Best Harriet Tubman Quotes : The insight and experience of others is a valuable source of inspiration and motivation. And learning from successful leaders and entrepreneurs is a fantastic way to grow, and today we are interested in the best quotations and proverbs said and written by the famous Civil Rights Leader Harriet Tubman.
Even if one cannot sum up the life of Harriet Tubman with famous quotes and phrases, some motivational quotes, inspiration and life proverbs should be known, not only to fans, but also to the general culture.
So in this post, we offer you a handpicked selection of the best +18 Harriet Tubman quotes, with text and images to motivate and encourage you to achieve your goals and to help you stay focused throughout the day!
Short biography : Who is Harriet Tubman ?
- Harriet Tubman
- Civil Rights Leader
- Birth place : Dorchester County, MD
Tubman was born Araminta “Minty” Ross to enslaved parents, Harriet (“Rit”) Green and Ben Ross. Rit was owned by Mary Pattison Brodess (and later her son Edward). Ben was held by Anthony Thompson, who became Mary Brodess’s second husband, and who ran a large plantation near the Blackwater River in the Madison area of Dorchester County, Maryland. As with many enslaved people in the United States, neither the exact year nor place of Tubman’s birth is known, and historians differ as to the best estimate. Kate Larson records the year as 1822, based on a midwife payment and several other historical documents, including her runaway advertisement, while Jean Humez says “the best current evidence suggests that Tubman was born in 1820, but it might have been a year or two later”. Catherine Clinton notes that Tubman reported the year of her birth as 1825, while her death certificate lists 1815 and her gravestone lists 1820.
Tubman’s mother was assigned to “the big house” and had scarce time for her family; consequently, as a child Tubman took care of a younger brother and baby, as was typical in large families. When she was five or six years old, Brodess hired her out as a nursemaid to a woman named “Miss Susan”. Tubman was ordered to care for the baby and rock its cradle as it slept; when it woke up and cried, she was whipped. She later recounted a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast. She carried the scars for the rest of her life. She found ways to resist, such as running away for five days, wearing layers of clothing as protection against beatings, and fighting back.
As a child, Tubman also worked at the home of a planter named James Cook. She had to check the muskrat traps in nearby marshes, even after contracting measles. She became so ill that Cook sent her back to Brodess, where her mother nursed her back to health. Brodess then hired her out again. She spoke later of her acute childhood homesickness, comparing herself to “the boy on the Swanee River”, an allusion to Stephen Foster’s song “Old Folks at Home”. As she grew older and stronger, she was assigned to field and forest work, driving oxen, plowing, and hauling logs.
As an adolescent, Tubman suffered a severe head injury when an overseer threw a two-pound metal weight at another enslaved person who was attempting to flee. The weight struck Tubman instead, which she said: “broke my skull”. Bleeding and unconscious, she was returned to her owner’s house and laid on the seat of a loom, where she remained without medical care for two days. After this incident, Tubman frequently experienced extremely painful headaches. She also began having seizures and would seemingly fall unconscious, although she claimed to be aware of her surroundings while appearing to be asleep. This condition remained with her for the rest of her life; Larson suggests she may have suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy as a result of the injury.
After her injury, Tubman began experiencing visions and vivid dreams, which she interpreted as revelations from God. These spiritual experiences had a profound effect on Tubman’s personality and she acquired a passionate faith in God. Although Tubman was illiterate, she was told Bible stories by her mother and likely attended a Methodist church with her family. She rejected the teachings of the New Testament that urged slaves to be obedient, and found guidance in the Old Testament tales of deliverance. This religious perspective informed her actions throughout her life.
+18 Best Harriet Tubman Quotes, inspiration and Motivation with photos (2020)
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 to change the world.
In my dreams and visions, I seemed to see a line, and on the other side of that line were green fields, and lovely flowers, and beautiful white ladies, who stretched out their arms to me over the line, but I couldn’t reach them no-how. I always fell before I got to the line.
I said to de Lord, ‘I’m goin’ to hold steady on to you, an’ I know you’ll see me through.’
Read my letter to the old folks, and give my love to them, and tell my brothers to be always watching unto prayer, and when the good old ship of Zion comes along, to be ready to step aboard.
I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.
Twasn’t me, ’twas the Lord! I always told Him, ‘I trust to you. I don’t know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me,’ an’ He always did.
I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.
I grew up like a neglected weed – ignorant of liberty, having no experience of it.
I would fight for my liberty so long as my strength lasted, and if the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.
I’ve heard ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ read, and I tell you Mrs. Stowe’s pen hasn’t begun to paint what slavery is as I have seen it at the far South. I’ve seen de real thing, and I don’t want to see it on no stage or in no theater.
I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees, and I felt like I was in heaven.
I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.
Why, der language down dar in de far South is jus’ as different from ours in Maryland, as you can think. Dey laughed when dey heard me talk, an’ I could not understand ‘dem, no how.
Even the world’s most successful individuals like Harriet Tubman have experienced their fair share of setbacks and hardships. And there’s much to learn from their challenges as well as their success.
Quakers almost as good as colored. They call themselves friends and you can trust them every time.
Most of those coming from the mainland are very destitute, almost naked. I am trying to find places for those able to work, and provide for them as best I can, so as to lighten the burden on the Government as much as possible, while at the same time they learn to respect themselves by earning their own living.
Pears like my heart go flutter, flutter, and then they may say, ‘Peace, Peace,’ as much as they likes – I know it’s goin’ to be war!
I think there’s many a slaveholder’ll get to Heaven. They don’t know better. They acts up to the light they have.
Pears like my heart go flutter, flutter, and then they may say, ‘Peace, Peace,’ as much as they likes – I know it’s goin’ to be war!
Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to You and You’ve got to see me through.
Life throws curveballs. And while there might be blockers to success, it’s imperative to keep pushing with the knowledge mistakes will be made and failure is inevitable.
If you like our collection of famous quotes, don’t forget to share the article on Facebook, Pinterest and WhatsApp ?.