Harriet Tubman: Chapters 13–18

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. infidelity
    the quality of being unfaithful
    Up until the time of Harriet’s discovery of John Tubman’s infidelity, she had been guiding escaping slaves to the North and freedom largely because she wanted to rescue members of her own family.
  2. impromptu
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    Shadrach, the runaway slave, was outside the courthouse before the police officers, who were guarding him, were aware that they had just watched an impromptu and wonderfully effective rescue party at work.
  3. stringent
    demanding strict attention to rules and procedures
    Yet she decided that she would not permit this new and stringent law to interfere with her plan to keep guiding slaves out of Dorchester County.
  4. prescience
    the power to foresee the future
    She had always had the makings of a legend in her: the prodigious strength, the fearlessness, the religious ardor, the visions she had in which she experienced moments of prescience.
  5. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    The man who stood in the doorway looked at her coldly, looked with unconcealed astonishment and fear at the eleven disheveled runaways who were standing near her.
  6. mutinous
    characterized by a rebellion against authority
    She waited for the moment when some one of them would turn mutinous.
  7. eloquence
    powerful and effective language
    She told them about Frederick Douglass, the most famous of the escaped slaves, of his eloquence, of his magnificent appearance.
  8. cryptic
    having a secret or hidden meaning
    She could not read or write. So she had a friend write a cryptic letter to a free Negro, Jacob Jackson, who lived near the plantation where two of her brothers worked.
  9. propaganda
    information that is spread to promote some cause
    There was always the possibility that mail with a Northern postmark might contain Abolitionist propaganda, and when it was addressed to a free Negro, it was almost certain to contain objectionable material.
  10. repeal
    cancel officially
    In 1854, men talked of Kansas and Nebraska, and of the Little Giant—Stephen Douglas, the handsome black haired Senator from Illinois—who was trying to persuade the Senate to repeal the slavery restriction clause in the Missouri Compromise, as part of his Kansas-Nebraska Bill.
  11. sodden
    wet through and through; thoroughly wet
    Sometimes she took them through fields, sodden, gray.
  12. devoid
    completely wanting or lacking
    Great fears were entertained for her safety, but she seemed wholly devoid of personal fear.
  13. prelude
    something that introduces what follows
    But the icy wind and the snow were only a prelude to the low temperatures they found in Canada.
  14. countenance
    the appearance conveyed by a person's face
    Joe is about 5 feet 10 inches in height, of a chestnut color, bald head, with a remarkable scar on one of his cheeks, not positive on which it is, but think it is on the left, under the eye, has intelligent countenance, active, and well-made.
  15. apathy
    an absence of emotion or enthusiasm
    Harriet tried to rouse Joe from his apathy, and urged him to look at Niagara.
Created on Wed Oct 14 20:22:09 EDT 2015 (updated Mon Jun 16 10:49:38 EDT 2025)

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