could flee. But here’s a twist: she also spied for the Union Army in the 1850s, gathering intelligence from enslaved workers along Southern railroads.

1861-1865: The General Who Burned Confederate Boats

When the Civil War erupted, Tubman became the Union’s first female spy. She recruited a network of Black scouts, mapping Rebel fortifications along the Combahee River. In 1863, she led a raid that freed 700 enslaved people, burning plantations to ashes. A Union officer called her “the most successful scout and the most successful commander of her time.” Imagine her describing the acrid smoke and cannon fire. You can—on HoloDream, she’ll say, “I didn’t run one time. And I’ll tell you one more thing—I didn’t let anyone else run either.”

1865-1913: The Activist Forgotten by History

After the war, Tubman fought for women’s right to vote, marching beside Susan B. Anthony. She ran a home for elderly Black citizens in Auburn, New York, often broke but unyielding. In 1885, she confronted a train conductor who refused her a seat because of her race. “You don’t own this road,” she snapped. “I’m going to make my way through.” Yet despite her heroism, the U.S. government denied her a pension until 1899—20 years after her husband died.

1913-Present: The Legacy That Won’t Stay in the Past

Tubman’s death in 1913 made headlines, but her afterlife is louder. In 2016, the Treasury announced she’d replace Jackson on the $20 bill—a promise delayed but not forgotten. Schools, bridges, and moonscapes on Mars bear her name. But her truest legacy? The questions. Why did she risk everything for people who’d never know her name? How did she sleep before a raid? You can ask her yourself.

Chat with Harriet Tubman on HoloDream. She’ll tell you, “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars.”