53 pages • 1-hour read
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert
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Part 3-Back MatterChapter Summaries & Analyses
Back Matter: “Harriet Tubman Live in Concert The Liner Notes”
Part 3, Chapter 11 Summary
Harriet stands with her pistol aimed at Darnell. She explains that she has not lost anyone yet, and she does not intend to lose him. With a heavy heart, he admits to her that he is “different.” She brushes off his anxiety, explaining that she and everyone else knew he was gay from the moment they met him and does not care.
The group then gives him a history lesson. They tell Darnell that there have always been gay, Black men, and not all of them were activists who lived their lives in the public eye. There were some, like William Dorsey Swann, who hosted large drag balls and were often targeted by the police for their actions, but history is full of men and women who, like Darnell, preferred privacy. There is nothing wrong with that, they explain. Some people’s destiny is to lead, others is just to live their lives. Just getting through one’s life is an accomplishment.
During the story about William Dorsey Swann, Darnell thought of the film Paris is Burning, and at one point, he even thinks that Moses quotes from it. What a strange world, he reflects, that one of the returned, a man from a completely different culture and a bygone era, would have seen that film.
Part 3, Chapter 12 Summary
On the way back to New York, Darnell feels sheepish for having made such a big deal of being different. It is clear now that no one was going to judge him for his sexuality.
When they arrive back home, Darnell takes a few days off. He looks up Dr. Slim and finds that he owns the record company that signed Harriet and the Freemans. He is also married to a man. When they return to the studio, Slim is there. He wants to speak with Darnell, but Darnell refuses to do so without Harriet and the band around. Slim tells him that they can catch up another time. He stays to hear what they’ve been working on, and he likes the sound.
When he leaves, they get back to work. Harriet tells stories of her life on the Underground Railroad, and the group uses her words as inspiration to guide their process. At the end of the day, Harriet tells Darnell that being Black means creating history that will be passed down from one generation to the next, and Darnell is struck by how wise she is and how lucky he is to have the opportunity to get to know her.
Part 3, Chapter 13 Summary
Harriet Tubman speaks further about the abolitionist circuit, describing how formerly enslaved men and women were forced to relive their histories of enslavement for money (it was difficult to earn a living in the North as a formerly enslaved person) and to earn money for the movement. Some men and women even partially disrobed to show scars from the whip. While this was all horrific and performative in a disturbing way, Harriet notes that it did further the cause of abolition. Still, she felt exploited at times.
She recalls Sarah Bradford, a woman who wrote a biography of her that contained all kinds of “information” that was inaccurate and that Harriet hadn’t provided. Odessa chimes in with her own stories of going to see abolitionist speakers. She recalls one woman, Ellen Craft, who was so light-skinned that she escaped to the North in the disguise of a white man.
Part 3, Chapter 14 Summary
The next few days fly by in a flurry of projects related to the album. Everyone’s creativity is in hyperdrive, and Darnell feels inspired. As their work picks up pace, Darnell starts to feel writer’s block. Slim stops by more and more, which sets him on edge, but then Harriet bans him from the studio.
Darnell tries to talk to everyone more about their experiences for additional inspiration, and he and Quakes have a productive conversation about how white people use cognitive dissonance to get around the harm that enslavement and racism have done to Black Americans throughout the history of the country. Quakes tells Darnell that during his work as an abolitionist, he always first tried to reason with white people, but when that didn’t work, he resorted to less orthodox methods. One time, when a white enslaver would not admit how terrible it must be to have one’s child sold, he kidnapped the man’s daughter and held her for two days. After her return, the man was more sympathetic.
Darnell ponders this story and then feels like there is even more at stake on this album. They have to raise awareness, inspire young people, and amplify the voices that history has silenced. Stress mounts, and Harriet comes to comfort him. She tells him that they are all in this together and that he can’t carry the entire burden of the project on his own. He thanks her and then replies that he’s just been so preoccupied “slaving away on this album” (207).
Instantly, he regrets his poor word choice. Harriet bristles and lectures him: He has never “slaved” a day in his life, she explains, and because of the work of people like her, no one in the United States will ever have to do so again. Darnell apologizes and vows to himself to push forward on the album.
Part 3, Chapter 15 Summary
Odessa comes forward with one more song, and Darnell realizes that the album is finished. They complete the final track, and Slim bursts into the studio to congratulate them. He does, however, have an ulterior motive: He tells Darnell that the video of Slim outing him 15 years ago has gone viral. His publicist wants him to sit down with Darnell to clear the air on a podcast. He tells Darnell that the bad publicity from the viral video could sink the album. Darnell isn’t sure Harriet would want him to capitulate, and he refuses.
Quakes puts together everything needed for a show. Harriet and the band are going to perform the album live. The show, slated to go on at the Apollo Theatre on Juneteenth, is entitled Queen of the Underground and will feature songs, narration about Harriet’s life, and cameos from Frederick Douglass (the real one!) and actors playing John Brown and other key figures.
On the day of the show, Harriet is contemplative. She explains that people come in and out of her life, and she has always tried not to get attached. This will be the end of the road for her and Darnell, and she wants him to make sure to realize that he is free. She wants him to live his life proudly as a queer, Black man and never to let anyone take that away from him. He is crushed that he will not continue working with her, but he feels filled with hope and is sure that he will find new “family.” He, Harriet, and the Freemans hug before they go on stage.
Back Matter, Chapter 16 Summary: “Queen of the Underground”
“Queen of the Underground” is a song that tells the story of Harriet’s life against the backdrop of enslavement, racism, and mass incarceration in the United States. She notes the importance of freedom and the right of everyone, regardless of skin color, to determine what freedom means for them. She argues that knowledge and information are critical, and urges people to listen to her message: “[T]o free my people became my obligation / no job skills because this my occupation / you gotta use what you can so you overcome my situation / okay ladies let’s get information / yes I’m American but I’m also Black / So I spent my whole life trying to reckon with that” (224).
Back Matter, Chapter 17 Summary: “Now I See”
“Now I See” tells the story Harriet told Darnell about her mother refusing to let Moses be sold. In it, she realizes at this moment in time that she has the power to control her own destiny and that she can help herself and others be free: “And that’s the day I decided I wanna be free / Now I see this ain’t the life I’m supposed to be living / This ain’t the grave I’m digging / Now I see that I can reach beyond what I see / And I deserve to be free” (228).
Part 3-Back Matter Analysis
Part 3 opens with the group’s journey back North and a key moment in Darnell’s self-acceptance process. The group now knows that Darnell is gay, but he finds acceptance rather than judgment. He is initially stunned, noting, “When you’re different you learn to hide a part of yourself away from people out of a fear of rejection” (172). Harriet and the Freemans’ openness towards Darnell recalls the spirit of community that he witnessed when he first met them. It is a full-circle moment: Darnell now understands more about himself and other people and can tell that part of what makes the group so impactful is their spirit of unity. They support Darnell like they support one another.
The story they tell him to make him feel less alone and more acceptable speaks to the novel’s interest in The Multi-Faceted Nature of Black American Identity. William Dorsey Swann represents the possibility of being Black and gay, an identity that Darnell has long believed impossible. He also illustrates the erasure of Black history: Swann is arguably one of the most important African Americans of the 19th century for the role that he played as a champion of gender fluidity and his activism, yet he is rarely included in history books, and his story is not widely known. He becomes part of the “lost” history that Darnell hopes to raise awareness for through music.
Darnell’s character arc is now fully complete. He has a context for himself within a broader history of Black queerness that he wasn’t even aware of. He feels, for the first time in his life, that it is acceptable to be both Black and gay. He is comfortable in his own skin. He demonstrates this newfound self-acceptance in the final scenes that feature Slim. Darnell shows his increased ability to reflect in his assessment that it must have been difficult to be in Slim’s position. He has more empathy for Slim than he once did. Although he does not openly forgive Slim for outing him, he lets go of the residual anger he’s long carried about the incident. He also decides not to help Slim manage the fallout from the footage of that incident going viral. Here, Darnell has clearly learned from Harriet: He makes his own choices and sets his own boundaries. He does not want to help Slim, so he doesn’t. He shows a newfound agency.
This section also contains another instance of the novel’s engagement with The Erasure of Black History and “hidden” Black history, the film Paris is Burning. The author does not go into great detail about the film, but Darnell notes its importance, and it connects to the text in several key ways. A documentary about drag ball culture in the 1980s, it told the story of a group of queer, Black, and Brown individuals who were marginalized by society. Drag balls make use of dance styles first popularized by William Dorsey Swann, and so they represent an enduring piece of Black culture, an unbroken connection back to an earlier era.
Paris is Burning, however, has also been criticized for exploiting its subjects. They were sensationalized, underpaid, and their stories were filtered through the lens of a white producer’s voice. Not long after this discussion, Harriet mentions her own white biographer and expresses anger at the liberties she’d taken with Harriet’s story. The author draws a direct and deliberate point of connection between Harriet’s biography and the biographical film, Paris is Burning: Even the best-intentioned white activists can mistreat and exploit the very subjects they hope to help.
Darnell also better understands his commitment to Hip-Hop and the Power of Storytelling. Harriet informs him that being Black means “creating history” for subsequent generations. Having spent the last few days absorbing everything Harriet and the Freemans explained about enslavement, he has a better idea of how to put the earlier generation’s wisdom to use. He quite literally finds “his voice” and works through the last of the songs on the album with a renewed sense of purpose.
Darnell is now able to articulate that he hopes that the album raises awareness about the way that racism has shaped and continues to shape American life. He wants the music to affirm its listeners’ identities, showcasing important aspects of Black identity and history. He also wants it to empower future generations of activists. Most importantly, he knows that it will be produced by Black voices. Unlike Harriet’s biography, a white person will not have the final say on how her story will be told.
The songs that the group produces and performs do just that. Harriet’s first song contextualizes her within the broader scope of Black history in the United States. In so doing, she establishes herself as a role model, but she also provides a rubric for listeners. Darnell struggled at the beginning of the novel to contextualize himself within African American history as a whole. This song’s message is, in part, that every African American has a place within history, that their voices are important, and that it’s acceptable to “be Black” in a variety of ways. The second song tells the story that Harriet has now related multiple times, of being a young girl and realizing, after watching her mother stand up to a white man, that she also has power. The novel thus ends on a note of Black empowerment, arguing that African Americans, both throughout history and today, have been and remain powerful and capable of self-determination.
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