You probably think you know her. Most of us grew up with a very specific, almost saint-like image of Harriet Tubman. She's the "Moses of her people," the brave woman in the headscarf leading people through the woods at night. But honestly, the version we get in school is often a bit... watered down. If you've ever picked up a copy of I Am Harriet Tubman by Brad Meltzer for your kids, you've seen how she's portrayed as a pint-sized hero with a "superpower" of bravery.
It’s a great book. It really is. It focuses on the idea that "ordinary people change the world." But the real, historical Harriet? She was way more complex—and frankly, way more of a "badass"—than the children’s version can fully capture.
What I Am Harriet Tubman Gets Right (and What It Simplifies)
Brad Meltzer’s book is part of a massive series meant to teach kids about character. It hits the big beats: her birth as Araminta Ross, the brutal reality of slavery in Maryland, and her eventual escape to Philadelphia. It’s effective because it uses a conversational, comic-book style that makes a heavy subject feel approachable.
But here is the thing.
When we talk about Harriet Tubman, we often skip the parts that make her feel human. We skip the fact that she lived with a severe, permanent disability. We skip the part where she was basically a special forces operative for the Union Army. The book I Am Harriet Tubman touches on her courage, but the depth of her physical and mental struggle is where the real story lives.
The disability nobody talks about enough
When Harriet was a teenager, an overseer threw a two-pound metal weight at another enslaved person who was trying to run away. It missed the target and smashed into Harriet’s head.
Her skull was literally crushed.
She never fully recovered. For the rest of her life, she suffered from what we’d now call post-traumatic narcolepsy or temporal lobe epilepsy. She would just... fall asleep. Right in the middle of a conversation. Or, more dangerously, right in the middle of a rescue mission while hiding from slave catchers.
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Imagine that. You’re deep in the woods, the woods are crawling with men who want to kill you or drag you back to a nightmare, and your brain just shuts off. She didn't have "dreams" in the way we do; she had vivid, often terrifying hallucinations and seizures that she interpreted as direct communications from God.
The myth of the 300 people
If you look at older history books, they often say Harriet Tubman rescued 300 people. You'll see this number everywhere.
Actually, it's not true.
Historian Kate Clifford Larson, who wrote the definitive biography Bound for the Promised Land, clarifies that Harriet personally led about 70 people to freedom over 13 trips. Now, does that make her less of a hero? Absolutely not. Honestly, it makes her more of one.
She wasn't just a general leading a faceless crowd. She was going back for specific people. She went back for her brothers. She went back for her elderly parents. Most of the people she rescued were her own family and friends from Dorchester County, Maryland. She was risking her life for the people she loved, which feels a lot more personal and, in a way, much scarier.
More than just a "Conductor"
Most people stop the story at the Underground Railroad. But the real Harriet Tubman was basically a 19th-century James Bond. During the Civil War, she wasn't just a nurse (though she did that too, using herbal medicine to treat smallpox).
She was a spy.
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She worked for the Union Army, scouting out Confederate positions because, let’s be real, who was going to suspect an enslaved woman of being a high-level military intelligence officer? In 1863, she became the first woman to lead an armed military raid in U.S. history.
It was the Combahee River Raid.
She didn't just lead a few people through the woods that night. She worked with Colonel James Montgomery to lead three steamboats full of Black Union soldiers. They dodged torpedoes (mines) that Harriet had scouted out earlier. They burned down plantations and liberated over 750 people in a single night.
That’s a movie. That’s not just a "friendly biography."
The "I Am Harriet Tubman" Legacy and What We Get Wrong
There's this weird habit we have of making historical figures feel "safe." We make them look like grandmothers.
But Harriet wasn't "safe." She was dangerous to a system that treated humans like property. She carried a pistol. And yeah, she famously told people she would use it on them if they got "weak-hearted" and tried to turn back during an escape. If one person turned back, they could be tortured into giving away the whole network.
She chose the hard path every single time.
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Why her name matters
She was born Araminta. "Minty." She changed her name to Harriet (her mother’s name) likely around the time she got married to John Tubman, a free Black man. Choosing her own name was one of her first acts of self-liberation.
The $40,000 Reward
Another thing people get wrong: there was never a $40,000 reward for her capture. That’s a massive amount of money for the 1850s—millions in today’s dollars. The only documented reward was for $100. It doesn't sound like much, but for a runaway slave in 1849, it was a death warrant.
How to use this history today
If you’re reading I Am Harriet Tubman with your kids, or if you’re just trying to understand her better yourself, don't just focus on the "hero" part. Focus on the "despite" part.
- She did it despite a traumatic brain injury that caused her constant pain.
- She did it despite being unable to read or write.
- She did it despite having zero legal protections.
The real lesson isn't that she was a superhero. It's that she was a woman who was tired, in pain, and probably terrified, but she kept walking anyway.
Practical Next Steps for Learning More
If you want to go deeper than the picture books, here are three ways to actually engage with the real history:
- Read "Bound for the Promised Land" by Kate Clifford Larson. This is the gold standard. It clears up all the myths and gives you the gritty details of her life in Maryland.
- Visit the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park. It’s in Church Creek, Maryland. Standing in the same landscape where she hid in the marshes is a surreal experience.
- Research the Combahee River Raid. Look into the military records. It changes how you view her role in the Civil War from a "helper" to a "leader."
Harriet Tubman died in 1913, at nearly 91 years old. She lived long enough to see the end of slavery, the rise of Jim Crow, and the beginning of the women's suffrage movement (which she was also heavily involved in). She was a survivor in every sense of the word.
When you say "I am Harriet Tubman," you aren't just saying you're brave. You're saying you have the grit to keep going when your own body and the entire world are telling you to stop.
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