Note from Frederick Douglass to Harriet Tubman

After the passage of the 13th Amendment work on the Underground Railroad was done. Black abolitionists like William Still who had kept track of most of the runaway slaves Harriet Tubman and others had brought his way. Still, kept a written record that would surely have gotten him some serious jail time for logging all the stolen property (slaves) he was able to gather their family information from. William Still was one of the few who knew that Harriet Tubman's life had been spared by a sickness that left her unable to accompany John Brown on his ill-fated raid at Harpers Ferry West Virginia.

Frederick Douglass too, was aware of Harriet's risky walks in the dark to transport slaves willing to buy their freedom with their lives and follow Harriet. Douglass and other abolitionists had contributed to the purchase of new shoes for Harriet, and some of those she was shepherding so that they could complete their journey to Canada. William Still would eventually turn all of the information he collected, interviewing runaway slaves, into a book (The Underground Railroad by William Still) that I check out of the library when I was doing my research for my Juneteenth video presentation.

Sarah Hopkins Bradford chronicled Harriet's life story in her book titled Scenes in the life of Harriet Tubman. When the manuscript about Harriet Tubman was complete Harriet wrote to one of her long-time abolitionist friends, Frederick Douglass, to request his testimonial about some of Harriet's exploits on the Underground Railroad. In August of 1868, Frederick Douglass wrote the following letter to Harriet Tubman.




"Dear Harriet---I am glad to know that the story of your eventful life has been written by a kind lady and that the same is soon to be published. You ask for what you do not need when you call upon me for a word of commendation. 

I need such words from you far more than you can need them from me, especially where your superior labors and devotion to the cause of the lately enslaved of our land are known as I know them. The difference between us is very marked. 

Most that I have done and suffered in the service of our cause has been in public, and I have received much encouragement at every step of the way. You, on the other hand, have labored in a private way. I have wrought in the day – you in the night. 

I have had the applause of the crowd and the satisfaction that comes of being approved by the multitude, while the most that you have done has been witnessed by a few trembling, scarred, and foot-sore bondmen and women, whom you have led out of the house of bondage, and whose heartfelt, “God bless you,” has been your only reward. 

The midnight sky and the silent stars have been the witnesses of your devotion to freedom and of your heroism. Excepting John Brown – of sacred memory – I know of no one who has willingly encountered more perils and hardships to serve our enslaved people than you have. Much that you have done would seem improbable to those who do not know you as I know you. 

It is, to me, a great pleasure and a great privilege to bear testimony for your character and your works, and to say to those to whom you may come, that I regard you in every way truthful and trustworthy."

Your friend,

Frederick Douglass.