Sunday, March 10, 2013

Harriet Tubman Biography Review

Book cover art for Harriet Tubman - The Moses of her People by Sarah H. Bradford Harriet Tubman - The Moses
   of her People
by Sarah H. Bradford
Genre: Biography, History,
   Nonfiction

     Today marks the 100th anniversary since the death of Harriet Tubman. Slave birthdays were not celebrated and as far as she could recollect she was born around 1820-21 and passed away on March 10, 1913. Around the age of 13 she received a serious head injury at the hands of her master. Her skull was partially bashed in and would forever give her the appearance of being slow and stupid as well as having other health complications, but she was far from stupid. Harriet was a calculating, brave, and deeply religious woman. Her cunning helped save the lives of hundreds of slaves during a time when anyone - black or white - could be put to death for harboring or assisting slaves to escape to freedom.

     This biography wasn't written by some dry historian attempting to piece together the life of a historical figure. This biography was originally published in 1961 by a woman who knew Harriet and the book was actually commissioned by Harriet herself. It had been planned to use the proceeds of the book to help pay Tubman's growing medical bills as her health was waning and to finance a hospital for people of color who could not otherwise afford health care. Within this book you will find actual recollections of some of Harriet's trips, some problems she had faced, and how she managed to prevail despite the setbacks in her way.

     There are many editorial errors which I'm not sure are due to the original author's mistakes or were made during the conversion of the original text to a kindle file. Either way, this short biography can make interesting reading for anyone regardless of their race, creed, or religious beliefs, especially those who are interested in the events in history that helped to shape this American nation.

     This book was still free on Amazon when I wrote this review, but as with all books on Amazon their prices fluctuate often so please double check the price before downloading the book.

I give it 3 star review graphic 3 stars.

1 comment:

  1. Only thing I know of her is what I learned in school. Would be a great read! Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete