In the early 1830s, the term "Underground Railroad" came into use as the system that led enslaved African Americans to freedom. Harriet Tubman was one of the most well-known "conductors" on the railroad who helped hundreds of others to escape slavery once she herself had escaped. As an abolitionist, suffragist, Civil War nurse, commander, and freedom agent, Tubman’s contribution to the causes of universal freedom and equality ranks her among the nation’s most significant agents of change.
After the war, Tubman received a widow’s pension, later petitioning Congress for additional benefits for her own service to the U.S. Army. Her claim was eventually successful, and she received an increase to her pension to twenty-five dollars per month.
Among its vast holdings, the National Archives keeps materials relating to the Underground Railroad; the pension claim and supporting documents that Harriet Tubman submitted to Congress; and the bill granting the increase of her pension, along with a wealth of resources documenting the African American experience and women’s history.
