After she escaped, Harriet Tubman proceeded to work as a maid around homes in New Jersey and Philadelphia in order to raise funds for her trips back down to Maryland. The first time she returned, she went back down to help free her family (and, in the process, discovered John Tubman had taken a new wife). However, with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, Tubman was forced to travel from Maryland up to the Canadian border in order to secure everyone’s safety. She returned many times, signaling her arrival through songs and messages of her time and location. To ensure more safety, she left on Saturdays, so the masters would not know of anything until Monday. By that time, Tubman and the other slaves would be long gone Slaves gave her the nickname “Moses” after the Biblical figure that led the Jewish people out of Egypt and to freedom.

 

The Underground Railroad was a network of known abolitionists and safe houses that would help runaway enslaved people on their journeys. Tubman, as she led, would make sure everyone followed her direction and no one would turn back, keeping a pistol in order to provide protection and incentive for the other runaways to listen to her. Her tactics, though strict, were necessary and effective, and she famously never lost a passenger. She managed to save over 70 slaves with her trips, though others have estimated her influence has helped nearly 300 escape.

 

Her work as an abolitionist did not stop with her trips. Though she was illiterate, Tubman was known to be an inspirational orator, going to various abolitionist meetings and sharing her story in order to raise more support. She often went under an alias when she held meetings due to the bounties that called for her arrest. Besides that, she later went on to serve as a nurse, spy, and scout for the Union army during the Civil War.