Name:       Date:      

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

Ann Petry
DIRECTIONS: Complete the following items after you finish your first read.

1. Why do most slave escapes occur on Sundays?

     

     

2. How does Harriet Tubman signal to others that she has arrived to help them?

     

     

3. What would happen if plantation owners were to catch the fugitive slaves?

     

     

4. When Tubman and the fugitives arrive at a farmhouse where Tubman had stayed
before, why does the man there slam the door in her face?

     

     

5. To confirm your understanding, write a summary of “Harriet Tubman: Conductor

on the Underground Railroad.”
     

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 Name:       Date:      

RESEARCH

Research to Clarify Choose at least one unfamiliar detail from the biography.
Briefly research that detail. In what way does the information you learned shed
light on an aspect of the selection?
Research to Explore Choose something from the selection that interests you, and
formulate a research question.

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad

Ann Petry
DIRECTIONS: Respond to these questions. Use textual evidence to support your
responses.

1. Draw Conclusions Who is “Moses” that is spoken of in paragraphs 1 and 2? What

clues later in the story help you to identify “Moses?”

     

     

     

     

2. (a) Analyze What different types of details does Petry use to develop Tubman’s
character? (b) Infer Describe Tubman’s character, based on these details.

     

     

     

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3. Interpret What does Tubman mean by this observation: “We got to go free or die.
And freedom’s not bought with dust.”

     

     

     

     

4. (a) Why does Harriet Tubman point a loaded rifle at one of the runaway slaves?
(b) Make a Judgment Was Tubman justified in her actions? Why or why not?

     

5. (a) Synthesize Why did Tubman repeatedly risk her life in order to help others? (b)
Infer Do you think Tubman was hoping for fame or reward? Why or why not?

     

     

     

     

6. Essential Question: When is it right to take a stand? What have you learned from
this selection about people who take stands?

     

     
     

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