 Cynthia Erivo as Harriet Tubman The recently released film, Harriet, about the life of Harriet Tubman, was beautifully done and certainly worthy of the awards it received. Harriet Tubman's life is probably our richest source of information about the details of the flights of enslaved persons. Even in her own time, she was known for her remarkable work and bravery. As the film tells the story, Harriet's first flight to freedom, done partially with help from the pastor of her home church, she did alone. At a time when most slaves either escaped in small groups or were young men fleeing alone, Harriet did not let her gender keep her from freedom. It seems almost unbelievable that she went back so many times to help others escape. It was such a perilous undertaking. I am amazed this remarkable woman survived.  The movie does help us understand some little known ways and methods used to aid fugitives. Early in the film, Harriet decided to return for her husband and children and is told that she might get help from men who made the journey back and forth on boats, helping people where they could. It was with their help that she reconnected with her husband. I will not be a spoiler. You will have to watch to learn what happens next.
Harriet, who had been known as Araminta Ross when a slave on the plantation, had actually grown up, as many did, along with their white master’s children. Some of those relationships over those years, were deep and true, despite the differences in stations. Harriet Tubman, called the Moses of her people, never learned to read. But, some slaves did because of the close relationships that developed with the children in the household. Nancy Kendall speaks of one such young woman. The 25-year-old woman arrived at the Kendall home one night exhausted and cold. Nancy asked her why she was being so heavily pursued. The woman explained she had been a house "girl" for a family with two young daughters. The girls thought highly of her and taught her to read. When their father found out his house "girl" could read, he made plans to sell her for $1000. Apparently the ability to read added to her "value." The two young daughters, who were 16 and 18 at the time, warned their friend of what was about to happen, and she fled. Nancy Kendall writes, "When I See the Intellect that Girl Seemed to have it Was too bad and unjust for any one to Say they are not Capable of learning an Couldent manage business."* Nancy asked the young woman if she would write to her from Canada to let her know she was safe. "About a Month After She Was here I got a letter from her," Nancy writes.* Cynthia Erivo plays Harriet Tubman in the film. As with most life stories on the big screen, the timeline of events and a few of the side stories are not completely accurate. But film has a wonderful way of making us feel part of something bigger. And, making us want to know more. * Spellings and wording as transcribed from Nancy Kendall's journal.
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 Dances With Wolves Nancy Kendall did what Nancy Kendall did, and my beloved grandfather loved her, and her life, and he loved me enough to give me the gift of her words. Telling her story and those of the enslaved people her family assisted can't help but bring to mind racial injustices and the unrest that is happening today. One of my concerns in talking about racism here is that my voice will seem like just another ingratiating, limiting sympathetic view from an "understanding" white person. I cannot change the experiences of my life to be something else. I hope I have a contribution to make, however. As a white woman, I taught school on the Navajo Reservation for 11 years. I also taught school in a bilingual school in Honduras for a year. These facts do not qualify me to believe I am more understanding about racial differences, injustices and inhumanity. But it does give me something of a perspective, within my cultural limitations, to have a better understanding of racial differences than I had before.   Chinle, AZ, Navajo Nation When the movie “Dances with Wolves” came out, I was entranced. The film, flawed as it was, moved me and gave me a better sympathy for the Native American experience. I was not alone in that. If nothing else, the film opened the eyes of many white Americans. I call it the "Dances With Wolves" syndrome.
When I taught on the Reservation, a beautiful children’s book series, written by a white man, about Native American people had a place in the library. It was well-written and well-intentioned. One day, I asked a close friend and fellow teacher, Mae, why the Navajo teachers so often checked that series of books out for their classes. I mean, the girl is Little Flower, and a boy is Running Bear, not Darren or Jane, two actual names our students had. Mae explained: “Well, Nancy, as you know, there haven’t been many books about young Navajo people, fiction or otherwise, written down by Navajo people. It was white people who wrote things down. Our culture is an oral one. There have been some, and there are more and more, but this is the reality. That bestselling Anglo author’s books about Navajo characters isn’t Navajo. But he writes superbly, and he researches quite well, and he tells some of our stories in a lovely, complementary way. And, he sells books.” So yes, I am much more interested in reading a former slave accounting of his or her escape experiences. Yes, I am much more interested in learning an account of Custer’s Last Stand that is written by a native American bystander who saw it. But, we can also talk about these things across racial lines. That is what I hope we can do. Let’s try.  Harriet Beecher Stowe Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin Nancy was 20 and Andrew 30 when they married. It was a busy time. Children came along and the family went about their daily lives. The surviving diaries of most pioneer women of the time were simply records of facts. The women talked about daily chores, the weather and occasional visits from neighbors or family. There was often a sense that storms would come. But, feelings and emotions were rarely recorded. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a woman of her time. Not only was she a member of a family of activists involved in anti-slavery work in areas in the eastern part of the country, but she also raised her large family of children and carried out household duties. Still, she found time to write a syndicated column for a newspaper which became the book "Uncle Tom’s Cabin." Nancy Kendall, as a young mother and wife, was also responsible for raising children and maintaining a household. But, she made time to welcome the wagons carrying fleeing slaves and provide them with food and shelter. It had to be an extremely trying time for both of these young women. Yet they were committed.  In her journal, Nancy mentions that along with attending to the needs of those who stopped, she felt the need to “entertain” the people who came to them. She says, "We wouldent expect them. Wake us up. I would have to Entertain them till they would get the team ready. Never had many at a time. Had family of 7 once, parents and 5 children. Other times 3 and 2 and one... Had quite little talk with them some times."*
Nancy's journal describes many of those who came to them as terribly frightened. It was a terrifying experience to live in a state of fear and an unknown future. She describes one group who lay nearly motionless, not making a sound all night to avoid capture. The South had 4 million enslaved persons in the years before the Civil War. Of that number, experts believe approximately 100,000 used the Underground Railroad system on the perilous flight to freedom. *Punctuation added for readability. Spellings and wording transcribed as written in Nancy Kendall's journal. |
Nancy JeanNancy Jean is a woman of several lives and careers, including school teacher, homemaker, parent, amateur musician and writer. Read more... Archives
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