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.
逃離奴役; 賭上一切只為了拯救她的家人; 領導一項軍事突擊行動; 為了女性投票權的理想而戰; 這些只是美國最勇敢的英雄之一 所達成的成就當中的一小部分。
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.
哈莉特塔布曼本名艾拉明塔羅斯, 於 1820 年左右出生在 馬里蘭州多徹斯特郡, 艾拉明塔,小名「明蒂」,是九個 孩子中的老五,出生就是財產奴。
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.
明蒂的兩個姐姐被賣給了 用鏈子拴成串的囚犯隊伍。 還很小的時候, 明蒂就被不同的主人租用, 經常受到鞭打和懲罰。
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.
一趟到鄰坊商店的差事, 永遠改變了小明蒂的人生。 在那裡,工頭把重達 兩磅的東西丟向一個逃奴, 他沒丟中,反而擊中了明蒂。 她的傷讓她開始經歷睡眠魔咒, 就是現今我們所謂的猝睡症, 她一生都帶著這種病。
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.
明蒂的主人試著把她賣掉, 但沒有買主想要買 一個會中睡眠魔咒的奴隸。 於是,她被送去和她的父親 班羅斯一起工作, 班教導她如何伐木。 伐木讓明蒂的體力變得更好, 也讓她能夠接觸到將木材 送到北方的自由身黑人船員。 從那些船員身上,明蒂學到了 在貿易路線過程中 會用到的秘密溝通, 在她人生後期證實了 這些資訊是無價的。
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.
在這自由身與被奴役的黑人 肩並肩一同工作的混雜氣氛中, 明蒂遇到了一位自由身的黑人 約翰塔布曼,在 1844 年嫁給他。 婚後,她改名為哈莉特, 這是她母親的名字。
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.
哈莉特塔布曼的主人 在 1849 年過世。 當他的寡婦打算要賣掉她的黑奴時, 哈莉特害怕自己會被賣到遠方, 離開所有她愛的人。 她曾經聽過有一條「地下鐵路」, 是個秘密網路,連結了安全藏身處、 船隻的船長, 以及馬車駕駛, 他們願意提供庇護給逃奴, 幫助逃奴逃向北方。
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.
所以,哈莉特和她的兩位兄弟, 班和哈瑞,一起逃走。 後來他們因為害怕會迷路而折返。 但在其中一次睡眠魔咒中, 哈莉特夢見自己能像鳥兒一樣飛翔。 向下看時,她看到了通往自由之路。 在 1849 年秋天,她隻身出發, 靠著北極星的指引 到達了賓州,獲得自由。
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.
塔布曼共十三次返回南方, 去解放她的姪女、 兄弟、父母, 和許多其他人。 她得到了「黑摩西」這個暱稱, 非常勤奮地和廢除主義者合作, 協助被奴役的人逃脫, 先逃到北方,之後再到加拿大。 哈莉特塔布曼在內戰期間擔任
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.
聯邦軍隊護士、偵察兵和間諜。 1863 年,她成為美國史上第一個 規劃並領導軍事突擊行動的女性, 解放了南卡羅萊納 近七百名被奴役的人。 戰後,美國憲法第十三條修正案
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.
依法廢除了奴隸制度, 第十四條擴展了公民權, 第十五條則將投票權賦予 先前被奴役的黑人。 但她不屈不撓,堅持到底。
But she was undaunted, and she persisted. She raised funds for formerly enslaved persons and helped build schools and a hospital on their behalf.
她為先前被奴役的人募集資金, 為了他們,協助建立學校和醫院。 1888 年,塔布曼活躍於 為女性爭取投票權的抗爭。
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.”
1896 年,她現身在華盛頓特區 黑人女性全國聯盟的募資大會上, 之後又出席紐約羅徹斯特的 女性投票會議。 在那裡,她告訴觀眾: 「我是地下鐵路的車掌, 我可以說許多人不能說的話。 我從來沒有讓我的火車脫軌, 我從來沒有失去任何一個乘客。」 隨著她的名氣高漲,
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.
許多朋友和盟友協助她抗爭, 取得她在聯邦軍服務 應得的退伍軍人退休金。 1899 年,她終於獲准 每月可領 $20。 命運真的很奇妙, 2016 年,美國財政部宣佈 在重新設計的 $20 紙鈔上 要用塔布曼的肖像。 哈莉特塔布曼於 1913 年 3 月 10 日過世。
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.”
享年 91 歲, 過世之前躺在床上時, 她都還想著要解放她的人民。 她的遺言是: 「我要離開了, 去為你們準備一個地方。」