Harriet Tubman was born in Maryland to enslaved parents Harriet "Rit" Green and Ben Ross. Originally named Araminta "Minty" Harriet Ross in approximately 1820-25, there is no birth record for Araminta, as slave births often did not get recorded. It is believed she is one of nine to eleven children born to Rit and Ben, who had different slave owners. Minty would be born into a life of hardship as a slave and her family would endure being separated and sold off by their owners. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.htm) Her life would be marked by physical violence as whippings would leave scars and a blow from metal type object thrown at her head would leave her with seizures and debilitating headaches for the rest of her life. While her parents would eventually gain their freedom, it would do little good, as either there was nowhere to go or the current owner would not honor the will of the previous owner. After Minty got married in 1844, to John Tubman, a free black man, she changed to her name to Harriet, after her mother. Not much is known about the marriage, no children were born from the marriage. (http://www.biography.com/people/harriet-tubman-9511430#escape-from-slavery-and-abolitionism) A few years after getting married, Harriet's owned passed, and she saw the opportunity to escape. She would make the trip to Philadelphia alone as her husband and two brothers refused to join her. Harriet's life and purpose would change forever once she arrived in Philadelphia and discovered the Underground Railroad. Nature Not much is written about Harriet and her view of nature and her relationship to the environment. While she worked as a slave from an early age, sometimes as a housemaid or nursemaid or at times doing field work. The awareness of the struggle for food and survival was part of her daily life. Upon her escape, she would follow the North Star for guidance, and during her travels she was comfortable in the natural terrain to avoid detection. Harriet had learned about plants and herbs, which would be helpful later as she would tend to wounded and sick soldiers in the Civil War. (http://www.biography.com/people/harriet-tubman-9511430#escape-from-slavery-and-abolitionism) Supernatural In her early life, her Christian beliefs are unclear. It is know that her mother read her the Bible, as Harriet was illiterate her whole life. Later in life she would belong to the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, to which she donated twenty five acres of land to build a home and farm for the poor and elderly to be managed by the church due to Harriet's advanced age. There are conflicting documentations on whether Harriet was involved with the home, some say