Title:
North American English Pronunciation - /m/ "Harriet
Tubman" Reading
Description: See
below.
Description:
Harriet Tubman is something of an icon in the abolitionist
movement of the United States. The "abolitionist movement"
is the name of the American movement to end slavery and
emancipate all people. Harriet's maternal grandmother
Modesty came to the United States from the area of
modern-day Ghana. Her father was manumitted, or released
from slavery because of his age, and continued to work as a
timber estimator and foreman for the same family. Harriet
Tubman was also sold as a slave in Dorchester County
Maryland where she was born Arminta, or "Minty", Ross. It
was a custom for families to change masters and separate and
Arminta Tubman had a many as four different masters who sold
her mother. As she matured, she was beaten by her many
masters and survived a traumatic head wound caused by a
heavy metal weight that her master threw at her. Amazingly,
it was this head injury that gave her the dream-like visions
and hyperinsomnia that made her an abolitionist. She claimed
the dreams allowed her to receive premonitions from God
about her membership in the growing movement towards
emancipation.
Arminta escaped her masters in Marlyland and moved to
Pennsylvania. Only five percent of slaves who made the brave
move to runaway actually completed the trip. For many years,
small militias working for the farms where runaway slaves
worked would comb the woods and swamps on horseback looking
for them. If you were a slave in those days, you may have
felt there was nothing you could do. But Arminta made the
attempt and immediately came back to Maryland on a brave
mission to rescue her family. By coming to a state without
slavery, a slave could have freedom at last. To return to
the farm from which they came sometimes meant death or maybe
a multitude of punishments. But, Tubman came back many times
and claimed to have used her premonitions from God to guide
others to freedom. She made the escape into an art, making
many friends secretly in favor of the movement. The runaway
slaves moved at night in small groups monitored only by the
positions of the stars. Arminta commanded many of these
groups and made arrangements for them to sleep in the homes
of the members of the movement. This made the search teams
from the farms name the movement the "Underground Railroad"
because the members were very hard to find.
The American Abolitionist Movement, or the Underground
Railroad was maneuvered by many people, from freed blacks
like William Brinkley and Abraham Gibbs to prominent whites
such as John Brown and Thomas Garrett. Today, we say that
Harriet Tubman was the maker of this. She was a brave,
smart, and strong woman who gave freedom to thousands of
people, risking death every time.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the pronunciation section of English Global Group. This
video covers some very important points about English
pronunciation. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
