Harriet

    Just as there are important books to read, there are important films to watch.  Harriet is one of those films.

    Araminta “Minty” Ross (Cynthia Erivo) has spent her entire life as a slave.  According to the will of her master’s ancestor, she, along with other members of her family, should be free.  It is right there on paper, but her master, Edward Brodess (Michael Marunde), refuses to acknowledge the will.  Angry, Minty runs into the woods and prays for Edward’s demise.

    He dies shortly after.

    The master’s son, Gideon (Joe Alwyn), caught Minty making her prayer.  With his father dead, he is the master now, and puts Minty up for sale.

    Sensing a sale is about to happen, Minty goes on the run.  She leaves her entire family behind, including her husband, John Tubman (Zackary Momoh).  He offered to go with Minty, but she went on her own as John is a free man.  She did not want to put him at risk of being captured.

    During Minty’s journey she is chased by men and dogs.  With some help and guidance from unexpected sources along the way, Minty makes it from the Brodess plantation in Maryland to Philadelphia.  She makes it to freedom.

Hidden Pathway/Artwork by Kate Dorsey

    Once in Philadelphia, Minty visits the office of an anti-slavery society.  She meets William Still (Leslie Odom Jr.), the son of former slaves.  It is at this meeting Minty tells her life story.  She also changes her name to Harriet Tubman.

    For a year Harriet lives on her own in Philadelphia.  She resides at the boarding house of Marie Buchanon (Janelle Monáe), a Black woman born free.  After this year, Harriet starts to get visions of a need to return to her family.  She thinks she needs to save her husband.  Harriet travels on her own to Maryland to find him.  When she arrives, Harriet finds out John has remarried, believing Harriet dead.

    Confused why she was called back to where she escaped, Harriet asks God for answers.  She learns it is other members of her family she is meant to save.  The Brodess plantation is in dire straits.  Gideon and his mother Eliza’s (Jennifer Nettles) solution?  Sell some of their slaves.  Including some of Harriet’s family.

    These family members escape the planation, and Harriet helps get them to freedom.  It is the beginning of Harriet’s mission to free as many people as possible from slavery.

    As Harriet is leading her family away, they are spotted by a slavecatcher.  Walter (Henry Hunter Hall) offers Harriet and her family up to Gideon, but Gideon does not take him seriously.  Possibly because Walter is Black like Harriet and her family, while he is a white slaveowner.  Yet, when Walter agrees to bring in another Black slavecatcher, Bigger Long (Omar Dorsey), to help track down the runaway slaves, Gideon agrees to his help.  With Bigger Long by his side, Gideon and the other plantation owners lie in wait for Harriet and her family.

    Again, Walter is the one to spot Harriet and her family first.  Only this time, he witnesses Harriet experiencing a vision and has a change of heart.  He lets the entire group go, and becomes an ally for Harriet on all her future missions.

    As much as Harriet wants to bring everyone to freedom, there is one person she cannot help.  Her sister, Rachel (Deborah Ayorinde), will not leave the plantation because of her children.  She tells Harriet not everyone wants to go on the run.  Not everyone is like her.  Harriet is forced to leave feeling she has failed her sister.                   

    Harriet continues to help people, leading them to Philadelphia, until the Fugitive Slave Act is put into place.  All the freed slaves are at risk of being taken back into slavery, despite living in a free state.  To remain free, Harriet and those she has saved run to Canada.

    In Canada, Harriet learns of Rachel’s death.  This greatly upsets her, and drives Harriet to save even more people from slavery.  This is met with resistance from William Still and others.  They want to wait for slavery to be abolished before acting, and believe 600 miles is too far to travel to save people.

    Harriet informs these people, a group of both Black and white, that they do not understand.  Some of them have never been slaves.  Others have been free for so long, they have forgotten what living in slavery is like.  Yes, she may have to travel 600 miles, but no distance is too far if it means freeing a slave.

    Harriet Tubman continued to work for freedom all the way through the Civil War and afterwards.  Along the way, she added new causes to fight for, and did so for the rest of her life.

    This is an important film to watch for many reasons.  First of all, Harriet Tubman is a person everyone hears about, but most probably know little about her other than her being part of the Underground Railroad.  There is little talk of her being a strong, determined woman who was not going to let anyone stop her doing what she knew she had to do.  Ms. Tubman did what she did out of love and the certainty the world could only be right when everyone was free.

    The film also shows not everyone or everything is as it appears.  At first glance, it would appear Reverend Samuel Green (Vondie Curtis-Hall) is not a man to be trusted.  Despite being a Black man himself, his sermons preach loyalty and obedience to the slave owners.  In truth, Reverend Green helps people escape to freedom.

    Walter and Bigger Long are also not as they appear.  One would think they would want to help people escape as they could easily be brought into slavery themselves, but they are slavecatchers.  Walter changes his ways and helps Harriet, but Bigger Long works and travels with Gideon, trying to hunt down Harriet for the rest of his life.  He does whatever he has to in order to capture runaway slaves.  Even murder.

    Then there is the event that happened during Harriet’s initial escape that has left me wondering.  At one point Harriet hid in a man’s cart.  He knew she was there, and instead of turning her in, he asked her to get out and go on her way.  Later on, this same man, in collaboration with his wife, helps Harriet bring others to freedom.  I have to wonder if this couple was always part of the Underground Railroad, or did the encounter with Harriet encourage them to become so.

    Either way, this film shows sometimes it can be hard to tell who will be your ally and who will be an enemy.  Those who look to be an ally could truly be an enemy.  And those who look to be an enemy could actually be an ally.  Sometimes, depending on the person, that role can change.

    This film also shows what can be accomplished when people come together for what is right.  When they see a problem and work to fix it.  To make things fair and just for all.  Ms. Tubman died over a hundred years ago, and there is still so much to fight for.  Fights many thought were over, but whose accomplishments are being chiseled away.  Chiseled away to give others more power, and to create a system where not all are fairly represented. 

    I wonder if in the time of the Fugitive Slave Act, if those who voted for its passage and those who upheld it in the courts, ever once looked in the eyes of a person they were affecting.  Could they look at that person, swear to God and on everything they hold dear, that they were doing what was right and just?  That they were in no way acting in self-interest or for political favor?  That none of their decisions came down to preserving or gaining money or political power?  Could they look in the eyes of the person they were affecting and do this?  Could they look themselves in the mirror and do this?  How about today?  Can those who are redrawing maps and changing voting laws to aid themselves and their allies make any of these claims?  There may be some who could, and they truly believe all their answers would be honest and true.  As for the rest, both past and present, I have a feeling the answers to these questions would be a resounding “No”.

    What we need right now is another Harriet Tubman.  A person who does what needs to be done.  Who’s only care is the welfare of others.  Who believes in the rights and freedoms of everyone.  We need this person before it is too late.