Harriet Tubman, The “Ultimate Outdoors-Person”
Photo illustration: Humanizing History Visuals. Photo: Horatio Seymour Squyer, 1848 - 18 Dec 1905, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Welcome to Humanizing History™! Every month, we feature a central theme. Each week, we dive into different areas of focus.
This month’s theme: Migration and Movement Is a Human Experience
This week’s focus: Hidden History, a facts-based narrative to highlight someone who changed history
Today’s edition of Humanizing History™ is about 1400 words, an estimated 5½-minute read.
The Why for This Week’s Topic
This month, we’re examining how migration and movement is a human experience.
In our newsletter Migration is a Human Experience, A Brief History of Our Global Diaspora, we examined how humans were migratory or nomadic for the vast majority of our collective history, highlighting that migration is not new, or a specifically current event. What is relatively new, however, are the geopolitical borders, and the laws and policies that grant or deny movement based on race, and other identity-based factors.
For How Laws Around Immigration and Migration Impact Belonging, we unpacked a brief historical, legal construction of immigration and migration in the U.S. to better understand how laws can impact our sense of belonging — and to underscore that the path to “legal” immigration and citizenship is not as straightforward, or equal and accessible, as some may think.
Last week, in Field Trip: Angel Island, the “Ellis Island” of the West?, we compared Ellis Island to Angel Island, the immigration facility on the west coast of the U.S., establishing the idea that governments can pass oppressive, even dehumanizing laws, but legislation doesn’t take our humanity away.
Today, we’re highlighting the life of someone who — in the face of inhumane conditions — not only survived and persevered, but utilized her scientific knowledge of the land to successfully migrate across a continuous yet challenging landscape, one that was divided by state borders that legally granted or denied basic human rights based on social race.
When inside one zone or border, some states would relegate her body as “enslaved,” while other states would grant the status of “free.” She would risk her life countless times to bring herself, and support the migration of others, to reach this legal form of emancipation.
You’ve likely heard of, but may not know a more rendered version of her story: Harriet Tubman.
But First, A Note About Slavery
In order to understand the larger context and impact of Harriet Tubman’s life, it’s important to recognize that even though slavery was a foundational institution of the United States (and other countries and regions of the world), it’s often taught as a footnote, or something to relegate to the margins.
With such little text and time devoted to teaching it, it’s as if slavery — and the millions of lives of those who were unjustly enslaved — was a random, small event, something to be skimmed. In reality, slavery — and the immeasurable contributions of enslaved people — is arguably one of the most essential, yet overlooked topics of U.S. history.
Enslaved people, if even by force, built the economic infrastructure across much of the Western Hemisphere, and were essential contributors to the cultural fabric of what many call “American” –– from the culinary arts and music, to innumerable contributions to fields across math & science.
Slavery literally changed the landscape of the United States. In High on the Hog, Episode: “The Rice Kingdom,” culinary historian Micheal Twitty, describes the relationship between slavery and the land around the Carolinas: “Africans, who are here are a combination of people who’ve been rice growers for thousands of years. And when rice becomes the invested crop, they’re all these trees and swamp land that have to be moved around. More land was moved to create the landscape of the rice plantations, than was moved in the making of the pyramids in Egypt. The scar of these plantations can be seen from space. And it shows you the massive amount of labor it took just to make these rice plantations possible.”
In this context, the forced movement of land, and the prevention of some people’s movement across land, are two themes that emerge when trying to understand something as massive as slavery.
But enslaved people were more than their labor. They embodied deep intelligence and ancestral knowledge, which we may begin to unearth one story at a time, starting with Harriet Tubman.
Harriet Tubman, Expanding What’s Considered Patriotic
When working with educators, I’ll often ask them to name a historical figure who is regularly characterized in U.S. textbooks as “patriotic” or “brave,” who worked in the military and demonstrated leadership qualities, who has current-day statues created in their honor, and was skilled in many areas like astronomy, weapons, and how to survive the outdoors.
A rather predictable set of names are shared, usually the likes of George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, and Confederate soldiers.
Perhaps because of the “Danger of a Single Story,” almost never, and especially without prodding, is the name of a Black American woman said out loud when describing a “brave patriot,” even though this detailed list easily describes Harriet Tubman.
If we are taught about Tubman, it’s often a hackneyed, brief retelling of how she “freed” enslaved people using the Underground Railroad.
While that is a “true” statement, as various sources estimate that Tubman guided at least 70 people to freedom along treacherous trails — much of her story is still met with historical silence.
What is less known is how Tubman served as a nurse, cook, and spy in the Civil War — that her work in the army, according to scholar Edda L. Fields-Black, represents the first time in U.S. history that men were led in battle by a woman of any race or ethnicity.
As described by Fields-Black, during this raid, often referred to as Combahee River Raid, Tubman and “a group of spies, scouts, and pilots she recruited” successfully freed an estimated 756 people, in the short span of six hours. During that early morning raid, on June 2, 1863, not a single life was lost.
In addition to serving in the Civil War, Tubman also fought to receive what was rightfully owed to her, in regard to her military pension. While she did not win the battle to receive a pension for her own war efforts, she did successfully persuade Congress to increase the pension owed to her as the widow of her second husband, Nelson Davis, who was a Black American veteran, who also served in the Civil War.
Harriet Tubman, A Steward and Scientist
As if her military feats alone don’t already make the case for expanding our awareness of Tubman, the realization of her immense skills may take us there.
In April of 2021, Angela Crenshaw, a Maryland-based Park Ranger, led a webinar for the New York Botanical Garden, where she referred to Tubman as “The Ultimate Outdoorswoman.”
In this webinar, Crenshaw discussed how Tubman, in order to successfully traverse the land that comprised the Underground Railroad, had to “navigate different ecosystems, mimic the sounds of birds, trap animals, and utilize plans for medicine and food.”
An article produced by the National Park Service, also underscores Tubman’s knowledge of the land, or her ability to read nature: “She followed rivers that snaked northward. She used the stars and other natural phenomena to lead her north.”
Seeing Tubman as someone who was not only brave and strong, but as someone with immeasurable intelligence — with keen knowledge of astronomy and earth science, with formidable social and emotional depth — is an essential expansion to the more common, and limiting, narrative typically reserved for Tubman, and others who were unjustly enslaved.
Seeing people holistically, especially people who were systematically dehumanized, is an important shift — one that may indeed debunk stereotypes and provide meaningful ways for us to connect with the inspiring lives of those who preceded us and marked a path worth surveying and honoring.
Teaching and Discussing Harriet Tubman with Young People
Resources to enhance adult awareness:
Combee: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War, by Edda L. Fields-Black
“Harriet Tubman: The Ultimate Outdoorswoman,” Webinar hosted by New York Botanical Garden and Angela Crenshaw
Framing the conversation:
When speaking about historical institutions that aimed to dehumanize, like slavery, consider using more humanizing terms like “enslaved people,” and actively avoid terms like “slaves.”
Consider focusing on the contributions of people we can name, like Harriet Tubman, and also recognize that there may be people who we may not be able to name, but their fingerprints are in plain sight, as we discussed in a recent newsletter, How Curiosity Can Help Us Name and Reframe.
When speaking with young children, keep in mind that their knowledge of history will likely be limited, but they can learn the names of historical figures and age-appropriate aspects of their lives.
Tubman was one person. While her narrative may indeed be qualified as “heroic,” what does a more rendered version of her story tell us?
What can we learn from her?
How can it inspire action in our own life?
Join Us for a Professional Development Workshop This Summer!
If you, and your colleagues, are looking for professional development opportunities this summer, Michael Matthews, of Authentic Education, and Monique Vogelsang of Humanizing History™ are co-leading a hands-on PD experience for classroom teachers and other school leaders.
"Inclusive Curriculum Design — Backwards Planning for Equity and Belonging."
Join us for an in-person, 3-day intensive to expand your thinking around best practices for including underrepresented voices, untold stories, and broader perspectives into your curriculum design — resulting in more inclusive and culturally expansive units.
Visit this link to learn more and sign up.
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