Maya+Tanner

=Name: My name is Camille Tanner. I am a slave on the Miller Plantation. I work on the fields picking cotton. I was born on June 2, 1839 in Columbia, South Carolina. I got married at the age of 17 to Lloyd Simms. I have two children named London and Cayden. I have been a slave since I was five years old. I was separated from my parents when I was six. They were sold to another plantation in Charleston and I have not seen them since then. I am hoping to get a trip to freedom someday. I've heard so many things about the trips and I'm so interested in it. I would really like to go on it because I'm sick of living this life on the plantation. I'm sick of being treated like a animal. Blacks should'nt be treated like this, we should be treated equal to whites because we are people just like them. Everyday in order get through, I think of the saying, "what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger". Well I guess that mentally, I must be stronger than a body builder.=

=A page from the journal of a slave.= = =

Entry Number 1: Who is Harriet Tubman and what do I think of her?
Dear Diary,

Harriet Tubman was an abolitionist, humanitarian, and she was a Union spy during the American Civil War. She was born in 1820 in Dorchester, Maryland. She had many nicknames such as Moses, Hattie and Minty. She was whipped by various plantation owners. Early in her life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when she was hit by a heavy metal weight thrown by an irate slave owner, intending to hit another slave.he injury caused disabling seizures, headaches, powerful visionary and dream activity, and spells of hypersomnia which occurred throughout her entire life. A devout Christian, she ascribed her visions and vivid dreams to premonitions from God. She escaped from the plantation on which she was born on, then came back to help many others. She uses a system called the Underground Railroad. There are many other helpers who hold "safe houses" for the runaways to go to. To let the slaves know she was near by, she sang old spirituals from the bible such as,"Go Down Moses". Every trip to freedom has been a success so far. Large rewards were offered for the capture and return of many of the people she helped escape, but no one ever knew it was Harriet Tubman who was helping them. When a far-reaching United States Fugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, she helped guide fugitives farther north into Canada, and helped newly freed slaves find work. She has helped many runaways to get to they're freedom land safely. She used disguises such as; an old man, and an old woman. She kept powder to keep babies from crying and a gun to prevent slaves from wanting to go back. She feared that they would be beaten until they told where she was. Around 1844 she married a man named John Tubman. After wedding, she changed her name from Araminta to Harriet, as a religious conversion. She was a very religious person. She always prayed before she did anything. When she made the trips to freedom she always prayed before knocking on each door of her helpers because of the fear of it being someone else she did not know. She has helped many slaves to get freedom. In my opinion, what she is doing is great. I've heard so many things about her and I hope someday I will get to expirence the way the runaways feel when they reach they're destination. By helping the slaves escape, it shows that she has a kind-heart, and that she is far from being selfish. I think she will still be remembered years from now.

Harriet Tubman probably in front of her home in Auburn, New York in 1911. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-02909

Entry Number 2: Fredrick Douglass
Dear Diary,

Fredrick Douglass was an albolitionist, author, editor, and a diplomat. He was born Febuary 14, 1818 ub Takbit Ciybty, Maryland. He died Febuary 20, 1895 at the age of 77. He was told his father was white and that his mother was a slave. He read books, magazines, and newspapers and political materials. As a free man, he taught other slaves on the plantation how to read the //__New Testament__// at a weekly [|Sabbath school]. He made and credited many books. He credited //[|The Columbian Orator]//, which he discovered when he was tweleve, with clarifying and defining his views on freedom and human rights. He is known for writing his autobiography, //__The Narrative Of the Life Of Fredrick Douglass,__// In 1837, he met Ann Murray, a free black. They got married and soon after he was free. He had attempted to escape from the plantation once before, but it was an unsuccessful attempt. But in September 3, 1838, he successfully escaped by boarding a train, dressed in a salor's uniform. He helped on the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman. In my opinion, Fredrick Douglass is a wonderful man. He is smart, and caring of others. He will be remembered in the future.

Frederick Douglass, [|c.]1879. ||
 * = **Frederick Douglass** ||
 * = [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Frederick_Douglass_portrait.jpg/225px-Frederick_Douglass_portrait.jpg width="225" height="323" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frederick_Douglass_portrait.jpg"]]

Entry Number 3: What is the Underground Railroad, and what do I think about it?
Dear Diary,

The Underground Railroad was a secret passage way to freedom. It had many helpers and safe houses for the runaways to go to. It was what every slave dreamed of at night. The one thing a slave thought about day and night, escaping the terrible life they were living. It was started in the early 1850's by Harriet Tubman. She had many helpers such as Fredrick Douglass, who kept a record of the 11 fugitives who escaped slavery. Harriet Tubman is a fearless woman who was inspired by her expirence in slavery. I'm glad she created this road to freedom because if she didnt then most slaves would've never known what freedom felt like. And slavery might haven't been abolished because of this. This created quakers who helped with the Underground Railroad. I think that it is a wonderful thing. I would like to take a trip to freedom on the Underground Railroad one day to escape this living condition. It will be remembered in history years from now for its importance and its mark it left in history.



1. How does one's understanding of slavery affect his understanding of the people and events of the 1850s and 1860s?
It would affect his understanding of the people because the more or less they know, the more they care and hate or love the idea of it. For example; if a man hated slavery and everything about it, he would most likely think that the people in slavery were good people. And that they didnt know any better because they were brought to the country under false circumstances. He would think that there were some people who tried to rebel and escape slavery. But the person who loved slavery and everything about it would think that the people were stupid and shoudl've been slaves because of there extreme stupiditiy. He would say these things because whatever the person thinks about slavery is the way they think about the people who were in slavery.

2. Why would slavery ever be condoned in the United States?
In my opinion, it was because they got tired of using whites as slaves. So, they went to Africa to pursuad us blacks to come to America. The whites refused to be kept as slaves and indentured servants. The Americans needed money from their crops, and they were too lazy to do it themselves.

3. Was the Civil War the only means to end slavery in the United States?
No, actually there was slavery after the Civil War. Believe it or not the whites still had control over blacks. The blacks were to poor and needed money. Some blacks didnt know that slavery was over and stayed on the plantations for years after the war. The whites still went to africa to get slaves

4. What are some of the long-term effects of slavery that are linked to the people and events of the past?
A long-term effect of slavery would be racism, and prejudice. They are the two essential effects of slavery. Segreggation was an effect of the war. There were many anti-black groups. A big one was the Klu Klux Klan(K.K.K). They still exist today, but they arent feared as much as they were years ago. Slavery will always be remembered and it still effects us today.