We all grow up with the story of Harriet Tubman so I think we fail to truly appreciate how fearless and absolutely boss she was. She stole herself — punishable by death — then came back, on foot, a black woman as contraband,& led folks hundreds of miles so they could too be free.
We’re told this story like it was kinda easy to do in the typical way we whitewash this history. But it was extremely difficult. Most enslaved people who ran away were caught. Most never tried to run away. You had to be able to travel with no shelter, coats, little food.
You had to travel over rough terrain, at night, avoiding white people, dogs, other black people who out of fear might tell on you. You had to brave the elements & figure out where was safe and where was not. You had to run knowing your family and loved ones left behind would pay
Enslaved people were the most valuable commodity in the country and she helped at least 70 people steal their own freedom — tens of thousands of dollars worth of property. Just, wow, when you really think about it. An American icon.
It’s a disgrace that our children are taught about her and so many others as black history, as if these figures and their stories are not central to the history of this entire country.
