Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert

Harriet Tubman (1822-1913) is one of the most famous Black women in American history and one of the best-known conductors on the Underground Railroad. She is additionally renowned for her work as an abolitionist and for pioneering what would become the civil rights and social justice movements that have shaped America in the 20th and 21st centuries. Born into enslavement, she escaped north in 1849, but returned South again and again to help family and other enslaved men and women find freedom. She worked with noted white abolitionist John Brown, was renowned for the speeches she gave at abolitionist rallies, and even worked with the Union Army during the Civil War.

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, however, is much more interested in lost and hidden histories than it is in the better-known details of Tubman’s life. As part of their broader inquiry into Black history, the author uses Tubman’s character to shed light on the ways that the lived experiences of Black men and women have long been misrepresented by white voices. Unlike other important African American figures from the 19th century, such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman did not write her own book.