Harriet Tubman escapes slavery

On September 17, 1849, Harriet Tubman and her brothers Ben and Henry fled the Poplar Neck plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland, after learning they were to be sold. Her brothers turned back, forcing Tubman to return. Weeks later, she escaped alone, traveling nearly 90 miles north through Delaware to Philadelphia using the Underground Railroad network of safe houses and abolitionist allies. After reaching freedom, Tubman returned to the South approximately 13 times over the following decade, guiding around 70 enslaved people to freedom along the same routes.