The Long Path to Freedom

The Long Path to FreedomParaphrased by the Fifth Graders

Harriets mother, Rit, was a slave for a woman named, Mary Patterson. Rit was suppose to serve Mary until she was 45. Mary died earlier, so Rit was supposed to be free, but another woman had snatched Rit to be her slave. One Day Harriet saw a quaker in a buggy. The quaker told Harriet that any time Harriet needed help, she could go to her in Bucktown. Harriet was grateful for the quaker. 512 & 513

Harriet swears to keep the secret of the Quaker womans words about coming to her house. It would be hard to escape with the scar on her head, everyone could recognize her. She brought her brothers along so she wasnt lonely. Her brothers were scared and didnt know the woods like Harriet did. They wanted to go back to the plantation because they were scared. She tried to encourage them on but they were to scared. She said that she would just go on her own but they didnt let her. She fought but her brothers were too strong and they brought her back to the plantation. Now if she didnt escape she would be traded and have to work with the chain gang.514

Harriet thought if her husband went with her, he might help the men. She could not take anyone. She had to let someone know that she was leaving or her family would worry. When she saw her mother go and milk the cow, Harriet knew she could not tell her. She just told her mother that she would milk the cow instead of telling her the truth. Soon she went to find her sister, Mary, to tell her the big secret. Once she found her, she saw the other slaves and needed to tell Mary in secret. She pretended to wrestle with her and once she was in private, a white man rode by and Mary ran away. So Harriet just sang a song.

Pg 516-517

Harriet ran away one evening and tried to wade in streams. She went to the quakers house. The quaker told her she must go to the to the Hunns place. She gave the quaker her beautiful quilt. Pg. 518-519

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Harriet continued north all night. But when the sun started to rise, she had to dig a hole to climb into to stay out of sight and to rest. When the night came again, she got up and kept going. She knew that she had to go faster for her owner would send out slave hunters and bloodhounds to go after her. After a while, the river began to narrow until it was nothing but a few drops and then she saw the road. Harriet was just about to cross it when a sleep spell came. She fell to the dirt, unconscious. When she woke up, she heard slave hunters talking a bout a run-away girl.Crossing the Line

The men said that they should come back in early morning. Harriet should be at the Hunns before early morning. When she reached the Hunns she saw a woman. Harriet showed the woman the paper and the woman introduced herself. Her name was Eliza Hunn. Eliza introduced Harriet to her husband, Ezekiel Hunn. Harriet stayed there for 3 nights. The 4th night Eliza gave Harriet freshly washed clothes and a parcel of food. Mr Hunn helped her in the wagon and put a blanket over her head. 522

Mr.Hunn drove Harriet a little bit farther in her journey to a town named Camden. He stopped and couldnt take her on any farther. She had to go to Wilmington, Delaware with slave hunters around. She walked to the cemetery and saw a man like Mr.Hunn said, and he gave her some clothes and a hat to cover her scar to look like a worker. He brought her to another man who works in a shoe factory who gave her shoes and let her go into the house. 523

Harriet Tubman stayed in Thomass house all day he was a Quaker known for helping slaves . Since he worked in a shoe factory he always supplied runaways with a new pair of kicks. The next night Thomas gave Harriet new fancy lady cloths to wear then they were in a carriage going through town nobody would think she was a runaway slave in that kind of clothing. He gave her a piece of paper with the writing Pennsylvania he knew she could not read but he said there would be a sign that said exactly what he wrote on the paper. But there were guards everywhere near the border of Pennsylvania so he did not bring her all the way through once she walked through the gates she knew she would be free. When she walked through she was happy for a moment then she realized that she would one day go back and get her family and free them from enslavement!

524- 526