(THUNDER RUMBLING)
WOMAN: No!
-No, no. -No!
Mommy, no!
No!
Daddy!
Minty.
John.
Hmm.
Least you remember my name. (CHUCKLES)
I'm always scared
you'll wake up from one of them spells and forget it.
Johnny. Johnny.
-Mmm... (LAUGHS) -John...
Guess what I got, Minty-mine.
-Is it... -Is it?
Is it...
-Give it. -You want it?
-I want it. -Come and get it.
Come and get it.
We got it. We got it.
-We got it. -Daddy, Daddy.
We got it. We got the letter.
Johnny, read it to me.
I don't need to. Got it remembered.
"I, Joshua Abrams,
"having reviewed the original last will and testament
"of Atthow Pattison, of Dorchester County, Maryland..."
GREEN: (SINGING) Hold on
CROWD: (SINGING) Hold on
GREEN: Keep your hand on the plow
Hold on
ALL: (SINGING) Hold on
Wanna get to heaven, I'm-a tell you how
Keep that hand on the gospel plow
Just keep that hand on the plow
Hold on
ALL: Hold on
-Hold on -Hold on
ALL: Keep that hand on the plow
Hold on
Amen.
ALL: Amen.
I want y'all to hold on to some words from Colossians 3:22.
"Slaves, honor your earthly masters in everything.
"And do it not only when their eyes are on you
"and to curry their favor,
"but do it
"with sincerity of heart
"and reverence for the Lord."
Amen?
ALL: Amen.
MAN: Amen.
Thank you, Reverend Green, for those wise words.
You folks enjoy your Sunday.
Cook has gravy for your corn pone tonight.
-Reverend. -Bless you.
You go on now.
Stay strong.
-So long. -Hey.
-I'm coming with you. -Robert, no.
-You too hot-headed. -I'm coming.
They beat you again, they gonna kill you.
-Now you go with Mary. -Mama...
-Go, get. Go on now. -Mary, go on.
Go on now.
Master Brodess,
could I get a word?
Master Brodess, I think you know Minty's husband John.
He work with me over at Thompson Mill.
Course I know him.
I let him marry her.
What's your point?
Me and Minty,
we thinking about having a family.
And
we want our babies born free.
-So we hired a lawyer... -(SCOFFS)
...that made it clear that...
You hired a lawyer?
Ben, what the hell is this nigger talking about?
Well, sir, well,
what we're talking about is the last wishes
of your great-granddaddy Atthow Pattison.
He gave my wife Rit to your mama as a child,
but she's supposed to be freed at 45.
She 57 now.
Well, you got this will?
JOHN: Got a letter from the lawyer, sir.
He say it clear.
MINTY: My mama was 46 when you sold my sisters.
Lawyer say that illegal.
We all supposed to be free when she turn 45.
My sisters is lost to us, but John and me,
we want our babies born free like they supposed to be.
BRODESS: Now you listen here, girl.
Your daddy may be free and your husband, too,
but you and your mama and your brothers and sister,
they belong to me for life.
And your babies will belong to me,
and their babies will belong to me.
Do you understand me?
RIT: You're the devil!
You're the devil, Edward Brodess!
You sold my daughters south where nobody know their name!
BEN: Come on now. Come on.
BRODESS: John. RIT: My babies.
You and Ben ain't welcome here no more.
You stay away from my slaves.
Now get the hell off my damn porch.
Come on now. Come on.
Weren't for you, I would have sold that girl a long time ago.
(SOBBING) My master an evil man, Lord.
You know he evil.
If you can't change his soul, take him.
Take him, Lord!
Strike my master down!
Lord don't listen to niggers, Minty.
Now, I've been telling you that since we were kids.
Since the time I had typhoid as a boy, and Mama had you sittin' me.
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes
was your little black face praying.
Scared the fever right out of me.
Now, I got used to your face,
but that praying always made my skin crawl.
What the hell were you thinking, hiring a lawyer?
You think Daddy would just let you all go free,
damn near half his property, just like that?
He warned me.
"Boy, having a favorite slave is like having a favorite pig.
"Now, you can feed it,
"you can play with it, give it a name...
"One day,
"you might have to eat it or sell it.
"You know it, and the pig knows it.
"And if you have to sell it, there's no more guilt
"than separating piglets.
"And if you have to eat it, you'll forget its name."
I hope one day I forget yours.
Come on home.
Come on, I said.
WOMAN: (SCREAMS) Edward!
Oh, God, Edward!
ALL: (SINGING) Wanna get to heaven, let me tell you how
Keep your hand on the gospel plow
Keep your hand on the plow
ASTOR: Dear Lord, here lies our beloved brother, husband, father.
We put him to rest this day in remembrance...
(SINGING) Hold on
Hold on
Keep your hand on the plow
Hold on
PASTOR: Bless us in the name of the heavenly father.
(SINGING) If that plow stays in your hand
Take you straight to the promised land
Keep your hands on the plow
Hold on
Keep your hands on the plow
Hold on
(GASPING)
Oh, John, John, John.
John, Johnny.
Johnny, I got to go, I got to go right now.
I know. We going.
I'm coming with you.
-Okay? -John. John, you're free.
Mmm-mmm.
They catch you, they take your freedom. I can't live with that.
You won't make it alone, Minty.
Who gonna protect you, you fall in one of them spells?
Who gonna be there when you wake up?
Now, you need me.
Wait for me by the gate.
I'm gonna say goodbye to my mama.
Okay, okay.
ALL: (SINGING) When that fair old chariot comes
I'm gonna leave you
I'll meet you in the promised land
I'm gonna leave you
I'm sorry, I'm gonna leave you
Farewell, oh, farewell
But I'll meet you in the morning
Farewell, oh, farewell
But I'll meet you in the morning
Farewell, oh, farewell
When that fair old chariot comes
I'm gonna leave you
I'm bound for the promised land
I'm gonna leave you
I'm sorry, I'm gonna leave you
Farewell, oh, farewell
But I'll meet you in the morning
Farewell, oh, farewell
I'll meet you in the morning
I'm bound for the promised land
On the other side of Jordan
Bound for the promised land
I'm sorry, I'm gonna leave you
Farewell, oh, farewell
But I'll meet you in the morning
Farewell, oh, farewell
Oh, I'll meet you in the morning
Farewell, oh, farewell
Oh, I'll meet you in the morning
Farewell, oh, farewell
(HOOVES APPROACHING)
What you doing here, John?
You got no business here.
Just coming to see my wife is all, sir.
Sure is hard not being able to see her.
Now you better get used to missing her.
Get on back to Thompson's.
Yes, sir.
MAN: Giddy! Giddy!
What is it?
Minty. She gone.
-Stop right there, nigger. -(GUN COCKS)
Where is she?
-Where is she? -JOHN: I told you, sir.
I was just coming to see her to kiss her good... (GRUNTS)
(KNOCKING AT DOOR)
I don't want to look at you.
Want to say I ain't seen you.
But I see your heart.
Daddy, they gonna sell me downriver,
where no one come back from.
I got to run.
Lookie here, girl.
You go to Reverend Green church.
Ask him to pray for your journey.
Daddy, Reverend Green always preaching obedience.
Do what I say.
Go to Reverend Green church.
Ask him to pray for your journey.
Yes, Daddy.
I'll be with you.
Go on, now.
I love you, Daddy.
I love you, too.
GREEN: Who is it?
Minty. Ben Ross' daughter.
Girl, what you doing out here alone this time of night?
You done lost your mind. Come on.
My daddy say ask you to pray for my journey.
-You're the one with the spells? -Yes, sir.
And you intend to run?
They gonna sell me south,
away from my husband and family.
Which mean they motivated.
You money to them.
Unless word spread you run off.
Then you damaged goods.
They'll beat you, hobble you, or worse.
Now, you go alone,
you got about a hare's chance in a fox grove.
Slavers don't get you, then the copperheads
or the timber wolves will.
Can you even read, child?
Maybe nobody noticed you're gone.
Maybe you sneak back fore daylight.
I ain't going back.
I want to be free.
There's not much time. It's near midnight.
You got to be miles away from here 'fore dawn.
Now, I need you to remember what I tell you.
-Can you do that? -Yes, sir.
Fear is your enemy.
Trust in God.
The North Star will guide you.
Follow that North Star.
If there are no stars, just follow the river.
If you can't see the river, listen for it.
(HOWLING IN DISTANCE)
GREEN: When the river split,
cross the high bridge over the rushing creek
and head straight north.
After a few days' time, Delaware River be on your right.
Follow that to Wilmington.
Look for a blacksmith and iron merchant named Thomas Garrett.
I'll send him word.
May God be with you, child.
I ain't seen her, sir.
I ain't looked on my daughter's face
since Master Brodess run us off.
Ben's an honest nigger, Gideon.
He says he ain't seen her, he ain't.
This one knows something.
Caught him sniffing round the cabins when Minty ran off.
I told you.
I ain't seen her.
Nephew! Nephew!
This is uncalled for!
These men are my respected workers.
If your niggers helped my slave escape, I'm holding you responsible.
(CHIRPING)
(DOGS BARKING)
Dogs got a scent!
Let's go!
(PANTING)
(GRUNTING)
Come on!
This way!
(GROANS)
-(PANTING) -MAN: Get on!
(GRUNTING)
(BARKING)
GIDEON: Minty!
Come on back peaceful.
Family's worried about you.
Your mama's crying.
Sister, too.
Come on home.
Thinking about jumping?
Suicide's a sin against God.
Against those that own you, too.
(SHUSHES SOFTLY)
Whoa, whoa!
Easy, now.
Now, I've decided not to sell you after all.
Fact is, I'd miss you.
Now, you been there all my life,
like your mama was all my daddy's.
Daddy vowed never to sell your mama.
And I'm vowing
never to sell you.
Now, you can come on back,
and I won't hurt you bad.
You can stay at home,
stay with John,
stay with us.
Would you like that?
I'm gonna be free or die.
God damn it, Minty!
(STREAM FLOWING)
(BIRDS CHIRPING)
(DOGS BARK)
(FLIES BUZZING)
(RETCHES)
(COUGHING)
MAN: Whoa!
I know you're there.
You'd best get out now.
(MEN TALKING INDISTINCTLY)
Sir?
You know a blacksmith around here name of Garrett?
Careful, girl.
You're half dressed.
Look half dead.
Anyone with eyes could see what you are.
The man you're looking for is on the corner of 4th and Shipley.
No more than half a mile west of here.
Thank you, sir.
(METAL CLATTERING)
May I help thee, friend?
Sir...
You know a man named Reverend Green?
Yes, I do.
-(RAINDROPS PATTERING) -(DISTANT RUMBLING)
Whoa!
Here we are, friend.
Pennsylvania border.
Shall I drive thee across,
or would thee prefer to walk alone into freedom?
I walk with the Lord.
Philadelphia's 25 miles.
Find the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society
and ask for William Still.
This is his likeness.
So you'll know him when you see him.
Until we meet again, God bless thee.
God bless you, sir.
(BELLS TOLLING IN DISTANCE)
Please, sir.
I looking for the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.
Corner of 5th and Arch Street.
About half a mile down.
Don't be afraid.
There are plenty of us here in Philadelphia.
Walk like you got a right to,
won't nobody pay you no mind.
Thank you.
May I help you?
Sir,
are you Mr. William Still?
I am. And you are?
White man name of Garrett sent me.
(LIQUID POURING)
All right.
Let's start with your full name and where you're from.
This book is full of slave histories.
I keep a record of most of the slaves that travel through Philadelphia.
Some I have to find, most find me.
My name is Araminta Ross Tubman.
Folk call me Minty.
Come from Dorchester County, Maryland.
Farm of Edward Brodess.
Edward Brodess is your master?
Massa Brodess dead.
His wife Miss Eliza own me and my family.
Not you.
Not anymore.
-So where are the others? -Weren't no others.
Well, you know, you can trust me. I'm a friend.
Who... Who'd you make the journey with?
I left my husband and family.
It was just me and the Lord.
Well, I don't know if you know how extraordinary this is, but,
by some miraculous means, you have made it 100 miles to freedom
all by yourself.
Would you like to pick a new name to mark your freedom?
Most ex-slaves do.
Any name you want.
They call my mama Rit,
but her name Harriet.
I want my mama name and my husband.
Harriet Tubman.
Did your master ever harm you physically?
Do you have wounds or scars from beatings?
Overseer cracked my head open
when I was about 13.
I was at the stove with Massa's son Gideon.
Big brother Robert snuck off and followed us.
Didn't trust Massa Gideon alone with me.
Few minutes later,
overseer busts in looking for Robert, mad as a rabid hound.
Picked up a weight off a counter and hurled it at him,
except I stepped between 'em.
Cracked my skull right open.
They say I slept most of two months.
Next thing I remember was seeing my sisters sold.
(INAUDIBLE)
Except I saw it before it happened.
Wait. You...
What do you mean, you saw it before it happened?
Well, God showed me.
To prepare me, I guess.
But when it happened,
it hurt so bad,
worse than any beating,
worse than the hole in my head.
Hole in my head just made God's voice more clear.
Morning.
Almost there.
Morning.
(DINGS)
Mr. Still.
Good afternoon.
Miss Buchanon, good afternoon.
Allow me to introduce you to Miss Harriet Tubman, a new arrival.
Harriet, this is Marie Buchanon.
She's a friend and the owner of this establishment.
Pleasure to meet you, Harriet.
Ma'am.
Well, I will leave her in your very capable hands, Marie.
Ladies, good afternoon.
(DOOR OPENS)
-Come on in. Come on. -(DOOR CLOSES)
The public rooms are on this floor.
This is the game room.
Say hello.
-Hello. -Hello.
And this is the parlor.
You are welcome here anytime.
Yes, I'm a woman, yes, I'm Negro, and yes, I own this place.
My mama was freed after her master died.
She was pregnant with me, and I was born and raised free,
right here in Philadelphia.
You can take the last room upstairs on the left.
And supper has already been served, but I'll make you a plate.
But first you've got to take a bath.
You're stinking like an old barnyard animal.
There's a washtub in the kitchen.
I'll put some water on for you.
You was born free?
Yes.
Guess you never had the stink of fear.
Of running for your life.
I have not, Harriet.
I apologize.
Gonna go warm your stew.
If you need anything, just let me know.
So, got a man?
My husband John.
He free like you.
He was gonna run with me,
but I was scared if we get caught, they'd take his freedom.
So I left him.
But I wish he was here with me now.
Must've been hard on him when he found me gone.
The boatmen, they call them the Black Jacks,
they travel up and down the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay.
Maybe they can get word to him that you made it.
Thank you, ma'am.
Call me Marie.
You wash up good 'cause tomorrow we're gonna get you a paying job.
WOMAN: Slow down, Harriet.
They don't pay us by the bushel.
-Hello, Miss Harriet. -Jasper.
-Any word from my family? -Yes, ma'am.
Brought some lumber from the eastern shore.
Your husband and family know you're safe.
My husband?
He send word back?
No, ma'am. No word.
Thank you.
WILLIAM: It's not bad.
I know Mr. Beechem over on Pine.
I want you to take this around to him this afternoon.
Harriet, how are you?
I need your angels to help me get my husband and family.
Well, Harriet, that's not how this works.
My angels are part of a sophisticated network,
not for your personal use.
Now, trust we're doing what we can for who we can.
But I feel something wrong, William.
I can't sleep. Please help me.
Listen, Harriet...
Our work has gotten a lot more dangerous.
Slave owners are getting frustrated with the amount of runaways.
Federal judges, marshals, and slave-catchers are working together.
Even Congress is threatening to pass laws to appease the South.
If you won't help me, I'll go myself.
Harriet, wait a second. Wait a second, wait a second.
Harriet, I can't have you risking your life or this network
because you're lonely.
Rescuing slaves requires skill and careful planning.
It requires reading, Harriet.
Can you read a sign or a map? Can you read at all?
I put my attention on trying to hear God's voice more clearly.
Do you know what would happen if you got caught?
They would torture you until you pointed them right to this office.
You got lucky, Harriet.
And there's nothing more you can do.
Don't you tell me what I can't do.
I made it this far on my own.
God was watching, but my feet was my own.
Running, bleeding, climbing,
nearly drowned, nothing to eat for days and days,
but I made it.
So don't you tell me what I can't do.
You don't know me.
I made up my mind. I'm going back.
Without my husband and my family,
I'm just a stranger in a strange land.
If I'm free, they should be, too.
I'm gonna go get 'em, one by one,
starting with my husband.
I need a suit for him and a dress for me,
so I can look like a free lady.
Marie.
Will you help me?
How do you do?
-How do you do? -Good.
You were confident, composed,
wise enough to know not to look a strange white man in the eyes.
You don't want no trouble.
But if trouble comes,
you'll be ready.
Try it.
Yeah.
You'll be ready.
I'll put you in touch with a man who will sell you free papers.
They won't be yours. They're someone else's.
May not match your description exactly, but they'll get something right.
MAN: Station is Dover, Delaware. Dover, Delaware.
MARIE: Hopefully, they won't read 'em too close.
They're more worried about Negroes heading north.
Runaways don't go south.
Hello, sir. How do you do?
Papers.
-Dessa Dixon? -Yes, sir.
-Where were you born, Dessa? -Philadelphia.
July 18, 1824, of free issue.
Says here you're five-and-a-half-feet tall.
You ain't more than five feet.
Must've worn my high boots that day.
Says you got a birthmark on your forehead.
That's correct, sir.
Thank you, sir.
OVERSEER: Come on now,
straighten those rows.
ELIZA: Dear Mr. Thompson.
No. Dear brother-in-law,
I hope you will accept this modest payment on the debt owed you by my departed...
My dearly departed Edward.
Please accept the enclosed $7.50.
I hope to make another payment next month.
Your neighbor and sister-in-law, Eliza Brodess.
We're gonna have to sell some slaves, Mama.
Our stature in this community is measured in Negroes.
We can't live like paupers.
Would you prefer to keep the slaves and sell the farm?
We can sell the Ross brothers.
I mean, Robert alone is worth $600 or $700.
If we sell Junyah and Henry, too, we can bring home maybe $1,600.
That will go a ways to paying off Daddy's debts.
You won't have to beg.
We can go on as we have.
With you, unmarried and sleeping in brothels?
We'll go on as we have.
And the others will just have to work harder
to make up for the loss.
Negroes for sale.
-MAN: All right, now. -Yes, sir.
(SIGHS)
(SINGING) I'm sorry I had to leave you
Minty?
Johnny.
Johnny, what they done to you?
One good eye is all I need to see you, girl.
You look good, Minty. You look good.
Why you back here?
It ain't safe.
I've come to get you,
bring you to freedom.
I got you a suit.
I've been living free in Philadelphia, but I can't live without you.
Ain't you happy to see me?
I heard you were drowned, Minty.
Never thought I'd see you again.
I sent you word by the Black Jacks.
Time I heard you alive...
Minty,
I'm married.
I know you're married.
You're married to me.
I took another wife.
Took another wife?
Her name Caroline.
She free like me.
She carrying our child.
Another... Another woman
carrying your child?
I thought you...
I thought you loved me.
-I... -No.
-Don't. Don't. -Hey, hey.
-No. -Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey.
I love you like I ain't loved nobody.
Not my own kin.
You left me, Minty.
You left me.
You went alone and left me.
And I prayed for you.
Gideon whipped the sight out of my eye.
And I prayed for you.
When I heard you jumped off that bridge,
and I thought you were cold and dead,
caught in the river weeds like some animal,
I prayed for you.
You took another wife.
Go on, then.
Go on home.
Minty, you're not safe here.
You got to leave now.
(SOBBING) Go on home!
I love you, Minty.
I love you.
-I would've died for you. -Stop.
If you'd've let me.
(SOBBING)
Why, Lord?
I listen for your voice.
You told me to come, I came.
You... You led me here.
Why bring me all this way and rub mud in my face?
Why you let me live?
(INAUDIBLE)
BEN: Minty.
Minty.
John told me you were here.
-Daddy. -Mmm-hmm.
I ain't gonna look at you.
But you being here now,
that's a miracle.
Daddy.
Araminta.
I got your brothers hiding in the corncrib.
Miss Eliza fixing to sell 'em.
They been in there waiting on Robert.
Mary's in labor,
and he won't leave till she deliver.
-Junyah. -Minty.
Can't believe it's you.
-Henry. -Minty.
Minty,
this my intended, Jane.
From Horatio Jones' farm.
Her massa been beating her bad.
She coming with us.
Phoebe asked to come, too.
She scared of being sold away from her baby.
My husband passed last spring.
She all I got.
When I hear you made it to freedom, I name her Araminta.
She be good, I promise.
Your sister Rachel stole Miss Eliza's laudanum
-to keep her quiet. -Where's Rachel?
Where my sister?
Rachel too scared to run, Minty.
She say Miss Eliza got a hawk eye on her.
And Mama?
BEN: Rit, she with me.
Miss Eliza let me buy her freedom.
She hadn't much use for her.
Rit ain't been right since she heard you done drowned.
I'll look after your mama. Don't you worry about us, now.
All right.
I only planned for one more,
not all of you and a baby, too.
It's late. Y'all got to get going. I'll send Robert on.
Go on, now.
Robert. Thank God.
Minty.
How's Mary?
We got ourselves a baby girl.
I set her on her mama's breast, and I kissed her goodbye.
You had to leave 'em,
free or in chains.
You chose freedom.
You come for John.
I thought I come for him.
I see now I come for all of you.
Ain't but a few hours of dark left now.
If y'all going, y'all needs to get.
Get going.
You follow your sister.
-I love you, Daddy. -Go ahead now.
I'll be with you.
Daddy, come with us.
Me and your mama will be just fine.
I ain't going nowhere till all my children free.
Go on now, get.
Go on.
I ain't seen none of you.
Minty,
I don't like this.
Reverend say there a special place in hell for runaways.
I don't trust him.
You trust me?
-Yeah. -Yeah.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Girl, it's good to see you.
Heard you'd come back.
Almost didn't believe it.
You, lift this for me.
You'll wait out the day down there.
Word spread.
ELIZA: (YELLS) Find them, God damn it!
-Ma, what is it? -FOXX: We had five slaves run off.
Five slaves. Over $2,000.
The whole farm ain't worth but $5,000.
We got a rat in our pantry,
and it will starve us if we don't trap it and kill it!
Rachel!
Yes'm.
Don't you "yes'm" me, you black bitch.
Your brothers run off.
What's your part in this, girl?
I don't know nothing, I swear.
I don't even know what you saying. Who run off?
I will snap your neck.
I don't know nothing, I swear.
(BABY CRYING)
Foxx, take these two pickaninnies to market and sell 'em.
Yes, sir.
No. 'Twas Minty. It's Minty.
Liar.
Minty's dead.
She alive. She come back.
Niggers' tales.
-Like haints in the marsh. She lying. -(BABY CONTINUES CRYING)
I hope it's true.
Good Lord, I hope it is.
Foxx, round up some men and meet me out at Poplar Neck.
I'll deal with you when I get back.
The hell is wrong with you, boy?
-Out of my way. -You looking for some runaways, sir?
What do you know about it?
This here your notice, right?
Runaway slave.
Short, strong, a dent in her head.
-Where'd you see her? -Take you there for a dollar.
Now, I'm a tracker.
I know which way they headed, and I can help you find 'em.
A tracker, you say?
That and lots more.
Got skills right down the alphabet,
till you get to "scout" and "tracker."
Work for wages, though.
Ain't no slave.
(GUN COCKING)
Well, how 'bout you tell me which way they headed,
or I shoot the nose off your face?
East from Poplar Neck.
Now, I know Bigger Long.
Best slave-catcher round here.
But hard to get.
Ill-tempered and expensive.
-You know Bigger Long? -We practically kin.
Hangs out in places you wouldn't be seen, sir.
But I know where to find him.
Now, you find Bigger Long, you tell him to meet me out at Poplar Neck,
and there'll be something in it for you.
Last night,
five of my best slaves run off.
That's three bucks and a female with foal.
And I will pay $300
for their return,
alive and unharmed.
And I want the girl that's leading 'em, too.
I don't want no harm to come to her by nobody's hands but mine.
I get $200.
They can split the rest.
$200?
What's an ugly bastard like you gonna buy with $200?
Enough white whores to last me till Lent.
(CLICKS)
(LAUGHTER CONTINUES)
Well, then you better be as good as they say.
(YELPS)
(DOG GROWLS)
Good boy.
They coming right to us.
Bigger's driving them from behind.
Other two gots the roads covered.
Ain't no place to go but right here.
Well, we'll be waiting for 'em.
Don't let 'em out of sight.
(DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE)
What's wrong with her?
She praying. Minty peculiar that way.
What we supposed to do, wait?
She our leader.
-Get her up. -Don't touch her.
She talking to God.
They coming. We got to go.
We can't go this way.
There's danger.
God say which way we can go?
Left.
What now?
We cross.
LUCY: I can't swim. JANE: Me neither.
Robert, carry the baby.
Isaac, help Miz Lucy.
And, Junyah, help Jane.
This fool trying to drown us.
Minty, you done gone full crazy.
We got an old woman and a baby with us.
No, we ain't going in that river. Come on, y'all.
I say we are.
Now you be free or die.
I ain't leave my wife and my family to drown like no rat.
You want to shoot me?
Hmm?
Go ahead.
If she drown, who gon' lead us?
LUCY: She the only one know the way to freedom land.
I wants to see freedom land 'fore I die.
I'll lead you. To the bridge. Follow me.
Come on now. Come on.
Come on.
(WATER SPLASHING)
Oh, my God.
Oh.
Heavenly Father.
Rivers of living water, flow through me.
Lord, help me cross.
Lead me through.
(EXCLAIMING)
What happened?
I lost them.
Lost them?
They disappeared in the fog first...
BIGGER: You fucked up, nigger.
(WOMAN PANTING)
Oh, God.
(BABY FUSSING)
-Minty, I... -That baby girl Araminta...
You call her Minty.
You call me Harriet from now on.
That's my freedom name.
I'm Harriet Tubman,
leader of this group.
We do what I say.
WILLIAM: Excellent. What I really...
Harriet.
-Are these... -My friends and family.
Freedom-seeking slaves.
I went down south and brought 'em back.
God showed me the way.
His wife is a free woman.
Big with his child.
John didn't want my babies.
Couldn't bear the thought of 'em growing up
being slaves.
Harriet,
you are so far beyond any man I have ever met.
So far beyond.
What's a man to a woman touched by God?
You making fun of me, Marie?
No, not whatsoever.
But I do have questions.
You say that God's voice guides you.
What's that like?
Sometime it sting.
-Like a smack in the face. -Hmm.
Other time, it's soft.
Like a dream.
Fly off soon as you woke.
Seem like I learned to see and hear God
-like some learn to read a book. -Hmm.
I put all my attention on it.
Act without question.
'Fore I can wonder
if I even heard it at all.
'Fore I can understand what it mean.
Hmm.
I thought God
wanted me to go get my husband.
John was just a way to steer me to where I was needed.
There I was with a suit and no husband.
-I felt a fool. -He's the fool.
God have other plans for me, Mr. Still.
I'm beginning to understand that.
Which is why I'm bringing you here.
-Evening, Martin. -Evening, Mr. Still.
(INDISTINCT CHATTER)
Who are these people?
This is the Committee.
The organizers and officers of the Underground Railroad,
dedicated to helping slaves escape bondage.
No one sees this.
Only the initiated.
Ladies and gentlemen.
May I present to you a most extraordinary woman,
Mrs. Harriet Tubman.
Harriet escaped from slavery herself only a year ago,
and she's already gone back to liberate others.
She brought back nine souls, lost none.
In recognition of her bravery and skill,
we welcome her to the Committee
as a conductor on the Railroad.
HARRIET: What's a conductor?
WILLIAM: A conductor accompanies slaves or passengers
to safe houses or stations run by stationmasters.
(SINGING) Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land...
WILLIAM: The bravest conductors steal slaves directly from the plantation,
right under the overseer's nose.
(SINGING) Let my people go
WILLIAM: They have the hardest jobs.
(SINGING) Oh, sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Where you gonna run to?
All on that day
Well, I run to the rock
Please hide me, I run to the rock
Please hide me, Lord
All on that day
So I run to the river
(DOGS BARKING)
It was bleedin', I run to the sea
It was bleedin'
All on that day
So I run to the river
It was boilin', I run to the sea
It was boilin'
All on that day
So I run to the Lord
Please hide me, Lord
Don't you see me prayin'?
Don't you see me down here prayin'?
I cried, power
-Power -Power, Lord
Massa's wife branded me with a hot iron.
Called me "nigger" like it was my name.
The day I reminded him my name was Mack,
he beat me senseless.
If I told her I was leaving,
she would've carried on so everybody would've knowed about it.
I couldn't say goodbye.
Welcome. Welcome, welcome.
My sister's in danger. You told me you could rescue her.
I told you I'd try, and we have.
She works in the Brodess house.
She's been impossible to reach.
-I can reach her. -No!
It's reckless to try something like that right now. I forbid it.
You forbid it?
(SIGHS)
Harriet, these are dangerous times.
Everybody everywhere is looking for you.
They looking for Moses.
I'm going back.
ELIZA: Rachel, get me my medicine and come upstairs. I have a headache.
-And get me another brandy. -Yes'm.
-And clean up this place. -Yes'm.
(PEBBLE CLATTERS)
Minty.
-Minty, why you here? -Come with me.
Minty, Massa Gideon and Miss Eliza been full of the devil
since you and the boys run off.
They took my babies, won't tell me where they be.
They know I won't go nowhere without my children.
We'll find 'em, Rachel, I promise.
My network will find 'em and bring them up north,
-but you got to come with me now. -No. I can't.
-I won't. -ELIZA: Rachel!
I ain't leaving you.
I ain't leaving my babies.
You try and force me, I'll scream.
ELIZA: Rachel, where are you? Get in here!
Wait, wait.
What about Mary, Robert's wife? She still here?
She found another man, Minty.
Don't judge her, Minty.
Don't you dare judge us.
We do what we got to, to stay sane.
Can't everybody run.
Lord,
I need you to watch over my sister and her children
till I can bring 'em to freedom.
Protect her, Lord.
Don't let 'em hurt her worse.
(GUN COCKING)
-You the one they call Moses. -You asking me or you telling me?
-I want to offer my services. -What services they be?
Well, I can do most any job, A to Z.
Know the woods, the rivers around here, most folks in 'em.
-Name's Walter. -Why should I trust you, Walter?
Most folks definitely should not.
But I figured, since you talk to God,
and it seem like he talk back,
maybe you could introduce us.
I got some explaining to do.
-(MEN SHOUTING IN DISTANCE) -Right now, we got to go.
(WHISTLES)
(DOGS BARKING IN DISTANCE)
(BARKING AND SHOUTING GETTING LOUDER)
Stop them!
MAN: What's going to be done about Moses?
This fiend is threatening our very existence.
They say he's as black as the night.
MAN 1: He's one of those white abolitionists in blackface.
MAN 2: Congress must pass the Fugitive Slave Act now!
(ALL SHOUTING IN AGREEMENT)
MAN 2: It's time to act!
Do you have news?
A slave out at Vern's farm heard a rumor.
Said that slave that led your slaves off, the one y'all been looking so hard for,
is the one they call Moses.
No, Moses ain't a nigger.
And he ain't no woman.
Now, he's an abolitionist in blackface.
Or maybe,
maybe she a little old thing about yea high,
called Harriet Tubman.
I don't know no nigger named Harriet Tubman.
What about Araminta Ross?
(SCOFFS)
Well, I hear she hiding out in Philadelphia.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
This boat going north?
It's going back to Baltimore.
Wait, what's got everybody so riled up?
They passed the Fugitive Slave Act.
Save yourself.
We got to head north now.
-Not without my brothers. -Harriet.
Wait. Wait for me. I'll be back.
Bring 'em on.
We're going north!
WILLIAM: Listen to me, fugitives, beware.
There are slave hunters in our midst.
Congress has passed the Fugitive Slave Act,
which allows slave hunters to pursue slaves
in any state in the Union,
and obliges law enforcement to turn over fugitives.
Now, you fought to get here, prepare to fight again
or flee even further north to Canada.
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
HARRIET: William! William!
Harriet, thank God.
I sent five men looking for you.
Look, we have to get you on a train north.
I put your family on the last train with Douglass. He'll see
-they get safely to the border, all right? -Thank you.
I'll stay and fight as long as my family's safe.
No, no, no.
For the sake of the entire network, we have to get you out.
Okay. I'll be at the dock in 15 minutes.
I have to say goodbye to Marie.
-Hurry. -Okay.
WILLIAM: Leave him be! Let him go now!
This is a free man. He has the papers to prove it.
MAN 1: Come on now.
MAN 2: There he go. Right over there.
MARIE: You get your hands off of me!
Don't you touch me!
MAN: Where is she? MARIE: You missed her.
Tell us where she is.
MARIE: I told you, God's got plans for her.
-MAN: What plans are those? -Wouldn't you like to know, cracker?
But she's got to live long enough to do God's will.
She knows that.
She's smarter than you.
Let me go! Let me go! You...
She's not here.
Let's go.
What you waiting on, traitor?
Massa hollered, you better jump.
(MARIE GROANS)
Marie.
(SOBBING)
MAN 1: No more! We filled up! MAN 2: Do not run!
In the name of God, you have the right to be free!
Stay and fight.
God is on your side.
GIDEON: Minty! Don't you move!
(GUNSHOT)
Harriet!
-(WOMEN SCREAMING) -(GUNS COCKING)
Marie, they killed her.
You got to get on the boat now, come on.
Make sure she's safe.
It's all right.
You're safe now.
GREEN: Dear Harriet and family,
it breaks my heart to write you with such sad news.
Your sister Rachel has gone to meet that good friend of the slave,
the angel of death.
I'm content that she has found peace at last.
I pray for her children.
Yours with affection and sorrow,
Reverend Samuel Green.
Harriet.
So sorry to hear about your sister.
I failed her, William.
We failed her.
Harriet, this is Senator William Seward.
Miss Tubman.
It's an honor to welcome you to my home.
My condolences.
How can I help?
MAN: Five hundred miles.
Five hundred miles from the Mason-Dixon Line to Canada.
An unimaginable distance.
Slave-catchers are monitoring all northbound travel.
God help the man without free papers.
WILLIAM: How are we gonna get our passengers
from the southern farms and plantations
all the way to the border of Canada?
We can't keep trying to outrun them.
We have to fight.
The only way to make the Fugitive Slave Law a dead letter
is to make half a dozen or more dead slave-catchers.
That will cool their ardor.
He may be right.
Civil war might be our only hope.
We can't just give up and wait for war.
We need to get back to work bringing slaves to freedom,
by train or carriage, horseback, on foot if necessary.
Harriet,
the journey from Maryland to Canada is 600 miles from the Canadian border.
Your longest trip was a hundred.
Now, that would take months, not weeks. You can't...
I ain't giving up rescuing slaves because it's far.
Many of you don't know slavery firsthand.
You were born free.
You been free so long, you forget what it's like.
You've gotten comfortable and important.
You got beautiful homes, beautiful wives.
But I remember.
Children beat for not working,
'fore they understand what work is.
Girls raped 'fore they first blood.
Brothers whipped till they back in ribbons.
Sisters sold from they babies.
Trying not to think of what they went through.
Those still enslaved are going through right now.
But I...
I've heard they groans and they sighs.
I've seen they tears.
And I would give every last drop of blood in my veins to free 'em.
So, I ain't giving up.
I'm-a do what I got to do,
go wherever I got to go,
however I got to do it,
to free as many slaves as possible
till this beast,
this monster called slavery is slain dead.
Amen.
(ALL APPLAUDING)
(DISTANT RUMBLING)
HARRIET: Come on, we're almost there.
GREEN: So, I want y'all to be ready.
Time is running out.
CROWD: Yeah. GREEN: Yes, it is.
CROWD: Yeah.
(SINGING) I see the sign
ALL: (SINGING)Yeah
-I see the sign -Yeah
I see the sign
Hey, Lord, time's running out
It's the sign of the judgment
-Hey -It's the sign of the judgment
-Hey -Sign of the judgment
Hey, Lord, time's running out
-Gotta run to the rock -Hey
Gotta run to the rock
-Hey -Gotta run to the rock
Hey, Lord, time's running out
-No hiding place -Hey
No hiding place
-Hey -No hiding place...
Your daddy about to be arrested
for harboring a group of fugitives from Dover.
One of 'em got caught and confessed.
They on their way to arrest your daddy right now.
I suggest we get on.
(SINGING) Hey, Lord
-Time's running out -No hiding place
-Hey -No hiding place
-Hey -No hiding place...
-You build what I asked for? -Close as I could.
It'll have to do.
(GASPS)
It's Minty.
Don't scream.
I come to get you.
We gonna get Daddy, too.
Now, I'm gonna let go, but you can't scream. All right?
-Oh! Oh, sweet Jesus! -(SHUSHING)
Then take me.
I'm ready to go. Take me home.
I want to see my daughters.
I want to see my babies.
Mama, I ain't no angel come to take you to heaven.
It's Minty,
come to take you north.
You're not my Minty.
My Minty just a plain girl.
I'm Harriet Tubman.
I'm Moses.
That's right.
Moses the slave stealer.
Now, I need you to do exactly what I say.
Where's Daddy?
I can't pull my eyes from you.
I needs to look at you.
Now, who you come for now?
You, Daddy.
Me?
You been harboring fugitives?
One of 'em got caught and talked.
They coming for you.
We got to go right now.
Okay. Okay.
Ben, our Minty Moses.
The one everyone carrying on about.
I know, I know.
I'm gonna take you north to see Robert, Henry, and Junyah.
But first I need you and Daddy to go to Reverend Green's church.
-You'll be safe there. -BEN: Okay.
Hurry. Then meet me at Brodess Farm.
Yes, boss.
No more. I don't want it.
It's for your nerves, Mama.
-I don't want it! -(CUTLERY CLATTERS)
That girl is trying to poison me.
She blames me for her mother.
Mama, you're just anxious.
I am suffocating in this place.
It's like being in prison,
awaiting my execution,
surrounded by hostile, black-faced guards.
MAN: (SHOUTS) Gideon!
Gideon!
Get him down here.
-We need restitution. -Absolutely.
Seeing as it's been discovered that Moses is
a nigger girl from your farm,
we think it's only appropriate that you pay us restitutions
-for our lost property. -ALL: Yeah!
We don't have that kind of money.
Where's Mama?
Out with Massa Gideon.
We're going through hard times, like the rest of you.
-Then you're gonna have to sell the farm. -ALL: Yeah!
No!
No.
We are victims of this diabolical nigger, just like you are!
She went out?
Girl, go get us some more brandy from the storeroom.
I got a better idea.
Don't be scared, Anger.
I'm your mama's sister. We family.
Where's your brother, Anger?
The trader carry him off.
Our crops are meager, our fortune all but gone.
My livelihood, my very health has been ravaged!
-We are victims, just like you. -ALL: Yeah.
MAN 1: She's right. MAN 2: Praise be to God.
(GUN COCKS)
Who the hell are you?
Call me whatever you want.
That's what you white folks do.
Now, we need to work together
to find this thief
and burn her at the stake like Joan of Arc!
ALL: Yes! Yes! MAN: She's right!
And I have a plan.
I'll put her sister's child up for auction.
Post notices everywhere.
You ready?
This is for my sister and her son.
(WHIMPERING)
HARRIET: Give my regards to your mother and your brother.
ELIZA: Harriet Tubman will come for her niece.
And when she does,
we will be waiting for her!
ALL: That's right!
-Where's Foxx? -Tied up in the shitter.
-Let's go. -Wait a minute.
(SINGING) Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt's land
Tell old Pharaoh
To let my people go
We're gonna need a bigger cart.
(GASPS)
Wait, wait.
Take me with you, please.
My massa trying to kill me.
We definitely gonna need a bigger cart.
-MAN: Whoa! Hey! -(HORSE WHINNIES)
They gonna have to come this way.
We got every other way blocked off.
The letter of the law must be obeyed
and every precaution taken to bring this dangerous wench in alive.
Rest assured,
she will be tried and executed by the harshest methods available,
as dictated by the laws of the State of Maryland.
I'm gonna wet myself.
HARRIET: You know your massa better than the lines in your hand.
Be him.
MAN: Whoa! Whoa!
Gentlemen, good day. What's all this?
Slave stealers on the loose.
That devil Moses.
We got a surprise for her.
I hope you catch that bitch and hang her 'fore mine get any ideas.
Any of them even breathe that name on my farm,
I'll beat 'em into Sunday.
Strange times,
when a man can't trust his own slaves.
Best of luck to you.
Ho! Ho!
We're gonna have to check the cart, sir.
Sorry to inconvenience you.
NED: Hang on.
Are you related to Luther Grant?
Yes, sir.
He's my daddy.
I thought I saw the resemblance.
You tell your daddy he owes me a whiskey.
Tell him Ned Utley hasn't forgotten.
All right, y'all have a nice day. Come on.
-You, too, Sheriff. -Step back.
Okay.
Any sign of 'em?
NED: Not yet.
Just the usual foot traffic and horse traffic and a few farmers.
Luther Grant's son came by with a freight wagon full of corn.
-Luther Grant's son? -NED: That's right.
Looked just like him.
All right, you boys, now, why don't you go head over here?
Luther Grant ain't got a son.
He's got five daughters and a nigger girl looks like him.
By the time these crackers figure out she got past 'em,
she'll be long gone.
Now, we know she's headed up north.
We should find 'em, collect the reward for ourselves.
Maybe you can get some alone time with her.
(CLICKS TONGUE)
Tell me about it again.
Senator Seward sold me a nice house on his property.
Big enough for everybody.
You and Daddy,
Robert,
Henry, Junyah, and Anger, too.
No massa forcing us to do nothing.
We gonna be together.
I'm gonna spoil you
and take care of you.
I love you, Mama.
I love you, too, Minty.
It's empty.
Come on!
Get everybody under cover. Now.
Get under.
Hurry.
-We got company. -All right, let's go.
Walter,
promise me that you'll get Anger and my parents to safety.
Why? What are you...
I can't have Gideon coming after 'em.
You want to help me? Help my family.
Get 'em to safety.
Promise me.
-All right. All right. -All right.
Go on, now.
Let's go.
Get her!
I want her alive.
-Hyah! Hyah! -(WHINNIES)
(GUN CLICKS)
You gonna die, bitch.
(GUNSHOT)
Alive, I said.
Minty!
Name's Harriet.
Toss your gun.
Toss your gun!
(GROANS)
Off your horse.
On your knees.
Didn't have to end like this.
You could have stayed with us,
if only you knew how to behave.
But you were unruly and untamed.
I guess that's what I liked about you.
And you liked me, too.
I know you did.
Praying for me when I was sick,
asking God to keep me well.
I asked God how a sickly little boy could think he owned me.
I do own you, Minty.
Even now, you're mine.
I was never yours, Gideon.
I was never nobody's property.
Ever since your daddy sold my sisters,
I prayed for God to make me strong enough to fight.
And that's what I prayed for ever since.
I reasoned that there was one or two things I had a right to.
Liberty or death.
If I couldn't have one, I'd have the other.
You know what they're gonna do to you when they catch you?
They will tear you limb from limb,
tar you, and burn you alive.
And even if I'm not there to watch it,
I can almost smell it now.
Like roasting pig.
You gonna die right here.
On a freezing, blood-soaked battlefield.
The moans of a generation of young men
dying around you in agony
for a lost cause.
For a vile and wicked idea.
For the sin of slavery.
(GHOSTLY WAILING)
Can you hear 'em?
(WAILING INTENSIFIES)
God don't mean people to own people, Gideon.
Our time is near.
You tried to destroy my family,
but you can't.
You tried to destroy my people, but you won't.
God has shown me the future,
and my people are free.
My people are free!
HARRIET: Suppose there's a snake coiled at your feet,
and it shoots up to bite you.
Folks get scared and send for a doctor to cut out the bite.
But the snake, he roll up there.
And while the doctor cutting,
he bites you again,
in a new place this time.
Finally you realize the snake ain't gonna stop
till someone kills it.
Slavery is still alive.
Those rice fields downriver are feeding rebel troops
with the toil of a thousand slaves still in bondage.
Our mission is to free those slaves.
We've waited years to be allowed to fight in this war
against our own enslavement, and it will not be won without us.
Now is our time.
-You ready to kill the snake? -ALL: Yes!
HARRIET: (SINGING) Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God is gonna trouble
These waters
Ready.
(GUNSHOTS)