Jaime Graciano

Alma  Rosa  Romero, my grandmother, was born on August 14th, 1963. She was born Alma Rosa Jimenez in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas of Mexico. At the time, Nuevo Laredo was beginning to look like a thriving city. As a young adult, Alma met Jaime Romero, my grandfather. After some time together they got married. To this day, they are still married; that is a total of thirty or more years. 

Their life eventually changed when they decided to migrate to Laredo, Texas, due to their search for job opportunities and a better life overall. They quickly found jobs and got themselves a home. With a home now safely assured, their next stage in life was to have kids. They ended up having 2 girls. Alma was living what people like to call, “The American Dream”. At the time, during 1984 there was a United States presidential election between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. The result was, Reagan, who was a republican, defeated Mondale with 58% of the popular vote and carried almost every state in the Electoral College. This sounds like just another simple presidential election, but it was a very significant election for my family. 

My grandmother was the first woman in my entire family to vote. Again, my grandmother came from humble beginnings, in a home with seven kids, little to no money for an education, and finite employment opportunities. However, with hard work, commitment, and perseverance, she was able to get through the tough times, find a job and work her way up and become the first woman in the family to vote.

Harriet Tubman is one of the most significant and influential figures in women's history. Tubman is best known for her contributions to the slavery abolishment movement, more specifically the Underground Railroad. Even today she is remembered for her bravery and her endless search for freedom.

Harriet Tubman was born in 1820, the exact date is not known for sure. She was born in Dorchester County, Maryland. Her birth name was Araminta “Minty” Ross, she was born from two slaves, Harriet Green(owned by Mary Pattison Brodess) and Ben Ross (owned by Anthony Thomson.) Because both her parents were slaves, Harriet was born a slave. Tubman didn't have the best childhood either. When she was only five, she got her first job as a nursemaid where she was mistreated, and she eventually got tired and was sent back to her birthplace. As a teenager, she was in an accident involved with a runaway slave. After her accident, her life changed drastically; she would have to live with constant seizures for the rest of her life. She would also state than in premonitions and dreams of hers, she communicated with God. In 1844, she married a free black man, John Tubman. In 1849, she officially changed her name to Harriet Tubman, taking the Harriet from her mother and the Tubman from her husband. 

What Harriet Tubman was most famous for was as the conductor of the Underground Railroad. In 1849, after she herself had escaped slavery, she decided to help other slaves do the same. She conducted the Underground Railroad to get the slaves to the free states. This was an abolitionist creation to provide shelter and transportation for the slaves. Tubman took numerous trips to Maryland to rescue about 300 slaves. Out of those 300, her elderly parents were a part of them. After slave owners began hearing of this, they began placing bounties on Tubman and the slaves she had rescued at the time. One bounty reached an absurd amount of $40,000. Harriet Tubman's final mission came in 1860 when she went out to rescue her sister Rachel. Tubman was able to rescue a family, but unfortunately found out her sister had passed away. However, Tubman herself states that she never lost a passenger (Underground Railroad). Tubman earned admiration from many including abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, who labeled her as “the Moses of her people”, in reference to the biblical story.

After the Railroad, Tubman also contributed to the American Civil War. Not only did she provide care for the troops, but she was a spy for the Union. Tubman had a group of former slaves to help her keep track of the Confederates' movements. This did eventually lead to Union victory in her latter years, Harriet Tubman began giving speeches for the women's suffrage movement. The final attribute of her life was the opening of Harriet Tubman Home for the aged, a place for the elderly to live. At the age of 93, Harriet Tubman passed away due to pneumonia. Harriet Tubman might be gone, but bravery and selfless actions will always be remembered and her legacy is carried on by multiple women today.

I believe that when it's all said and done, voting is one of the most important rights you can have. For women to be able to vote however, is an even more significant feat. Women's suffrage wasn't always a regular thing. For the first part of the 1900's and the entirety of the 1800's, the only people that were able to vote were white males. Until, in 1920, the 19th amendment was ratified by the U.S congress. The 19th amendment stated that all American women would be allowed to vote. When I was asked to do this essay, I had never thought about how women's voting originated. Now I know that women's voting in my family has grown over time. With that, it all started with my grandmother in the 1980s, it is continued by the next generation, my mother and aunt, their kids which include my younger sister and a few cousins. This will continue on with my daughters, if I ever have them, and many more generations to come.