Kanye West drew shouts of opposition from the South Carolina crowd gathered for a campaign event when he said Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people.”
Tubman is one of the most respected figures of 19th century America. An African American who escaped slavery, she helped enslaved Black men and women travel north to freedom and fought for the Union during the Civil War. She later became a supporter of women’s suffrage. — Associated Press
Harriet Tubman made 19 trips along the Underground Railroad to free over 300 enslaved people between 1850-1860. She once had a $40,000 ($1.2 million in 2020) bounty on her head. She carried a pistol on her for protection from slave catchers and slaves who wanted to turn back. Before the Civil War she started escorting slaves to Canada after the US passed a fugitive slave law, settling in St. Catharines.
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