Tag Archives: slavery

Harriet Tubman’s Canadian Hometown

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Harriet Tubman is an international hero. Her story continues to inspire countless around the globe, including Triston, a boy from Dutch Sint Maarten in the Caribbean. Triston and I are on the same trip to Canada with the little league group I help coach.

Hi my name is Triston and I’m a baseball player. I’m 9 years old. I’m in Canada with my team for pleasure and learning.

harriet tubman

Today I visited the Harriet Tubman school statue. I also saw the Underground Railroad and St. Catherines Heritage Church.

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The statue is located in the  Harriet Tubman School. It is her in a chair. My team and I surrounded the statue and took a picture. To escape slavery she followed the North Star. She was a courageous woman. The men dressed as women and the women dressed as men to escape slavery.

church

At the church there are readings about how she escaped slavery. One of them shows where and when she was born. She was born in Maryland and was born in 1820. She died in 1913.

harriet tubman bust

Peg Leg Joe taught them the song ‘Follow the Drinking Gourd’. In the song explained where the Big Dipper and the North Star was. They jumped from trees to trees and lakes to lakes. The reason they jumped to trees to trees is because there were tracks on them. They swam because the dogs they sent can’t sniff in water. At night they followed the North Star.

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Harriet Tubman helped slavery end.

Triston wrote this all by himself– from memory. He is our resident expert on Harriet Tubman! From his reading, he has memorized many important facts about her story, including dates, names, and places. Please take a minute to show encouragement to Triston by commenting, liking and sharing! He’ll be excited to see that other people enjoy his writing.

Read Adonis’ Article on the Ontario Science Centre

Read Theo’s article on Safari Niagara

Emancipation Day!

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Today is a huge national holiday on the island. It is Emancipation Day! On July 1, Sint Maarten celebrates the official end of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean.

Ironically, this is not the date of the true end of slavery. Slavery on the island ended in sometime in 1848, while the date we celebrate is July 1, 1863. Why is this? It’s actually a pretty interesting story.

Cane_cutters_in_Jamaica

In 1863, the French government abolished slavery. This meant that the northern half of Saint Martin gave freedom to their slaves, but the slaves on the southern Dutch side were still in bondage. Naturally, this caused the Dutch slaves to run across the border for freedom. Because this caused a massive disruption in the Dutch side’s productions, the Dutch slaveholders all agreed to release their slaves and pay them wages. Fifteen years later, the Dutch government officially decreed emancipation for all slaves in the Dutch Caribbean, which is what we celebrate today.

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There is a lot of fascinating history about slaves on Sint Maarten that is, unfortunately, not widely known or taught in history books. I only know bits and snatches about brave people making a break for freedom, maroons living in caves and eluding detection for years, and secret conversations in the very salt pond I drive past every day. If you have a chance, it’s worth looking up. I’d love to write historical fiction on some of these people someday, or read somebody else’s. If you any  good sources, please let me know in the comments.
Caribbean on Sale