One of my favorite ways to interact and teach my kids about historical information is to provide context they’ll engage with. I created this series to expand on a set of paper dolls I made with my youngest daughter. We found a set that she liked making. However, that set didn’t include historical figures she idolizes. The set had cute dolls. They were even diverse! Yet my daughter longed for a collection of her heroes! So I decided that I would draw them for her. That was the beginning of Leading Ladies!
We watched the following video together a few times, and enjoy it every time we watched! Enjoy this little gem! Thank you to the creators of Sung History for this amazing series. Keep them coming, please!
Harriet Tubman: “Spying on The Man” by Sung History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BAuUYu2LJc&app=desktop
However you know her, Araminta “Minty” Ross who free’d herself to later become known as Harriet Tubman, or “Moses” was a woman of incredible bravery. Harriet named herself after her mother, “Rit” and kept her husband’s last name when she began her new life as a free woman. She chose to return to the land where she was once kept as property to free her family members. Not once, but repeatedly to free many others enslaved. She was mistaken by those who sought to stop her; she was thought to be a white Abolitionist sneaking through the darkness. In fact, she was a petite woman filled with faith who followed the North Star for guidance. In her travels and recovery of those she guided she never lost a single traveler.
Harriet became an Abolitionist when she crossed back into territories where slavery was legal to recover her family. She was more than an anti-slavery activist, but became a hero to many by rescuing them from the chains of ownership, thus forever sealing their fate as free men and women. Ms. Tubman was inducted as a “Conductor” of the Underground Railroad and is celebrated as an Iconic hero in the Civil Rights Era. Not only did this mighty woman prove to show what one woman could accomplish for her race but she further displayed her grit and fortitude in her elder years as a staunch Suffragette. She spent her final years advocating for voter rights for all people!
In her time, Harriet Tubman was credited with supporting John Brown’s raid and attempt to free those enslaved at Harper’s Ferry. She is the first African American woman to serve in the United States Military. She is also the first African American woman to lead an armed Military Raid. She was a Spy, Scout, Nurse, & Guerrilla Soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War and she was buried with Military honors at her funeral.
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harriet-Tubman https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html
Many pieces of literature, books, poetry, songs, movies, statues, and depictions of Harriet Tubman have been created in her honor. A movie bearing her name, “Harriet” was produced in 2019 directed by Kasi Lemmons, with a Screenplay written by both Ms. Lemmons & Gregory Allen Howard, starring Cynthia Erivo who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Cynthia Erivo received two Oscar nominations for her roll in Harriet. One for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and the second for Best Original Song.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4648786/
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubman https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/harriet-tubman https://www.britannica.com/biography/Harriet-Tubman https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p1535.html
Thank you for your service, Harriet!