Feather
Home People Harriet Tubman I Had Crossed The Line I
Harriet Tubman - placeholder

"I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land."

— Harriet Tubman

I Had Crossed The Line I

I had crossed the line. I was free; but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.

— Harriet Tubman
freedom journey loneliness

About this quote

This passage appears in Sarah Bradford's Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman (1869), describing the emotional reality of Tubman's own escape to Pennsylvania in 1849. Despite reaching legal freedom, she found herself alone, without family or community, in an unfamiliar place. The phrase "a stranger in a strange land" — a biblical allusion to Exodus 2:22 — reflects Tubman's deep familiarity with scripture and her awareness that geographical freedom was only the beginning of liberation.

Source

Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman by Sarah Bradford

I had reasoned this out in my mind; there was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death.
— Harriet Tubman
I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say - I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.
— Harriet Tubman
Twas not me, twas the Lord. I always told Him, I trust to you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect You to lead me, and He always did.
— Harriet Tubman
View all quotes by Harriet Tubman →