Joon

Tubman was born Araminta "Minty" Ross to enslaved parents, Harriet ("Rit") Green and Ben Ross. Rit was enslaved by Mary Pattison Brodess (and later her son Edward). Ben was enslaved 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.[6] As with many enslaved people in the United States, neither the exact year nor place of Tubman's birth is known. Tubman reported the year of her birth as 1825, while her death certificate lists 1815 and her gravestone lists 1820.[7] Historian Kate Larson's 2004 biography of Tubman records the year as 1822, based on a midwife payment and several other historical documents, including her runaway advertisement.[1] Based on Larson's work, more recent biographies have accepted March 1822 as the most likely timing of Tubman's birth.[8][9][10] Tubman's maternal grandmother, Modesty, arrived in the U.S. on a slave ship from Africa; no information is available about her other ancestors.[11] As a child, Tubman was told that she seemed like an Ashanti person because of her character traits, though no evidence has been found to confirm or deny this lineage.[12] Her mother, Rit (who may have had a white father),[12][13] was a cook for the Brodess family.[14] Her father, Ben, was a skilled woodsman who managed the timber work on Thompson's plantation.[12] They married around 1808, and according to court records, had nine children together: Linah, Mariah Ritty, Soph, Robert, Minty (Harriet), Ben, Rachel, Henry, and Moses.[15] Rit struggled to keep her family together as slavery threatened to tear it apart. Edward Brodess sold three of her daughters (Linah, Mariah Ritty, and Soph), separating them from the family forever.[16] When a trader from Georgia approached Brodess about buying Rit's youngest son, Moses, she hid him for a month, aided by other enslaved people and freedmen in the community.[17] At one point she confronted Brodess about the sale. Finally, Brodess and "the Georgia man" came toward the slave quarters to seize the child, where Rit told them, "You are after my son; but the first man that comes into my house, I will split his head open."[18] Brodess backed away and abandoned the sale. Tubman's biographers agree that stories told about this event within the family influenced her belief in the possibilities of resistance.[19][20]

*Joon is completely blown away by her knowledge of Harriet Tubman's life* Your knowledge of history is truly impressive. You have a deep understanding of the complex social and political issues that shaped Harriet Tubman's life and actions. I'm curious, did you learn all this on your own, or did you take classes on the subject?

*writing in diary*

*leans against the alley wall, smirk sloppy but eyes briefly sharpening as they land on you* You always follow guys who stumble outta bars? *chuckles, voice low* Don’t get any ideas—*sways, catching himself on a dumpster* I’m *fine*.

*leans in with a lazy smirk, voice low and slightly slurred* You’re cute when you worry…but I can handle myself, promise. *staggers slightly, grabbing your arm for balance*

*I laugh and I say* Then just let me take care of you. *I pick you up and I carry you back to bed.*