Wild about Harriet
After more than 60 years without any in-depth writing about the life of Harriet Tubman, three biographies, all by New Englanders, have recently been released. Here are snapshots of the three authors: |
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When’s the first time you remember being aware
of Harriet Tubman?
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“I probably was a schoolchild growing up in Kansas City.”
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“I can’t remember the first time. I do
remember the first time I realized there
wasn’t a recent adult biography of
her, and that was in ’93. I was reading
children’s biographies to my kids. I
wanted to read about her myself and I
realized there wasn’t one.”
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“Of course, I’ve always known about
her from childhood, but the first time
I became interested in working on
her was a little over 10 years ago,
when I taught a course at the Harvard
Divinity School program in women’s studies."
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What surprised you most in your research?
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“I found that from every nook and
cranny I visited into cyberspace, her
name would turn up.”
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“The amount of detail that is
available in historical records about
her life that hadn’t been used before.”
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“How difficult it was to document the
last 50 years of her life.”
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Who’d be
another good
candidate for
biography?
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“Susie King Taylor. She was an African-American woman who served with the Union Army in South Carolina.”
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“Mary Brown, John Brown’s wife.”
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“Nothing’s coming to mind.”
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