Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom is a documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2022.
The timing is significant. It premiered in 2022 in order to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of Harriet Tubman’s birth in 1822.
This film covers the life of the famous African American abolitionist and social activist Harriet Tubman from the beginning in 1822 to the end in 1913.
It explains why she is famous; why she plays an important role in the history of the United States before, during, and after the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Here is some basic information about this film:
** Director: Stanley Nelson
** Writers: Nicole London, Marcia Smith, and Paul Taylor
** Narrator: Alfre Woodard
** Language: English
** Subtitles: English
** Available on the PBS website
** Run time: 54 minutes
Many persons are interviewed in the film. Here
are the names of the participants (listed in alphabetical order):
** Gerard Aching – professor, Cornell University
** Douglas Armstrong – professor, Syracuse University
** Edward Baptiste – historian, Cornell University
** Mia Bay – historian, University of Pennsylvania
** Fergus Bordewich - author: Bound for Canaan (2005)
** Gloria Browne-Marshall – professor, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
** Reverend Paul Gordon Carter – site manager: Harriet Tubman Home
** Marcia Chatelain – historian, Georgetown University
** Anthony Cohen – president, The Menare Foundation
** Angela Crenshaw – ranger, Maryland Park Service
** Erica A. Dunbar – historian, Rutgers University
** Maria Fuentes – historian, Rutgers University
** Adam Goodheart – historian, Washington College
** Dale Green – professor, Morgan State University
** Farah Jasmine Griffin – professor, Columbia University
** Fredara Hadley – ethno-musicologist, the Juilliard School
** Chris Haley – archivist, Maryland State Archives
** Karen Hill – president, Harriet Tubman Home
** Cheryl LaRoche – PhD, author: Free Black Communities and the Underground Railroad (2013)
** Kate Clifford Larson – PhD, author: Bound for the Promised Land (2003)
** Vincent Leggett – Founder: Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation
** Jeff Ludwig – director of education, Seward House Museum
** Kristen T. Oertel – PhD, historian, University of Tulsa
** Manisha Sinha – historian, University of Connecticut
Harriet Tubman was born in 1822 in Maryland, a southern state where slavery was legal. Since her father and mother were slaves, she was also a slave.
While growing up in a slave state, she had the chance to meet with and talk to people who had contact with the northern states where slavery had been abolished. She began to resent slavery and to feel that she had to get away from this world.
In 1849, when she was 27 years old, she managed to escape to the north. Once she was in the north, she contacted members of the African American community who lived there.
She also contacted William Still, a leading member of the Underground Railroad, a secret network which helped slaves escape from the south to the north.
Having secured her own freedom, she could have chosen to remain where she was and only take care of herself, but this was not enough for her. She was so opposed to slavery that she had to do something about it.
During the years 1850-1860, she conducted more than ten trips to the south where she acted as a guide for slaves who wanted to escape to the north.
Each time, she managed to rescue a small group of slaves. Each time, she risked her own life. If she had been caught, she would have been killed by southern bounty hunters. But she was never caught. Each time she managed to enter the south and return to the north. She had a large portion of talent and a lot of luck.
In 1861, when the Civil War broke out, she wanted to support the Union against the Confederacy. At first, she worked as a nurse, taking care of union soldiers who had been wounded in action. But after a while, this was not enough for her. She wanted to do more.
She decided to leave the hospital in order to work as a scout for the union army and later to work as a spy for the union army.
The army was happy to use her talents to obtain useful information, but since she was a woman and a person of color, the government did not want to recognize her as an official member of the armed forces.
When the Civil War was over, she returned to civilian life. She settled down in Auburn in New York state where she had previously bought a house.
She was an activist who supported African Americans and their struggle for equal rights.
She also supported the suffragettes and their campaign for the female vote. She was invited to meetings where would talk about her experience with the Underground Railroad.
During one of these meeting, she made the statement which later became famous:
“I was a conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say - I never ran my train off the tracks and I never lost a passenger.”
The US finally accepted the female vote in 1920, but Harriet Tubman did not live long enough to witness this moment. She died in 1913 at the age of 91.
In this film, the story of her life is told in great detail. From the beginning in 1822 to the end in 1913.
I like this film and I want to give it a good rating, but I cannot go all the way to the top, because there are at least two flaws. What is wrong? Let me explain:
# 1. The number of participants
As stated above, the number of participants is high. No less than 24 persons are interviewed in the film. Some of them appear only once or twice, and each time with a short statement; only one or two sentences.
In my opinion, the number of participants is far too high for a film that runs for less than one hour. Perhaps the director feels that the high number of participants supports the message of the film. If this is the case, he is wrong.
Support for a message is not a matter of quantity. It is a matter of quality.
The high number of participants can be confusing. If the number of participants is low, they can appear several times and the viewer can get to know them better.
It would have been much better to have only 10 or 12 participants. This would allow each of them to elaborate and explain their point with more than one or two sentences.
# 2. The focus of the film
The focus of this film is on the time before the Civil War and the time during the Civil War. The time after the Civil War is not covered very well.
One significant aspect of this period which is ignored in the film is the fact that Harriet Tubman had serious economic problems after the end of the Civil War.
The government offered her a small pension because she had worked as a nurse and a small pension because she had served as a scout and a spy, but they were both too small to support her life.
Some members of Congress proposed a law that would give her a substantial pension. They wanted the government to recognize and reward the service she had offered her nation and her people, but the majority of Congress refused to do this.
Since she was a woman and a person of color, they did not want to recognize her as a real member of the American army.
She had tenants in her house. She had to rent out rooms in order to make enough money to survive.
This aspect of her life after the end of the Civil War is not covered in the film.
As you can see, there are some flaws which cannot be ignored; which cannot be overlooked. I have to remove one star because of these flaws. Therefore I think this film deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent)
RESOURCES
# 1. Books
Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman
by Sarah Hopkins Bradford (1869)
Harriet Tubman:
The Moses of her People
by Sarah Hopkins Bradford (1886)
Bound for the Promised Land:
Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero
by Kate Clifford Larson (2003)
Harriet Tubman:
The Road to Freedom
by Catherine Clinton (2004)
Bound for Canaan:
The Epic Story of the Underground Railroad,
America’s First Civil Rights Movement
by Fergus Bordewich (2005)
Harriet Tubman:
Myth, Memory, and History
by Milton C. Sernett (2007)
Free Black Communities and
the Underground Railroad:
The Geography of Resistance
by Cheryl LaRoche (2013)
Harriet Tubman:
Slavery, the Civil War, and
Civil
Rights in the Nineteenth-Century
by Kristen T. Oertel (2015)
# 2. Films and movies
A Woman Called Moses
A historical drama in two parts which premiered on US television in 1978
Cicely Tyson plays the role of Harriet Tubman
Run time: 240 minutes
Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad
A television movie which premiered in 1994
Alfre Woodard plays the role of Harriet Tubman
Run time: 91 minutes
Underground Railroad: The William Still Story
A documentary film which premiered on US television (PBS) in 2012
Run time: 55 minutes
Harriet
A historical drama which premiered in 2019
Cynthia Erivo plays the role of Harriet Tubman
Run time: 125 minutes
Harriet Tubman: They Called her Moses
A documentary film which premiered in 2020
Run time: 45 minutes
*****
The famous American
abolitionist and social activist
Harriet Tubman
(1822-1913)
*****
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