Harriet Tubman rapped on the door of what she had always known as a haven for runaway slaves. But this time something was wrong. An unknown white man appeared at the window with the gruff questions, “Who are you?” and “What do you want?” Soon she learned that the home’s former occupant had been forced to leave for harboring fugitive slaves, and this new owner was in no mood to help. So with a band of runaways in tow, she did the only thing she could think of: She took them to a small island in the middle of a swamp and prayed. For hours, searchers passed close by, and the refugees grew cold and hungry. They had to drug an infant to keep it quiet. And then God answered their prayers. A Quaker man appeared and gave them provisions along with a horse-drawn wagon. Amazingly, the entire party made it safely to Canada and freedom.1 For most, such an exhibition of courage would have been the highlight of a lifetime. But for Tubman, such acts were commonplace.

Born in 1822 on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Tubman escaped from slavery in 1849 and subsequently returned to the South more than a dozen times to rescue others. Her missions involved nighttime travel, freezing temperatures, and the risk of death or capture at every turn. In all, she rescued approximately 70 slaves and gave instructions to perhaps 50 more who made their way to freedom independently.2 She was a key leader in a secret network known as the Underground Railroad, which sheltered and guided runaway slaves. Her source of strength for all these endeavors was a deep faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Though illiterate, she knew Scripture by heart and made prayer a staple of her daily life.3

In fact, she willingly put her life in peril because she trusted in God’s protection. “Jes’ so long as he wanted me,” she said, “he would take keer of me, an’ when he didn’t want me no longer, I was ready to go.”4 From such confidence flowed her heroism. For instance, to rescue her own family members, she traveled repeatedly to the region of her former enslavement, risking recognition and capture. On several occasions only providence and ingenuity saved her. Once she encountered a former master on the street, so she untied the string around the feet of two chickens she had just purchased and stooped to attend to them as he passed.5 During the Civil War, her passion for freedom led her to serve the Union army as a helper and nurse on the battlefields of South Carolina. She recruited black soldiers for the fray, and, as a master of secrecy and disguise, she scouted out and spied upon the Confederates. Then, on June 1, 1863, she became the first woman during the war to plan and lead an armed expedition.6

Tubman’s remarkable courage continued into her old age. With a dream of establishing a home for poor and ill blacks, she attended a real estate auction. Though nearly penniless, she bid highest for the desired land. When asked how she could possibly pay for it, she replied, “I’m going home to tell the Lord Jesus about it.” Soon friends and supporters helped her raise the requisite funds.7 And her physical courage was remarkable: In later years, she endured brain surgery without anesthetic, preferring to bite a bullet like the soldiers she once tended on the field of battle.8

Perhaps her most famous words came during a speaking engagement in 1896 where she humbly summarized her remarkable service: “I was the conductor on the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say—I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.”9 Indeed, such an accomplishment reminds of the power behind a courageous life submitted to God and saturated in Scripture. They too may be used mightily of God to lead captives to freedom, whether from spiritual bondage or the chains of political oppression.

Footnotes:
1
Kate Clifford Larson, Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero (New York: Ballantine, 2004), 186-189.

2
Ibid., xvii, 100.

3
Ibid., 52-53.

4
Ibid., 48.

5
Ibid., 125.

6
Ibid., 212-213.

7
Ibid., 279-280. She was able to purchase the land with money from contributors combined with a mortgage.

8
Ibid., 282.

9
Ibid., 276.

article adapted from Kairos Journal

First Baptist Church of Perryville is located on Rt. 40 across from the Principio Health Center.