The Admirable Service of Harriet Tubman We Never Hear About in School
Students should learn about Harriet Tubman, “the veteran”
Learning black history requires removing the rose-colored glasses that portray American society as just. This is why it’s rare for students to learn about Black veterans in the classroom, as their stories are considered disruptive of traditional, whitewashed narratives. While we’ve seen a rise in critical race theory bans that prohibit teaching topics like race and racism, America has never adequately taught black history. Perhaps the only shift we’ve seen is that some have turned their book-burning ideology into legal precedent. While anti-literacy laws prohibited enslaved and free Black people from reading or writing, modern-day bans on black history hope to achieve the same goal of silencing black voices. So, before all their stories gets burnt to a crisp, let’s talk about a Black historical figure you should know more about— Harriet Tubman.
When most people think of Harriet Tubman, a former slave-born Araminta Ross, they often reflect on her efforts as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. Along with abolitionists, Tubman helped liberate numerous Black people from chattel slavery using a network of people who helped them to travel out of pro-slavery states. But the roux thickens. Not only did Harriet Tubman fight for the abolition of slavery, but she also became a suffragist who advocated for the advancement of Black Americans’ voting rights. White men who founded this country initially deprived Black people of full citizenship. These foundational injustices helped to shape the racial landscape we see today. As Nikole Hannah Jones wrote, “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true.”
Tubman lectured government representatives, hoping that “once the war was over, women and slaves alike would be granted the same rights as White men.” Well, we all know how that turned out. Black men got the right to vote with the passing of the 15th amendment, and White women got the right to vote with the passing of the 19th amendment, and many Black women had to wait and fight long after those bills passed into law to gain access to the ballot box. While Harriet Tubman became an unapologetic abolitionist and suffragist, her contributions to America transcend these valiant roles. Tubman fought in the Civil War alongside the Union army. Yet, growing up in the South, I never heard about her contributions or read about her service in any textbook. After asking Black women and men about their experiences, I discovered they knew little about Harriet Tubman, “the veteran.”
Did you know Harriet Tubman “became the first woman in American history to lead a military assault?” Black women have played a significant role in America’s armed forces, even though it’s hardly acknowledged. During the Revolutionary War, some Black women dressed as men and fought alongside American troops, though more Black people fought for the British during the conflict. However, during the Civil War, Black women fought for their freedom, and that’s what the narrative of Tubman’s military service brings to the table. See, she wasn’t fighting because White people told her to, nor did she blindly follow orders. Instead, Tubman had an agenda to use the war to advance Black people’s rights in America.
After three years of military service in the Union army, they only paid Tubman $200 for her troubles, “a fraction of what White male soldiers in similar roles received.” Although Tubman started as a nurse and worked as a cook, her role broadened as she became a key advisor to Col. James Montgomery. Her efforts led to “the successful Combahee Ferry Raid which freed more than 700 slaves in a chaotic scene,” in 1863. Union soldiers who accompanied Tubman set the plantation on fire, which forced Confederate soldiers to retreat.
Fact-checkers often bring up the fact that Harriet Tubman rescued less than 300 slaves using the Underground Railroad. The number was closer to 70. But sadly, critics rarely put this statement into context, emphasizing that Tubman rescued more Black people through military advancement than through the more strategic, slow-moving network of abolitionists. To think that Tubman only helped Black people or contributed to America in one way is to endorse a myth. Instead, folks have tried to whitewash her contributions in a blatant effort to take from her legacy without providing a comprehensive picture of what she accomplished.
We should acknowledge Harriet Tubman’s veteran service in the modern era. Her story speaks to Nikole Hannah Jones’ point about Black people fighting to make American values true. Black veterans, who fought not only for their country but for the liberation of Black people during the Civil War, made an extraordinary contribution to this country, and it’s past time we hear more about them.
If learning about Harriet Tubman’s experience as a veteran is controversial, then that only speaks to how far we have to go as a nation. If White children cannot feel comfortable learning about Black people’s history, they cannot learn about American history. Because, while traditionally left out, Black women like Harriet Tubman helped bring America closer to its founding principles.
References
Balkansky, A. (2020, June 16). Harriet Tubman: Conductor on The Underground Railroad: Headlines & Heroes. The Library of Congress. https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2020/06/harriet-tubman-conductor-on-the-underground-railroad/
Black women in the military: United States. NABMW. (n.d.). https://www.nabmw.org/history-of-black-women-in-the-milit
Fauzia, M. (2020, July 21). Fact check: Harriet Tubman helped free slaves for the Underground Railroad, but not 300. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/07/21/fact-check-harriet-tubman-helped-free-slaves-but-not-many-300/5472914002/
Hannah-Jones, N., Elliott, M., Hughes, J., & Silverstein, J. (2019). The 1619 project: New York Times Magazine, August 18, 2019. New York Times.
Jones, M. S. (2020, August 7). For black women, the 19th amendment didn’t end their fight to vote. History. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/black-women-continued-fighting-for-vote-after-19th-amendment
Nast, T., Waud, A. R., Stephens, H. L., Taylor, J. E., Hoover, J., Crane, G. F., & White, E. (1998, February 9). The African American Odyssey: A Quest for Full Citizenship Reconstruction and its aftermath. Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african-american-odyssey/reconstruction.html
Overview of women’s suffrage in the United States. (n.d.-b). https://tag.rutgers.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Overview-of-US-Women-Suffrage-4.pdf
Schwartz, S. (2024b, August 28). Map: Where critical race theory is under attack. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06
The Combahee Ferry Raid. National Museum of African American History and Culture. (2017, May 10). https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/combahee-ferry-raid
Waxman, O. B. (2020, August 17). When did black women get the right to vote? suffrage history. Time. https://time.com/5876456/black-women-right-to-vote/
Voting rights for African Americans: The right to vote: Elections: Classroom materials at the Library of Congress: Library of Congress. The Library of Congress. (n.d.). https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/elections/right-to-vote/voting-rights-for-african-americans/
Originally published November 12, 2021, in ZORA.
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Excellent!
The link to the CRT ban page is broken.