Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) was an American abolitionist best known for her association with the Underground Railroad, the secret network of safehouses run by abolitionist activists to help slaves escape to free states, territories, and British North America (now Canada). Originally named Araminta Ross, she was born into slavery. After she escaped in 1849, she personally led an estimated 70 others to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, she was a nurse, scout, and spy for the Union army. Later she was an activist for women’s suffrage and established the Harriet Tubman Home for the Elderly. More information about her life can be found here.

This illustration was created for Learning A-Z as part of a larger project. I used black and white photographs as references, but the quality of the surviving images were not ideal.

Have you ever noticed that in the earliest black and white photos, the subjects always had very serious, sometimes even unpleasant, expressions on their faces? This is because early film wasn’t very light sensitive and required the subjects to stay perfectly still for a fairly long time. Sometimes for several minutes. Sometimes in bright sunlight. It’s difficult to hold a smile that long, so they usually didn’t. The reference photos I had of Tubman all left me with the impression that she was perpetually annoyed. But, since that’s probably the fault of the photographic technology rather than a true reflection of reality, I toned it down quite a bit. Still, I didn’t want to go too far and make her smiley instead. I settled for something fairly neutral.