The story of Mary Tibbit

The story of Mary Tibbit

Mary Tibbit was a black slave. Like 300,000 other Africans between 1636 and 1808, she was brought from Africa to North America on a cargo ship. Conditions on board were inhuman and several slaves died during the voyage which took many months.

When at last the ship arrived at Newport, Rhode Island, on February 19^th, 1774, Mary was sold to a plantation owner in South Carolina. She was put to work in the cotton fields. She lived in a windowless one-room slave house with her husband and child and many other slaves. She was not allowed to learn to read or write or to leave the plantation without a pass.

Then, in 1787, she was sold again, without her husband or her small son. She was sent to work 'down the river' on an enormous sugar plantation in Louisiana. A year later she died of malaria, exhaustion and despair.

This text is about Harriet Tubman, a famous leader in the struggle against racism:

 During the nineteenth century, abolitionists in Boston and throughout the North used the personal experiences of former slaves to expose the brutalities of American slavery. One of the most famous former slaves, who became a leader in the struggle against racism and brutality, was Harriet Tubman. A conductor on the underground railroad, Harriet Tubman led over 200 slaves to freedom; her bravery, determination, and vigilance symbolize the significance of African-American resistance in the struggle for American equality.

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