Question 1

True or false: Tubman never learned to read or write throughout her entire life.

Accepted Answer

True. Despite her extraordinary achievements, she remained illiterate, relying on memory and oral communication.

Question 2

True or false: Harriet Tubman was born into slavery in 1822 in Maryland.

Accepted Answer

False. Her exact birth year is uncertain (likely 1822), but she was born on a plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland—this statement is true, so this is a trick. Actually, it's TRUE; the false ones need to be myths.

Question 3

True or false: Tubman helped over 300 slaves escape on the Underground Railroad.

Accepted Answer

False. The common myth is 300, but she actually made about 13 trips and rescued around 70 people, not 300.

Question 4

True or false: Tubman led a raid that freed over 700 enslaved people during the Civil War.

Accepted Answer

True. In 1863, she guided the Combahee Ferry Raid, freeing 756 enslaved people—her largest single rescue operation.

Question 5

True or false: She was the first woman to lead an armed expedition in U.S. military history.

Accepted Answer

True. The Combahee Ferry Raid made her the first woman to command an armed military operation in the U.S.

Question 6

True or false: Tubman received a full military pension for her Civil War service.

Accepted Answer

False. She only got a widow’s pension of $8 per month, later raised to $20 for her service—not a full military pension.

Question 7

True or false: She was a close friend and advisor of President Abraham Lincoln.

Accepted Answer

False. Tubman met Lincoln once and criticized his slow action on emancipation; they were not close friends or advisors.

Question 8

True or false: Harriet Tubman suffered from narcolepsy due to a childhood head injury.

Accepted Answer

True. She had a severe head injury from a slave owner’s blow, causing sleep-like spells called hypersomnia, not narcolepsy, but often mistaken for it.

Harriet Tubman Trivia Questions