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A Woman Called Moses: Harriet Tubman

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Adapted from Man and Man: 6 Biographies

"Moses is back," they whispered in the dusk viskade i skymningen. The news spread quickly among the cabins kojarna on the plantations plantagen  in Maryland. When morning came some of the black slaves had run away.

Rumour had it (people said) that a man called Moses was helping slaves escape rymma. There were reports of a whippoorwill nattskärra  had been heard, even though it was not the season for them. Some people reported hearing the hoot of an owl hoande av en uggla, four times instead of the usual three.

"Moses" was a woman named Harriet Tubman. She would sing the spiritual, "Go Down, Moses," outside the door of a slave cabin late at night. Then the people inside knew that someone had come to help them run away.

Some slaves did not want to run away. They were too old or too weak or too unsure of what life would be like somewhere else. Running away for some meant that they would never see their friends and relatives släkt  again. But many jumped at the chance to be free.

Harriet was born a slave. She never went to school and could neither read nor write. As a child, she was often whipped piskad and called stupid. When she was thirteen, her master threw a rock at her. She had a scar on her forehead the rest of her life.

Later, Harriet worked as a field-hand. Doing farm work in the fields åkrarna, she got strong and developed endurance utbållighet. She was forced to marry when she was about twenty-three.

Several years later, Harriet escaped (ran away) to the North USA:s nordstater  where there was no slavery. She was free. But after a while made up her mind to do something very dangerous: she came back down South where there still was slavery! She came to the South to free slaves.

Some Quakers and other white people helped slaves escape. Their houses became like train stations where travellers — the runaway slaves — could stay for a night on their way north to freedom. Harriet was like a train conductor on a railroad, the "Underground Railroad" underjordisk i betydelsen hemlig. It was a funny kind of railroad because there were no trains. Harriet and the other travellers had to walk most of the way from the South to Canada. It took a month every time.

A new law lag made life harder for runaways rymlingar. They were no longer safe in the United States, not even in the North. So Harriet helped runaway slaves go all the way to Canada. It was a long and hard journey to get to Canada. Sometimes it was cold and snowy. Sometimes they had to travel in snowstorms. That was very hard on slaves who had lived in warm climates all their lives.

When running away felt hard, some of the runaways felt ready to give up and go back home. When a runaway lost all hope of reaching safety, felt tired, and wanted to turn back, Harriet would step into his way with her pistol. "I'll shoot," she said. She told the runaway that if he returned to his master he would be forced to tell all about the "Underground Railroad." Harriet was glad she never had to use her gun.

Harriet was a short, muscular woman who never gave up. She made the runaways laugh when they felt tired and discouraged modfällda. Now and then they were even turned away from a door where, on other trips, they had been let in. This meant no food and no place to stay in that town, but the tired travellers understood that people had to be careful if the police were watching them.

The runaways loved their new home and their freedom in Canada. They had to work, but they now could change jobs, keep the money they earned tjänade, and sent their children to school.

Harriet made two trips a year. All in all she helped over three hundred slaves to freedom. Of course there was a big reward offered for her capture en belöning utfästes om hon kunde fängslas, but she was never captured.

Harriet spoke out in the North against slavery. She talked at big meetings. She talked about freedom. She told people in the North how bad slavery in the South was.

During the Civil War (inbordeskriget mellan norr- och sydstaterna i USA), she helped the North. She was an army cook, a scout, and even a spy behind enemy lines.

On one of Harriet's trips to the South, she freed her own parents from slavery. After the war she lived with them in New York State until her death in 1913. 

Questions

  1. The news was:
  2. Where were the cabins?
  3. Translate översätt:  A flag featuring both cross and saltire in red, white and blue. rumour / USA 4 - Click image to download. rumor:
  4. What did the rumors say?
  5. How did Moses use bird calls fågelläte?
  6. What song did Harriet sing?
  7. What did the people in the cabins kojorna know?
  8. Which people did not run away from slavery inte rymde från slaveritet?
  9. Why didn't Harriet learn to read?
  10. Why did Harriet have a scar ärr on her forehead?
  11. Was she a house slave or a field slave?
  12. Did she marry for love?
  13. How old was she when she got married?
  14. Harriet did something very dangerous. What did she do?
  15. Was the Underground Railway a subway/tube A flag featuring both cross and saltire in red, white and blue. t-bana ?
  16. How long did it take to get to Canada?
  17. Why did it take a long time to get there?
  18. How did the new law change life for the runaway slaves?
  19. Why did Harriet say, "I'll shoot."
  20. Why didn't Harriet want the runaways to go back to their old masters?
  21. Was Harriet tall or short?
  22. Was Harriet strong or weak?
  23. Why was Harriet turned away by people who had helped her earlier?
  24. Was life in Canada better?
  25. How was life in Canada better?
  26. How many people did Harriet help?
  27. Was she ever captured?
  28. Where did Harriet speak?
  29. What did she say?
  30. Harriet was in the army. What did she do there?
  31. Who did she live with after the war?