On SpyCast: So you think you know Harriet Tubman?
For Black history month, we honor the legendary Harriet Tubman.
Her great-great-great-grandniece made her real again in this epside of SpyCast (and yes, it took multiple takes for me to get the number of “greats” right). Because Ernestine Martin Wyatt would visit “Aunt Harriet’s” home and her grave.
She described Tubman’s unyielding faith. She described sitting in her second grade class and informing students that Tubman was her ancestor. “Another classmate, a little girl — I can see her now — she said, ‘Well, okay, if that's your aunt, then my father is the president of United States,’” Ernestine recalled.
Tubman was petite, illiterate, and endlessly brave. Risking her own life again and again, she not only freed people through the Underground Railroad but spied for the Union during the Civil War. Her skills and connections were integral to a journey down South Carolina’s Combahee River, a bold raid which saw more than 750 people freed.
“This is the time of year when rice is growing in the rice fields,” said historian Edda Fields-Black, who just wrote COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War. “These were not military installations. These were people's homes and these were functioning plantations… In many ways, this rewrote the rules of warfare.”
From Tubman’s faith in God to her chicken decoys.
Episode length: 30 minutes
Where to listen: On Apple | On Spotify
Wow Sasha. This is a remarkable interview. I love the fact that Dr. Fields-Black asked the question: "don't we already know everything about Harriet Tubman?" I learned some really powerful things about Tubman in this interview - like her singing to her people to calm their nerves. What I wouldn't give to have heard her sing??? Thank you Sasha.