Harriet Tubman and W.E.B. Du Bois

Harriet Tubman and W.E.B. Du Bois

By Riley Andrews

Intro to Harriet Tubman​

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Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 19 missions to rescue approximately 300 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.

​Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad

​After Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery, she returned to slave-holding states many times to help other slaves escape. She led them safely to the northern free states and to Canada. It was very dangerous to be a runaway slave. There were rewards for their capture, and ads like you see here described slaves in detail. Whenever Tubman led a group of slaves to freedom, she placed herself in great danger. There was a bounty offered for her capture because she was a fugitive slave herself, and she was breaking the law in slave states by helping other slaves escape. Tubman made 19 trips to Maryland and helped 300 people to freedom. During these dangerous journeys she helped rescue members of her own family, including her 70-year-old parents. At one point, rewards for Tubman's capture totaled $40,000. Yet, she was never captured and never failed to deliver her "passengers" to safety. As Tubman herself said, "On my Underground Railroad I [never] run my train off [the] track [and] I never [lost] a passenger.

Multiple Choice

Harriet Tubman took __ trips and brought ___ people to freedom

• 19; 150

• 13; 150

• 13; 300

• 19;300

Harriet Tubman during the Civil War​

​During the Civil War, Tubman worked for the Union army as a nurse, a cook, and a spy. Her experience leading slaves along the Underground Railroad was especially helpful because she knew the land well. She recruited a group of former slaves to hunt for rebel camps and report on the movement of the Confederate troops. In 1863, she went with Colonel James Montgomery and about 150 Black soldiers on a gunboat raid in South Carolina. Because she had inside information from her scouts, the Union gunboats were able to surprise the Confederate rebels​

Multiple Choice

During the Civil War Harriet Tubman worked as an....

• Nurse; Cook; Spy

• Supervisor; Arms Dealer

• Soldier

• Hostess

​

Intro to W.E.B. Du Bois

​William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was a noted scholar, editor, and African American activist. Du Bois was a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP -- the largest and oldest civil rights organization in America). Throughout his life Du Bois fought discrimination and racism. He made significant contributions to debates about race, politics, and history in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, primarily through his writing and impassioned speaking on race relations. Du Bois also served as editor of The Crisis magazine and published several scholarly works on race and African American history. By the time he died, in 1963, he had written 17 books, edited four journals and played a key role in reshaping black-white relations in America

Multiple Choice

How many books did W.E.B. Du Bois create

• 13

• 17

• 10

• 12

​The 1900 Paris Exhibition

​In the exhibit, Du Bois showed that African Americans, in the 35 years since the Civil War, had come an amazing distance since being an enslaved people. A majority of African Americans were able to read, they owned one million acres of land and paid taxes on $12 million worth of property. The Paris Exhibition was powerful evidence that African Americans were an important, productive part of American society.

Some text here about the topic of discussion

Open Ended

What do you believe the purpose of W.E.B. Du Bois exhibition was?

​Du Bois and the NAACP

​The NAACP was founded on the belief that nonviolent protests and legal actions were the best ways to ensure equal rights for all Americans. Du Bois became a member of the NAACP board and edited a journal of opinions called The Crisis. During its early years, the association won many legal cases to ensure the rights of minorities. Du Bois played an important role in the NAACP. In 1945 he represented the association in San Francisco, California, during the establishment of the United Nations. Over the years, the NAACP has persuaded presidents to end racial discrimination in hiring and military service. The organization grew from 60 people to a membership of more than 500,000 today. Its headquarters is in Baltimore, Maryland. One of the most famous lawyers for the NAACP was Thurgood Marshall, who later became a Supreme Court justice himself.​

Multiple Choice

About how many members does the NAACP have today?

• 100,000

• 250,000

• 500,000

• 1,000,000