Harriet Tubman: 2 Lessons From Her Life, Women Can Do Anything

Harriet Tubman, Artwork by Susan E. Brooks

As a child I thought the Underground Railroad was a literal underground railroad, but instead, it was a series of secret trails and safe houses that Harriet Tubman and other abolitionists used to help the enslaved escape. Perhaps Colson Whitehead had the same ideas I did as a child.

Whitehead wrote a fictional account of the Underground Railroad in his Pulitzer Prize winning novel by that name. I listened to his book in which an actual underground railroad carried passengers from slavery to freedom. The realistic depictions of slavery paired with the subterranean railroad system gripped my imagination. If you enjoy a masterful story as I do, I recommend “The Underground Railroad.”

From history we know Harriet Tubman used a vast network of escape routes to lead around 300 slaves to freedom. How did she do it? What was her strength and what can we learn from her?

Hold Steady On to God

“I said to the Lord, I’m going to hold steady on to you, and I know you will see me through.”

—Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman’s faith was no Pollyanna faith. On the contrary, she found death to be more appealing than life without liberty. Her assertion that God would see her through was not an assumption nothing bad would ever happen. To her, God was not a rich daddy who would give her whatever she wanted as long as she behaved well. Instead, she held this crucial belief: God would be present with her, giving her the strength to face whatever she had to face in life and to do the tasks God had called her to do.

Harriet Tubman had a faith so strong she was willing to face death to free the enslaved. In the United States we know little of persecution. I once dined with a man who suffered imprisonment in the Middle East for his faith. He would tell you that the complaints Christians have here are nothing like persecution.

Instead of despairing when hardship comes or claiming persecution for our faith, we can look to the wisdom of Harriet Tubman who trusted God to see her through and continued working for justice and freedom in spite of true persecution.

Our job: Hold steady on to God. His promise: See us through.

Women Can Do Anything

Nicknamed Moses, Tubman led an attack during the Civil War which set 700 slaves free. In the war between the North and the South, she was the first woman ever to lead in battle. Tubman never lost a slave she guided. In spite of a sleeping sickness and illiteracy, she freed about 1000 enslaved people through the Underground Railroad and the Civil War assault. She also gave speeches in support of women’s suffrage, endured brain surgery without anesthetic, and lived to be 93.

Harriet Tubman seemed super-human, but she was not. Her overcoming faith enabled her to accomplish incredible feats of bravery and compassion. A woman who trusts God can do anything.