Harriet Tubman: Chapters 1–6

by Ann Petry
Harriet Tubman was born into slavery, escaped to freedom, and worked to liberate countless other enslaved people. Learn more about Tubman's life by reviewing these words from Ann Petry's acclaimed biography.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–18, Chapters 19–22
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. quell
    suppress or crush completely
    The local militia and Federal troops were called in to quell this unplanned and unrehearsed insurrection.
  2. ebb
    the outward flow of the tide
    In these streams the ebb and flow of the tide is visible for miles inland—hence the name Tidewater Maryland.
  3. manumit
    free from slavery or servitude
    If they were faithful and hardworking, the master would set them free, manumit them, when he died.
  4. covert
    secret or hidden
    This was said with a covert glance at the tiny new baby, Minta or Minty, who lay close by Old Rit’s side, in a corner of the cabin.
  5. recalcitrant
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
    To the slaves those words, sold South, sold down the river, carried the sound of doom. The master used it as a threat to recalcitrant slaves.
  6. insurrection
    organized opposition to authority
    Finally, he planned an insurrection, in which he and his followers were to kill all the white people in Charleston, South Carolina, and free the slaves.
  7. servile
    relating to or involving enslaved people
    Two slaves standing talking would be whipped. They might be plotting servile insurrection, those long hard words that meant death to the master, death to the slave, too.
  8. surreptitiously
    in a secretive manner
    The summers were warm, and there were creeks and inlets and streams in the nearby woods where they could catch fish, surreptitiously, of course, because they weren’t supposed to.
  9. bequeath
    leave or give, especially by will after one's death
    The Latin dictionary was the first of thirteen thousand volumes which he would eventually buy and, at his death, bequeath to the Boston Public Library.
  10. incur
    receive a specified treatment
    Years later, Theodore Parker incurred the wrath of the pro-slavery forces in the country.
  11. prophesy
    predict or reveal, as if through divine inspiration
    The other slaves were rather in awe of Ben because he could prophesy about the weather.
  12. philippic
    a speech of violent denunciation
    His original draft of the Declaration contained a “vehement philippic against Negro slavery.”
  13. interminable
    tiresomely long; seemingly without end
    It had seemed an interminable journey when the overseer brought her to Miss Susan’s in a wagon.
  14. refractory
    stubbornly resistant to authority or control
    Sometimes this short, straight-backed young girl hummed under her breath, or sang, while she hoed the corn or tugged on the reins when a refractory mule refused to budge.
  15. emancipation
    freeing someone from the control of another
    The subject of slavery was introduced because some of the counties, alarmed by the Nat Turner insurrection, had petitioned for the gradual emancipation of the slaves or for abolition of slavery.
Created on Wed Oct 14 19:48:14 EDT 2015 (updated Mon Jun 16 10:37:18 EDT 2025)

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