LEARNING FROM HARRIET TUBMAN’S LEADERSHIP SKILLS
By Dr. Lois Semenye
Photo by Zulmaury Saavedra
How can you select one woman from the poll of many leaders? There were some remarkable women who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in the past. However, I choose Harriet Tubman because she stands out to me as a marginalized woman who was able to beat all the odds and make history. She was a woman who showed great courage, not because she had formal education but because she relied upon God. From her story, we can learn a lot.
Harriet Tubman was born to enslaved parents Benjamin and Harriet Ross, and she was the fifth child of nine siblings. Harriet never enjoyed her childhood as she was hired as a housekeeper and later as a nanny in various slave masters’ houses. Harriet did not attend formal school, but her father taught her skills that were useful in her rescue missions, especially the underground railroad operations and a military raid in June 1863 during the American Civil War.
Harriet’s original name was Araminta Ross and was changed after fleeing to freedom in Philadelphia. But as a free woman, she could not forget her relatives and friends who were still slaves in Maryland. She did not have peace when others were slaves. She therefore started rescue missions which totaled 13 and she aided over 70 slaves to freedom. These missions were very dangerous and yet she was courageous and risked her own life to rescue others.
Through Harriet’s life which was full of challenges and agonies, a lot can be learned about leadership. Her experiences ranged from being a slave girl (she had no experience of childhood), two marriages, fleeing to freedom, becoming a liberator of slaves, and leading a military army. All this earned her the name Moses, from her namesake who led Israelites out of slavery.
Leadership Lessons:
1. Resilient
Harriet never gave up through many dangers. She suffered a severe head injury when a slave master threw an object at another slave but it harmed Harriet instead. The incident drew her close to the Lord as she looked to Him for healing.
2. Worshipper
Harriet gave praises to the Lord despite the difficult and challenging life she lived.
3. Strategist
Harriet organized the fleeing of slaves on a Saturday evening to give time for escapees to flee before the next newspaper was printed on Monday that would announce their escape. On Sunday papers were not printed which would have covered the story of the fleeing slaves and a search would have started sooner.
4. Witty & Wise
Harriet was wise to foresee the future. She changed her name and sometimes disguised herself as an elderly woman or man so that she could pursue her vision.
5. Talented
Harriet utilized the many skills that she learned along the way. These included skills as a nurse, scout and spy.
6. Communicator
Without cell phones, Harriet was able to communicate the secrets about freeing and fleeing slaves using coded information, including through songs as she varied her tone and tempo.
7. Courageous Self-denial
Harriet took risks not once but thirteen times to go back to where if caught it could jeopardize her life. She thought of those in need and no matter what, she was ready to face the consequences.
8. Agile Learner
Although Harriet did not receive formal education, she acquired skills by observation and especially from her father. She was able to apply these in many ways.
9. Visional Leader
Harriet by faith bought land where she built a home for elderly people who had come out of slavery too. She did not have money to purchase the land and develop it, but she believed that God was able to provide the necessary funds. Interestingly, she died while living in that dream home that she trusted God to provide.
10. Informed Leader
Harriet kept up with the knowledge of what the Southern Slave Masters were doing. For example, she learned that they wanted to repossess the runaway slaves in Philadelphia. Harriet then took another bold step and had the former slaves relocated to Canada.
Harriet was a leader with vision who focused and executed strategies that resulted in a better life for freed slaves. There is no indication that she was self-seeking. Rather, she was self-giving and self-sacrificing. What a leader to emulate!
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. In your observation of Harriet Tubman’s leadership skills, what are the basic skills you think we need to have to execute what God is putting on our hearts?
2. What are some excuses we give that lead to us not doing these projects or ministries?
3. What do you think were some legitimate excuses Harriet might have been able to give to not carry out this ministry of freeing slaves?
4. What hinders you from fulfilling what God is asking you to do, and what would help you to overcome these things?
CITATIONS
1. DeRusha, Michelle. 2014. 50 Women Every Christian Should Know: Learning from Heroines of the Faith. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
2. Larson Clifford, Kate. 2004. Harriet Tubman – Portrait of an American Hero Bound for the Promised Land. New York: Ballantine Books.