Historical Women Of Leadership

How Harriet Tubman Taught Independence As a Leader

20 Feb 2011 Comments Off

by Lavernein Harriet Tubman Tags: Harriet Tubman, Leadership, leadership lessons, leading a team, self respect

One of the many leadership lessons that Harriet Tubman exemplified was enabling self-respect within the slaves she helped free. She realized that it was not sufficient to simply free slaves. This would have left them no better off, and perhaps worse off than they were before they were freed.

This leadership lesson was best demonstrated after she helped free slaves while on a mission along the Combahee River as the leader of a Union Army expedition to:

“… take up the torpedoes placed by the rebels in the river, to destroy railroads and bridges, and to cut off supplies from the rebel troops.”

The expedition included Colonel Montgomery, who was an auxilliary leader of the mission, though officially appointed to lead the mission and several hundred black soldiers.

The Commonwealth, a Boston newspaper, noted this in 1863 about Harriet Tubman’s leadership during the raid:

“It is significant as the only military engagement in American history wherein a woman black or white, “led the raid and under whose inspiration it was originated and conducted”. Keep reading