English 1

Moral courage writing piece

Final Draft

  It was pitch black and the only light visible was that of the moons. She stopped to grab a drink of water at a nearby creek as she ran away from impending doom. Then she heard voices and footsteps behind her, she knew what she had to do RUN. That is how the heroics of Harriet Tubman started.

As a child Araminta Ross aka Harriet Tubman was born into slavery. Harriet was purely of African descent, and was in some terrible living conditions as a child. Similar to the holocaust when it was cold you would have to make it work, if there was a fire sleep by it, if there was food your gonna have to eat it and if not you would be facing death. Harriet spent her time as a child near to her grandmother until she was old enough to work. Ms.Tubman was eligible to work at the age of six, but did not work in the fields. Her master then went on to “lend” her to another couple of slave owners where she had to weave and she was beaten consistently. Needless to say her situation was not the best at all. The couple then changed her job when they noticed that she was slaking. The couple eventually came to the conclusion that she was “incompetent” and returned her back to her original owner. Ms.Tubman turned twelve and was moved to the fields and suffered a head injury inflicted by an overseer. Harriet went on to get married to a free man named John Tubman but knew that there was a possibility that if she was sold their marriage would fracture. During that time Ms.Tubman continued to express her content with moving up north where she could be free(I’m sure you can figure out what happened next). Her husband said no and she replied that she would go by herself, Ms. Tubman was being serious and left her husband in 1849 and arrived in Philadelphia the same year.

Harriet escaped from slavery and went on to join the Underground Railroad where she helped escaped slave get there freedom. It was written by her biographer that Ms.Tubman was able to save 300 enslaved people and never lose a single passenger. In addition to this she was a Union spy and a woman’s suffrage supporter. But enough of what she did, how does that relate to what we are doing currently? Like I said before Harriet Tubman was a woman’s suffrage supporter meaning she fought for women having the right to vote. Just like the people today going out in the Covid-19 global pandemic in the wake of George Floyds and many other peoples precious lives being taken due to police brutality, Harriet Tubman fought for equal rights and equal treatment just like we do today. Harriet Tubmans act of moral courage in her time was punishable with death and if she didn’t do what she did possibly 301 or more extra lives could have been lost. “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world” – Harriet Tubman. That is the perfect description of what’s going on today; we all had a dream that entailed changing racism and unjust treatment, but we need the strength, patience, and unwavering passion to get us to the top of the mountain where our goal lays waiting to be picked up and to change the world.

What Harriet Tubman did mattered because she didn’t only fight to help escaped slaves or for woman’s rights, she fought for the future generations to have freedom and a chance to change the world just like Martin Luther king and the protesters of today. Us as a future generation should follow Harriet Tubmans example because of her willingness to give up her time for a bigger cause. She didn’t have a selfish outlook on the world like “Why is this happening to me, why cant I be a slave owner”? No she took it as an obstacle to overcome, she sacrificed her body from getting hit in the head with a weight to having a 40,000 dollar bounty on her head. None of us can really relate to that situation but we can learn from her situation and see that Ms.Tubman even when the times got tough she continued to do what she felt was right.

To wrap things up Harriet Tubman didn’t grow up in the ideal situation and went through numerous hardships. Through it all she continued to persevere and went on to change lives of hundreds through her actions. My challenge to you readers is to go out and make changes wether it be in your home or in the community but make a change don’t just talk about it and watch other people do it. Go out and change the world!

Works Cited 

(n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2020, from http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/0history/hwny-tubman.html

Harriet Tubman. (2020, June 23). Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.biography.com/activist/harriet-tubman

Harriet Tubman. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html

History.com Editors. (2009, October 29). Harriet Tubman. Retrieved October 30, 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman

Hidden Figures blog post

What does this book show

Hidden figures shows that if given the right opportunity anyone can achieve great things

The whole book of hidden figures is like a comeback story. At first they get hired but have some challenges getting to the levels of their profession that they want to, but they continue to work hard and don’t give up. Then out of nowhere an opportunity arises and they worked diligently so God blesses them and they prosper. This is a very generalized summary of the book. An example of this is when Mary Jackson needed to go back to school to become a Certified engineer but she had to go to school and was not permitted to go until she won in court. With all this you would have thought she lost because she was no longer at nasa and didn’t have what she needed to go back yet God made something from it and Mary blossomed. This really encouraged me to understand that it’s ok if it’s not looking so good right now but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and you can get there if you keep pushing and work with God.

The second thing I noticed in this book was in chapter 15 page 153 and 154. “Discrimination they had come to expect, if not accept. But the prospect of integration planted a new fear in the souls of Christine and fellow members of the Brown v. Board of Ed generation: that as blacks they would not be good enough- smart enough- to sit next to whites in a classroom and succeed”. This was something that really stood out to me because of how it explained a the mindset of a Black student during that time and how they thought integration from an education standpoint. What I learned from this is you have to be willing to compete in everything. In that quote Christine did not have the improvement mindset and was more worried about other people were doing.

All in all I think this book taught a large amount of lessons that can be used throughout life. Right now they may sound cliche but they can help you improve as a person, some of the lessons I took away are: perseverance, hard work pays off, and trust Gods plan and path for you and don’t look at what others are doing. If you follow these principles who’s to say that you can’t achieve your goals. The only person that will determine that is God.