“Wanted, dead or alive for stealing slaves; Harriet “Moses” Tubman, $40,000 reward; Negro slave about 5 feet tall, scars on her neck and a deep scar on her forehead. Plain woman of short stature, upper front teeth missing, with a habit of abruptly falling asleep. Looks harmless but she carries a pistol.”
The image shown above is a wanted-poster for Harriet Tubman. The poster identifies what Tubman looks like and offers a $40,000 reward to the person who captures and returns her. This poster was written and created by her masters from the plantation that she escaped from. Her reward slowly accumulated over time and hit $40,000 in 1856 (14), which states that this poster was put up in 1856.
I chose this poster for my primary source analysis because this was one of the underlying causes of the Civil War. The South hated when their slaves escaped, not only because they were losing valuable people, but also because many fugitives tended to speak out about the cruelties of the South and were abolitionists. Harriet Tubman didn’t speak out, she returned to the South and helped other slaves escape 19 times (14). Because of this, the South despised Tubman. The $40,000 reward then is worth about $1,000,000 today. This shows how much the South wanted for Tubman to be captured and how much they were willing to pay. Harriet Tubman was one of the causes that provoked the Civil War. Her actions resulted in the tension between the North and South to rise.
The image shown above is a wanted-poster for Harriet Tubman. The poster identifies what Tubman looks like and offers a $40,000 reward to the person who captures and returns her. This poster was written and created by her masters from the plantation that she escaped from. Her reward slowly accumulated over time and hit $40,000 in 1856 (14), which states that this poster was put up in 1856.
I chose this poster for my primary source analysis because this was one of the underlying causes of the Civil War. The South hated when their slaves escaped, not only because they were losing valuable people, but also because many fugitives tended to speak out about the cruelties of the South and were abolitionists. Harriet Tubman didn’t speak out, she returned to the South and helped other slaves escape 19 times (14). Because of this, the South despised Tubman. The $40,000 reward then is worth about $1,000,000 today. This shows how much the South wanted for Tubman to be captured and how much they were willing to pay. Harriet Tubman was one of the causes that provoked the Civil War. Her actions resulted in the tension between the North and South to rise.