“Harriet Tubman” by Eloise Greenfield

“Harriet Tubman” by Eloise Greenfield  (with lines numbered)

We will answer Questions 1 through 10 in class. 

Harriet Tubman 
by Eloise Greenfield 

1 Harriet Tubman didn’t take no stuff 
2 Wasn’t scared of nothing neither 
3 Didn’t come in this world to be no slave 
4 And wasn’t going to stay one either 

5 “Farewell!” she sang to her friends one night 
6 She was mighty sad to leave ‘em 
7 But she ran away that dark, hot night 
8 Ran looking for her freedom 

9 She ran to the woods and she ran through the woods 
10 With the slave catchers right behind her 
11 And she kept on going till she got to the North 
12 Where those mean men couldn’t find her. 

13 Nineteen times she went back South 
14 To get three hundred others 
15 She ran for her freedom nineteen times 
16 To save Black sisters and brothers 

17 Harriet Tubman didn’t take no stuff 
18 Wasn’t scared of nothing neither 
19 Didn’t come in this world to be no slave 
20 And didn’t stay one either 

21 And didn’t stay one either 


1) What does didn’t take no stuff mean as it is used in Line 1 of “Harriet Tubman?” 
a. didn’t steal 
b. wasn’t tolerant 
c. wasn’t honest 
d. wasn’t brave 

2) Which statement best supports the answer to Part A? 
a. Ran looking for her freedom 
b. Kept on going till she got to the North 
c. Nineteen times she went back South 
d. But she ran away that dark, hot night. 

3) Harriet Tubman seems determined to escape slavery. 
    What shows her determination to escape? 
a. She left her friends. 
b. She ran away on a hot night. 
c. She was chased by the slave catches while she was running away. d. She wasn’t afraid of anything. 

4) Which statement best supports the answer to the previous question? 
a. “’Farewell!’ she sang to her friends one night.” 
b. “…She ran through the woods, with the slave catchers right behind her.” 
c. “She ran for her freedom nineteen times.” 
d. “But she ran away that dark, hot night” 

5) What detail best supports the answer above? 
a. “dark, hot night” 
b. “stay one either” 
c. “mighty sad” 
d. “mean men” 

6). What literary device does the poet use throughout the poem? 
a. Rhyme 
b. Metaphor 
c. Repetition 
d. Alliteration 

7) What literary device does the author use in the first and last stanzas?
a. Simile 
b. Metaphor 
c. Repetition 
d. Alliteration 

8) In what century was Harriet Tubman born?
a. 1700s
b. 1800s
c. 1900s
d. 2000s

9) What secret network did Harriet Tubman use?
a. morse code
b. invisibility cloak
c. Underground Railroad
d. the dark web

10) Abolitionist would
a. help Harriet
b. arrest Harriet
c. turn Harriet over to slave catchers
d. kill Harriet