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Primary sourceBook1869

Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman

Sarah H. Bradford · 1869

An 1869 biography of Harriet Tubman written by Sarah Bradford, based on Tubman's own account of her life.

This early biography records Tubman's own account of her life, making it a vital primary source for her archive.

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About this source

What it is

This is a book titled Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman, written by Sarah H. Bradford and published in 1869 in Auburn, New York. It was based on accounts Tubman herself gave to the author.

Why it matters

This book is one of the earliest written records of Tubman's life, created to help her secure financial support. Because it comes directly from Tubman's own retelling, historians treat it as an important primary source for understanding her experiences, even though it was written down by someone else.

Look closer

  • Why might Bradford have written this book to help Tubman, according to the introduction?
  • What might be gained or lost when someone else writes down a person's life story instead of the person writing it themselves?
  • What does the book's purpose (raising support) tell you about Tubman's circumstances at the time?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Harriet Tubman on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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