Escaping slavery; risking everything to save her family; leading a military raid; championing the cause of women’s suffrage; these are just a handful of the accomplishments of one of America’s most courageous heroes.
Pobegnila je iz suženjstva, tvegala vse, da bi rešila svojo družino, vodila vojaški pohod, podprla volilno pravico žensk. To je le peščica dosežkov ene izmed ameriških najpogumnejših junakinj.
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in Dorchester County, Maryland, in the early 1820s. Born into chattel slavery, Araminta, or Minty, was the fifth of nine children.
Harriet Tubman se je rodila kot Araminta Ross v okraju Dorchester v Marylandu v zgodnjih 20. letih 19. stoletja. Rojena v suženjstvo je bila Araminta ali Minty peta od devetih otrok.
Two of Minty’s older sisters were sold to a chain gang. Even as a small child, Minty was hired out to different owners, who subjected her to whippings and punishment.
Dve od Mintyjinih starejših sester sta bili prodani v suženjstvo. Še kot majhnega otroka so Minty najemali različni lastniki, ki so jo podvrgli bičanju in kaznovanju.
Young Minty’s life changed forever on an errand to a neighborhood store. There, an overseer threw a two-pound weight at a fugitive enslaved person, missed, and struck Minty instead. Her injury caused her to experience sleeping spells, which we know of today as narcolepsy, for the rest of her life.
Življenje mlade Minty se je za vedno spremenilo med opravkom v špeceriji. Tam je nadzornik vrgel kilogramsko utež v sužnja na begu, zgrešil in namesto njega zadel Minty. Poškodba je pri njej sprožila napade spanja, kar danes poznamo pod imenom narkolepsija, ki so trajali vse življenje.
Minty’s owner tried to sell her, but there were no buyers for an enslaved person who fell into sleeping spells. She was instead put to work with her father, Ben Ross, who taught her how to lumber. Lumbering increased Minty’s physical strength and put her in touch with free black sailors who shipped the wood to the North. From them, Minty learned about the secret communications that occurred along trade routes, information that would prove invaluable later in her life.
Mintyjin lastnik jo je poskusil prodati, a nihče ni želel kupiti sužnje z narkolepsijo. Namesto tega je začela delati s svojim očetom Benom Rossom, ki jo je naučil sekati drevje. Sekanje drevja je povečalo Mintyjino fizično moč in prišla je v stik s svobodnimi črnimi mornarji, ki so prevažali les na sever. Od njih se je Minty naučila skrivne komunikacije, ki se je uporabljala na trgovskih poteh, znanja, ki se je kasneje v njenem življenju pokazalo za neprecenljivo.
In this mixed atmosphere of free and enslaved blacks working side by side, Minty met John Tubman, a free black man she married in 1844. After marriage, she renamed herself Harriet, after her mother.
V mešanem okolju svobodnih in zasužnjenih črncev, ki so delali skupaj, je Minty srečala Johna Tubmana, svobodnega črnca, s katerim se je poročila leta 1844.
Harriet Tubman’s owner died in 1849. When his widow planned to sell off her enslaved human beings, Harriet feared she would be sold away from everyone she loved. She had heard of an “underground railroad," a secret network of safe houses, boat captains, and wagon drivers willing to harbor fugitive enslaved people on their way north.
Po poroki se je preimenovala v Harriet po svoji mami. Lastnik Harriet Tubman je umrl leta 1849. Ko je njegova žena načrtovala prodajo svojih sužnjev, se je Harriet zbala, da jo bodo prodali proč od vseh, ki jih ljubi. Slišala je za 'podzemno železnico', skrivno mrežo varnih hiš, kapitanov ladij in voznikov kočij,
So Tubman fled with two of her brothers, Ben and Harry. They eventually turned back, fearing they were lost. But in one of her sleeping spells, Harriet dreamed that she could fly like a bird. Looking down below, she saw the path to liberation. And in the autumn of 1849, she set out on her own, following the North Star to Pennsylvania, and to freedom.
ki so bili pripravljeni skrivati pobegle sužnje na poti na sever. Tako je Tubmanova pobegnila z bratoma, Benom in Harryjem. Nazadnje so se obrnili, ker so se bali, da so se izgubili. A v eni svoji spalnih epizod je Harriet sanjala, da lahko leti kot ptica. Ko je gledala navzdol, je videla pot v svobodo. Jeseni leta 1849 se je na pot podala sama in sledila zvezdi severnici v Pennsylvanijo in svobodo.
Tubman returned to the South 13 times to free her niece, brothers, parents, and many others. She earned the nickname Black Moses and worked diligently with fellow abolitionists to help enslaved people escape, first to the North, and later to Canada.
Tubmanova se je na jug vrnila trinajstkrat, da je osvobodila svojo nečakinjo, brate, starše in mnoge druge. Dobila je vzdevek Črni Mojzes in marljivo delala z drugimi abolicionisti, da je pomagala sužnjem pobegniti, najprej na sever in kasneje v Kanado.
Harriet Tubman worked as a Union army nurse, scout, and spy during the Civil War. In 1863, she became the first woman in United States history to plan and lead a military raid, liberating nearly 700 enslaved persons in South Carolina.
Harriet Tubman je delala kot vojaška medicinska sestra, izvidnica in vohunka med državljansko vojno. Leta 1863 je postala prva ženska v zgodovini ZDA, ki je načrtovala in vodila vojaški pohod, s katerim je osvobodila skoraj 700 sužnjev v Južni Karolini. Po vojni je 13. amandma k ameriški ustavi
After the war, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution legally abolished slavery, while the 14th expanded citizenship and the 15th gave voting rights to formerly enslaved black men.
uradno odpravil suženjstvo, medtem ko je 14. amandma razširil pojem državljanstva, 15. pa je dal volilno pravico prej zasužnjenim črnskim moškim.
But she was undaunted, and she persisted. She raised funds for formerly enslaved persons and helped build schools and a hospital on their behalf.
A bila je odločna in vztrajna. Zbirala je denar za bivše sužnje in v njihovem imenu pomagala graditi šole in bolnišnico.
In 1888, Tubman became more active in the fight for women’s right to vote. In 1896, she appeared at the founding convention of the National Association of Colored Women in Washington D.C. and later at a woman’s suffrage meeting in Rochester, New York. There she told the audience: “I was a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and I can say what many others cannot. I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.”
Leta 1888 je Tubmanova postala bolj aktivna v boju za žensko volilno pravico. Leta 1896 se je pojavila na ustanovni konvenciji Nacionalne zveze temnopoltih žensk v Washingtonu, D. C., kasneje pa na ženskem srečanju za volilno pravico v Rochestru v New Yorku. Tam je publiki povedala: "Bila sem sprevodnica na podzemni železnici in lahko povem, česar mnogi ne morejo. Nikoli nisem iztirila svojega vlaka in nikoli nisem izgubila potnika."
As her fame grew, various friends and allies helped her in the fight to collect a veteran’s pension for her service in the Union Army. In 1899, she was finally granted $20 a month. In a fitting twist of fate, the United States Treasury announced in 2016 that Tubman’s image will appear on a redesigned twenty dollar bill.
Ko je postajala bolj slavna, so ji mnogi prijatelji in zavezniki pomagali v njenem boju za veteransko pokojnino za svoje služenje v severnjaški vojski. Leta 1899 so ji končno dodelili 20 dolarjev na mesec. Naključje je dalo, da je ameriško Ministrstvo za finance leta 2016 naznanilo, da bo slika Tubmanove krasila novi bankovec za 20 dolarjev.
Harriet Tubman died on March 10, 1913. Even on her deathbed at age 91, she kept the freedom of her people in mind. Her final words were: "I go away to prepare a place for you.”
Harriet Tubman je umrla 10. marca 1913. Celo na svoji smrtni postelji je pri 91. letih mislila na svobodo svojih ljudi. Njene zadnje besede so bile: "Odhajam, da pripravim prostor za vas."