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(Cymbal rings)

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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(woman singing) 
♪ Go down, Moses way down ♪

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♪ in Egypt's land
Tell ole Pharaoh ♪

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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(sound of flash) 
♪ Let my people go ♪

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(soft inquisitive music)

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(fire blazing)
(metal clanging)

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[Kate Larson]
She would hear voices.

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She would hear singing.

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She would see fire burning,
or she would hear water rushing.

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(water rushing)

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[Angela Crenshaw] She would have
very, very vivid dreams

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of her flying over fields
as a free woman.

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[Harriet Tubman]
God's time is always near.

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He set the North Star
in the heavens.

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He gave me the strength
in my limbs.

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He meant...I should be free.

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(thunder clasp)

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[Jeffrey Ludwig] She often
believes that these voices

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and visions are...are direct
from the divine

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when she's in the open on the
Underground Railroad.

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[Kristen T. Oertel] Her visions
did mark her path

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at different points and frankly,
often gave her a sense

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of invincibility.

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(sound of flash)
(single breath)

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[Chris Haley] She was a very
small woman, (crow cawing)

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she was no larger than
five feet tall (chuckles)

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but she was able to escape and
free 70 or more persons

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back and forth,
and back and forth,

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knowing that each and every time
she was risking her life

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and risking the lives
of those persons

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that she brought with her.

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[Ludwig] Harriet Tubman is
famous as a conductor

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on the Underground Railroad.

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But she was also a leading
abolitionist,

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a friend of some of the most
powerful men and women reformers

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and radicals of her day,
a suffragette,

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a spy, a scout,
she's a Civil War soldier.

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[Karen Hill] One of the things
that Harriet believed in

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is that God didn't mean for
anybody to be a slave.

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Freedom should be universal.

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It should be universal.

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(soft inquisitive music)

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♪ ♪

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[Tubman] In the Eastern Shore
of Maryland,

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Dorchester County is where
I was born.

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I remember, I prayed to God
to make me strong

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and able to fight

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and that's what I've
prayed for ever since.

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♪ ♪

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[Narrator] In 1822, an enslaved
couple named Ben and Rit

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welcomed a little girl named
Araminta.

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The new baby was born
in Maryland.

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In the states to the north,
slavery was already outlawed,

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while Maryland and the states
to the south relied on

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enslaved labor.

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[Erica Dunbar] Maryland was in
transition in the 19th century

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and more specifically on the
Eastern Shore of Maryland,

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where enslavers typically had
smaller plots of land,

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smaller numbers of enslaved
people working their farms.

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It really created a different
kind of economy.

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One that required many enslavers
to rent out the people

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they called their property.

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Harriet Tubman,
by the time she's five,

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six years old she becomes
caught up in that web

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of being hired out.

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♪ Hmmmmm, Hmmmmm, Ohhhh ♪

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[Marisa Fuentes] A childhood
experience in slavery

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is not a childhood.

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The idea here is that slavery
was a profit driven industry

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and slave owners extracted
the most profit

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from all of their enslaved
people throughout their lives.

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♪ Well, I wonder will
I ever get back home again ♪

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[Mia Bay] Harriet Tubman's
experience of a child

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was particularly hard.

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She did things like work in the
swamps catching muskrats,

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where she got very sick
and contracted measles

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and eventually became so ill,
she had to be sent home.

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♪ Well, it must have been a
devil who put me here, Yeaaa ♪

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[Larson] She was required
to clean the house

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at six years old.

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Um, she didn't know how
to clean a house.

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She also had to babysit
a colicky baby

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who would cry a lot.

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And every time the baby cried,
then the mistress would whip

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um, six-year-old Minty.

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♪ Yeaaa, Oh Lord ♪

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[Cheryl LaRoche] Life indoors
can be dangerous.

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You know this whole business
about people in the house

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having privilege,
people in the house are exposed

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to the slaveholder constantly.

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When Tubman talks about being
with these white women

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who are enslaving her, it's the
wrath and the violence of these

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women that are visiting upon
this child.

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♪ ♪

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[Farah Griffin] We certainly
have myths of white mistresses

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being the kind slave owner--
are, you know,

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aren't as cruel as their
husbands.

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In truth...oftentimes,
women were just as cruel,

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if not more so.

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They identified with their
husbands.

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They identified with white
supremacy, with white men.

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And they had the access which
allowed for a greater kind

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of intimate cruelty on
a day to day basis.

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(woman singing)

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♪ No more, My Lord
No more, My Lord ♪

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[Narrator] Young Minty came to
prefer working outdoors,

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where she could breathe just
a little freer.

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♪ Lord I'll never turn back... ♪

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[Narrator] She relished any
chance to work outside alongside

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her father Ben, who was forced
to live apart from the family

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because he was enslaved
by different owners.

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[Haley] At the core of
slavery is the disunion

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of the family unit.

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It was, 'I'm going to sell your
little girl,

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if you, if you don't obey me.'

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Then, that's the fear.

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[Erica Dunbar] Families like
Araminta's could be separated,

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really at the drop of a dime.

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Sometimes, you were sold...away
from your family and...and

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friends never to be heard
from again.

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So that concern about,
uh...sale was something

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that struck fear, terror,
into the hearts of men and women

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all around the Chesapeake.

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(solemn music)

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[Dunbar] One of the things
happening throughout

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the early part of
the 19th century

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was the tremendous growth of
cotton production.

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How that completely transformed
the lives of enslaved people.

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How it moved men and women
further south to grow

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what was basically white gold
across the Southern landscape.

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[Narrator] The fear of being
sold to the Deep South was real

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and ever present for enslaved
people in Maryland,

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like Minty and everyone
she knew.

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[Larson] Slave sales
were constant,

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every week they were going on.

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(somber music)

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Slave traders from the
Deep South would roam

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the Eastern Shore of Maryland,
for instance,

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and purchase...um...enslaved
people and take them

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to the Deep South.

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♪ ♪

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And enslaved people
in Maryland knew that,

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that was a death sentence.

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The average lifespan
for an enslaved person

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who was purchased in the
Chesapeake and brought

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to Mississippi or Louisiana,
uh, was about seven years.

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(people chattering)
(music from street)

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[Mia Bay] Buying slaves was
something that people

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participated in very
enthusiastically.

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Slave auctions were kind of
a social occasion

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in which a lot of people would
come around,

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sort of look and see what
was there.

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Buying a slave was something
that many Whites saw

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as sort of a realization of
sort of all their hopes

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about sort of future wealth
because they thought that slaves

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were an investment.

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(people chattering)

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[Narrator] By 1860, the assessed
value of enslaved people

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was more than three billion
dollars,

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more than all industry in
the North combined.

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Prices for enslaved people
varied by sex, size,

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age, and health.

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Women aged 16 to 24 often
commanded the highest prices

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at markets throughout the South,
because their bodies

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had the potential to create more
wealth for their owners.

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[Dale Green] Typically,
the slave market was situated

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within the environment of
the court house,

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the green, the public lawn where
the enslaved are bought,

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sold, and traded.

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[Oertel] The reality and the
brutality of slavery

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was front and center.

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You know, a woman who's
hysterical and crying

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because she's about to be sold
away from her children,

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that's out in the open air for
anyone to see.

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(eerie music)

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[Narrator] Minty witnessed
the horror firsthand.

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She watched, helplessly, as her
older sisters Linah and Soph

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were dragged away in chains,
screaming,

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their children ripped from
their arms.

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It was a memory that would haunt
her for the rest of her life.

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(tense music)

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[Adam Goodheart]
She lived under constant threat,

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constant terror of being
separated forever

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from her loved ones.

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When you imagine the
psychological impact

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that this had on a small child,
it was a life of...of terror,

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of violence, of separation,
and oppression.

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(suspenseful music)

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[Narrator] When Minty Ross
was about thirteen,

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she paid a visit to a store in
Bucktown, Maryland;

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one she had likely entered
countless times before.

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But this visit was different.

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A chance encounter would
change her life forever.

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[Marisa Fuentes] So,
she was in a general store

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when an enslaved boy runs in
being chased by his owner

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or overseer.

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And she is being asked
to hold on to him.

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[Dunbar] She refuses to do it.

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The overseer is so furious,
he picks up ah,

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a heavy metal weight and he
hurls it in the direction

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of the enslaved man who's,
who's run.

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But it connects with
Arminta's head.

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It literally fractures
her skull.

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[Tubman] "They carried me
to the house,

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all bleeding and fainting.

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I had no bed, no place
to lie on at all.

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And I stayed there all day
and next."

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[Larson] It took her months
to recover.

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She had no medical care.

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And it left her suffering with
seizures her entire life,

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and horrific headaches.

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And sometimes these seizures
would come upon her

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without notice.

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She'd be in the field working
and she would just fall

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to the ground and she would have
tremendous visionary activity.

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She sometimes felt that she was
floating above the earth,

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and looking down at the people
watching her

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lying on the ground.

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[Dunbar] We don't think about
Harriet Tubman as someone

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who lived with a disability,
but she did.

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She sometimes referred to
them as sleeping spells.

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And it was during these sort
of moments of either semi

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or unconsciousness that she
would see things,

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that she understood as signposts
from her God.

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[Fergus Bordewich]
The visionary side

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of Harriet Tubman conflated,
with the intense religiosity

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of the time and place
so that her visions

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had a religious dimension
and she interpreted them

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as religious.

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(solemn music)

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[Narrator] As soon as Minty
regained her health, her owner,

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Edward Brodess,
hired her out again.

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But as she got older,
Minty saw a way

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to use Brodess' greed
to her advantage.

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She offered to pay him a yearly
fee for the privilege

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of hiring herself out to masters
of her own choosing.

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And her world started to open.

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[Larson] She worked in the house
and then in their fields,

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and they were merchants
and shipbuilders,

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and so they sent her to the
docks and she would load

243
00:13:49,633 --> 00:13:54,066
and unload things from the
ships coming into port.

244
00:13:54,066 --> 00:13:55,900
And she became very,
very strong.

245
00:13:55,900 --> 00:13:58,700
Eventually, she was allowed
to work in the forest

246
00:13:58,700 --> 00:14:01,933
with her father who was an
expert lumberjack,

247
00:14:01,933 --> 00:14:04,666
timber foreman,
and ship carpenter.

248
00:14:04,666 --> 00:14:08,566
And um, she became even stronger
and more capable.

249
00:14:10,566 --> 00:14:11,900
[Douglas Armstrong] She wasn't
just in one locality,

250
00:14:11,900 --> 00:14:15,233
but moving around from
place to place.

251
00:14:15,233 --> 00:14:17,400
It wouldn't have been shocking
to see Harriet Tubman

252
00:14:17,400 --> 00:14:20,900
on the roads in,
in Dorchester County.

253
00:14:20,900 --> 00:14:24,333
Um, and she knew the landscape
because of her travels.

254
00:14:25,500 --> 00:14:27,933
[LaRoche] She's a woman
who's outside.

255
00:14:27,933 --> 00:14:30,133
The watermen that she
may be interacting with

256
00:14:30,133 --> 00:14:31,333
from the Chesapeake are...

257
00:14:31,333 --> 00:14:34,166
Watermen are very knowledgeable,
worldly people,

258
00:14:34,166 --> 00:14:36,100
they carry the information
because they're on

259
00:14:36,100 --> 00:14:39,433
the information highway
which is the waters.

260
00:14:39,433 --> 00:14:42,700
So, she may have gleaned quite
a bit of information

261
00:14:42,700 --> 00:14:44,533
from these watermen.

262
00:14:45,766 --> 00:14:47,966
(inquisitive music)

263
00:14:47,966 --> 00:14:50,233
[Narrator] In many ways,
the border state of

264
00:14:50,233 --> 00:14:52,666
Maryland was unique.

265
00:14:52,666 --> 00:14:56,566
There was a large network of
over 60,000 free Blacks,

266
00:14:56,566 --> 00:14:58,833
who lived and worked
side by side

267
00:14:58,833 --> 00:15:03,133
with nearly 90,000 enslaved.

268
00:15:03,133 --> 00:15:06,633
In this mix of enslaved
and free,

269
00:15:06,633 --> 00:15:12,566
the taste of freedom was real
and tangible.

270
00:15:12,566 --> 00:15:15,433
[Bay] One of the distinctive
features of being enslaved

271
00:15:15,433 --> 00:15:17,633
in Maryland is that you're
enslaved in one

272
00:15:17,633 --> 00:15:19,800
of the border states,
so you're not very far

273
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:21,633
from freedom at any point.

274
00:15:21,633 --> 00:15:24,100
[Fuentes] And that possibility
kind of changed the way

275
00:15:24,100 --> 00:15:28,166
that you could experience,
um, your enslavement.

276
00:15:28,166 --> 00:15:30,833
That there was a hopefulness,
perhaps,

277
00:15:30,833 --> 00:15:32,700
that you carried with you.

278
00:15:32,700 --> 00:15:36,366
(gentle music)

279
00:15:36,366 --> 00:15:40,166
[Narrator] Around 1844,
Minty met a free Black man

280
00:15:40,166 --> 00:15:43,333
named John Tubman.

281
00:15:43,333 --> 00:15:44,800
When they married,

282
00:15:44,800 --> 00:15:49,700
Araminta Ross became
Harriet Tubman.

283
00:15:49,700 --> 00:15:52,766
[Dunbar] When we think about
the union between

284
00:15:52,766 --> 00:15:55,366
an enslaved woman and
a free man,

285
00:15:55,366 --> 00:15:59,300
we automatically say, "Why
on earth would a free person,

286
00:15:59,300 --> 00:16:05,933
a free man, make the decision
to marry an enslaved woman?

287
00:16:05,933 --> 00:16:07,600
Why would he do that?

288
00:16:07,600 --> 00:16:13,600
Why would he ensure that any
children they were to have

289
00:16:13,600 --> 00:16:16,166
would be enslaved?"

290
00:16:16,166 --> 00:16:17,333
(church bell chimes)

291
00:16:17,333 --> 00:16:20,100
[Dunbar] And I always sort
of answer that question

292
00:16:20,100 --> 00:16:24,266
with a one word answer,
which is "love."

293
00:16:24,266 --> 00:16:27,266
(tower bell chimes)

294
00:16:27,266 --> 00:16:32,066
[Narrator] In the fall of 1849,
Harriet's owner, Edward Brodess,

295
00:16:32,066 --> 00:16:35,966
died, leaving his widow deeply
in debt.

296
00:16:35,966 --> 00:16:37,800
(dramatic music)

297
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:40,833
[Narrator] Enslaved people knew
that the death of a master

298
00:16:40,833 --> 00:16:43,300
meant trouble for them.

299
00:16:43,300 --> 00:16:48,733
Human property was often used
to settle debts.

300
00:16:48,733 --> 00:16:51,100
After Harriet watched the
widow Brodess sell

301
00:16:51,100 --> 00:16:54,133
one group of enslaved people
at auction,

302
00:16:54,133 --> 00:16:59,000
she decided to leave everyone,
and everything she knew

303
00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,300
and loved - to run.

304
00:17:02,300 --> 00:17:05,400
(dramtic music)

305
00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:08,233
[Rev. Paul Carter] She tried to
convince her husband, John,

306
00:17:08,233 --> 00:17:11,900
to go along with her, but he
was not having any of that.

307
00:17:11,900 --> 00:17:15,466
I don't think he was ready to
make that trip to the North,

308
00:17:15,466 --> 00:17:17,866
understanding that if he was
captured,

309
00:17:17,866 --> 00:17:21,533
then all the freedom that he did
have would be taken instantly.

310
00:17:21,533 --> 00:17:22,766
(crunching of leaves
under footsteps)

311
00:17:22,766 --> 00:17:24,100
(eerie music)

312
00:17:24,100 --> 00:17:29,433
[Narrator] On September 17, 1849
leaving her husband John behind,

313
00:17:29,433 --> 00:17:34,333
Harriet Tubman stole away into
the night with her two brothers,

314
00:17:34,333 --> 00:17:36,466
Ben and Henry.

315
00:17:36,466 --> 00:17:41,166
♪ Oh, Run Run Mourner, Run,
Bright Angel Above ♪

316
00:17:41,166 --> 00:17:43,533
♪ Oh, Run Run Mourner, Run ♪

317
00:17:43,533 --> 00:17:44,866
[Narrator] As soon as
Eliza Brodess found

318
00:17:44,866 --> 00:17:48,333
that they were gone, she posted
a reward for their capture.

319
00:17:50,233 --> 00:17:53,266
[Ed Baptist] Ran away from the
subscriber on Monday the 17th.

320
00:17:53,266 --> 00:17:55,800
Three Negroes named as follows.

321
00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,933
Harry, aged about 19 years.

322
00:17:58,933 --> 00:18:02,633
Ben, aged about 25 years,
is very quick to speak

323
00:18:02,633 --> 00:18:04,300
when spoken to.

324
00:18:04,300 --> 00:18:08,866
Minty, aged about 27 years,
is of a chestnut color,

325
00:18:08,866 --> 00:18:11,566
fine looking at about
five feet high.

326
00:18:11,566 --> 00:18:14,233
100 dollars' reward will be
given for each of the above

327
00:18:14,233 --> 00:18:17,600
named Negroes,
Eliza Ann Brodess

328
00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,066
near Bucktown,
Dorchester County, Maryland.

329
00:18:22,066 --> 00:18:26,533
That ad is what we call
a runaway ad.

330
00:18:26,533 --> 00:18:29,933
This is one of between
100,000 and 200,000

331
00:18:29,933 --> 00:18:33,366
such ads that were placed
before the end of slavery.

332
00:18:35,966 --> 00:18:38,300
[Griffin] It's a lie when they
said people just accepted

333
00:18:38,300 --> 00:18:41,566
slavery and didn't resist
because they're a genre

334
00:18:41,566 --> 00:18:43,366
in and of themselves.

335
00:18:43,366 --> 00:18:45,366
♪ Bright angel above... ♪

336
00:18:45,366 --> 00:18:47,033
They tell us a great deal about
the owners,

337
00:18:47,033 --> 00:18:50,400
what the owners valued, what the
owners found problematic.

338
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,600
Some of them will talk about
their...someone's arrogance

339
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:56,400
or someone's concern with
their appearance

340
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:58,566
or someone's feistiness.

341
00:18:58,566 --> 00:19:02,033
♪ Escape for your life... ♪

342
00:19:02,033 --> 00:19:05,866
[Baptist] But I think,
they were effective.

343
00:19:05,866 --> 00:19:09,466
The vast majority of runaways
were recaptured.

344
00:19:09,466 --> 00:19:19,400
♪ Oh, Run Run Mourner, Run
Bright Angel, Above ♪

345
00:19:19,400 --> 00:19:24,400
♪ If I just had to wait,
Bright Angel, Above ♪

346
00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,766
♪ If I just had to wait ♪

347
00:19:26,766 --> 00:19:29,633
[LaRoche] The ways to
deter escaping are,

348
00:19:29,633 --> 00:19:32,233
there's a long list.

349
00:19:32,233 --> 00:19:34,433
♪ Bright angel above... ♪

350
00:19:34,433 --> 00:19:38,533
There is of course,
death,

351
00:19:38,533 --> 00:19:41,733
whipping,

352
00:19:41,733 --> 00:19:42,933
and of course, being maimed.

353
00:19:42,933 --> 00:19:44,600
You know,
they cut your Achilles tendon.

354
00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:47,200
They cut off your toes.

355
00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:49,333
There are those slave collars
that are put on

356
00:19:49,333 --> 00:19:53,266
with the long prongs that get
caught in the-in the shrubs

357
00:19:53,266 --> 00:19:55,200
and in the thickets.

358
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,700
There's ball and chain.

359
00:19:57,700 --> 00:19:59,733
There's branding.

360
00:19:59,733 --> 00:20:02,166
People get branded,
an R on their cheeks.

361
00:20:02,166 --> 00:20:04,766
♪ Escape for your life... ♪

362
00:20:04,766 --> 00:20:07,333
So, there are multiple
deterrents.

363
00:20:07,333 --> 00:20:10,166
♪ Escape for your life,
Bright Angel... ♪

364
00:20:10,166 --> 00:20:12,733
[Gerard Aching] Enslaved people
are living within situations

365
00:20:12,733 --> 00:20:15,200
of racial terror.

366
00:20:15,200 --> 00:20:19,233
And that is physical
and psychological,

367
00:20:19,233 --> 00:20:20,800
that it may not have happened
to you,

368
00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:22,900
but you've seen it happen
to others.

369
00:20:22,900 --> 00:20:24,666
And in that-that spectacle,

370
00:20:24,666 --> 00:20:26,466
that's part of the racial
terror.

371
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,833
 
To communicate to everybody
on the plantation

372
00:20:30,833 --> 00:20:33,400
that you don't cross certain
boundaries.

373
00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:38,366
♪ I fly away to the Kingdom
Bright Angels Above ♪

374
00:20:38,366 --> 00:20:46,300
♪ ♪

375
00:20:46,300 --> 00:20:49,200
[LaRoche] When Harriet and her
brothers escape,

376
00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:54,600
her brothers began to fight with
her about the dangers ahead

377
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:56,700
and they weren't sure about
the direction.

378
00:20:56,700 --> 00:20:59,800
And she says,
"They dragged her back."

379
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:04,000
(somber music)

380
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,766
[Narrator] By returning, she
faced sale to the Deep South,

381
00:21:07,766 --> 00:21:12,066
severe whipping, or death.

382
00:21:12,066 --> 00:21:14,433
But Tubman didn't stay long.

383
00:21:14,433 --> 00:21:20,533
Within days, she set out again,
alone.

384
00:21:20,533 --> 00:21:23,666
This time there would be
no turning back.

385
00:21:25,033 --> 00:21:28,666
Tubman would later reflect
on her decision.

386
00:21:28,666 --> 00:21:32,133
[Tubman] There was one or two
things I had a right to -

387
00:21:32,133 --> 00:21:34,433
liberty or death.

388
00:21:34,433 --> 00:21:39,733
If I could not have one,
I would have the other.

389
00:21:39,733 --> 00:21:43,533
[LaRoche] She was determined,
even at that age, to escape,

390
00:21:43,533 --> 00:21:46,466
fi...to remove her body
from harm.

391
00:21:46,466 --> 00:21:50,600
You know, the body in slavery is
the thing that is the commodity.

392
00:21:50,600 --> 00:21:53,033
And she was determined
to get that commodity

393
00:21:53,033 --> 00:21:54,800
out of harm's way.

394
00:21:54,800 --> 00:21:57,900
(soft music)

395
00:21:57,900 --> 00:21:59,833
[Larson] Her parents,
the community,

396
00:21:59,833 --> 00:22:03,533
raised her to learn to
read the landscape.

397
00:22:03,533 --> 00:22:06,933
She could read the water,
the marsh, the grasses.

398
00:22:06,933 --> 00:22:08,466
She could read a field.

399
00:22:08,466 --> 00:22:09,966
Um...she could read the woods.

400
00:22:09,966 --> 00:22:14,233
♪ ♪

401
00:22:14,233 --> 00:22:17,033
[Bordewich] She felt she
was guided every step of the way

402
00:22:17,033 --> 00:22:21,300
by a higher power - God,
angels - manifesting themselves

403
00:22:21,300 --> 00:22:23,133
in a visionary way.

404
00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:29,300
Pillar of fire, at one point,
pillars of clouds.

405
00:22:29,300 --> 00:22:35,700
An image of a...women in white,
reaching to...to take her hand,

406
00:22:35,700 --> 00:22:40,200
uh, and to pull her across,
implicitly,

407
00:22:40,200 --> 00:22:42,700
the line from slavery to
freedom.

408
00:22:42,700 --> 00:22:47,500
(soft music)

409
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:51,566
[Narrator] Traveling alone,
and mostly on foot at night,

410
00:22:51,566 --> 00:22:54,600
she made the journey of
about 100 miles

411
00:22:54,600 --> 00:22:58,200
from the Eastern Shore of
Maryland through woods,

412
00:22:58,200 --> 00:23:03,000
marshes, and swamps on her way
to Philadelphia.

413
00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,400
The moment she crossed from
Delaware into Pennsylvania,

414
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:10,866
Harriet Tubman was free.

415
00:23:10,866 --> 00:23:12,233
(inspirational music)

416
00:23:12,233 --> 00:23:15,400
[Tubman] When I found,
I had crossed that line,

417
00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:21,233
I looked at my hands to see
if I was the same person.

418
00:23:21,233 --> 00:23:24,866
There was such a glory over
everything;

419
00:23:24,866 --> 00:23:28,500
the sun came like gold through
the trees,

420
00:23:28,500 --> 00:23:31,300
and over the fields,
and I felt like,

421
00:23:31,300 --> 00:23:32,966
I was in Heaven.

422
00:23:36,300 --> 00:23:38,400
(horses trotting)
(people chattering)

423
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:42,866
(energetic music)

424
00:23:42,866 --> 00:23:45,066
[Narrator] For Harriet Tubman,
Philadelphia

425
00:23:45,066 --> 00:23:47,533
was a different world.

426
00:23:47,533 --> 00:23:52,400
She'd spent time in Baltimore,
but never had Tubman seen a city

427
00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,066
where no one was enslaved.

428
00:23:56,066 --> 00:23:59,533
And Philadelphia was perhaps
the most important center

429
00:23:59,533 --> 00:24:01,466
in the abolitionist movement.

430
00:24:01,466 --> 00:24:03,766
♪ ♪

431
00:24:03,766 --> 00:24:08,300
Tubman soon made her way to
a group of Black abolitionists

432
00:24:08,300 --> 00:24:10,300
led by William Still.

433
00:24:10,966 --> 00:24:15,333
Still was regarded as the Father
of the Underground Railroad.

434
00:24:15,333 --> 00:24:20,000
[Cohen] He was a member of the
anti-slavery society there,

435
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:23,833
and for a decade leading
up to the Civil War,

436
00:24:23,833 --> 00:24:28,500
he...uh...uh...not only ran
a station...um...uh...which

437
00:24:28,500 --> 00:24:33,066
sheltered and forwarded people
coming into the city, um,

438
00:24:33,066 --> 00:24:36,066
but he also recorded their
stories.

439
00:24:36,066 --> 00:24:39,300
(soft music)

440
00:24:40,333 --> 00:24:42,633
[Cohen] Um...Harriet Tubman,
uh, being one of those,

441
00:24:42,633 --> 00:24:44,966
um, main people.

442
00:24:44,966 --> 00:24:47,466
[Thomas Garrett] Esteemed Friend
- We made arrangements

443
00:24:47,466 --> 00:24:50,833
last night, and sent away
Harriet Tubman with six men

444
00:24:50,833 --> 00:24:55,733
and one woman to be forwarded
across the country to the city.

445
00:24:55,733 --> 00:25:01,666
Harriet and one of the men had
worn their shoes off their feet.

446
00:25:01,666 --> 00:25:04,466
I will try to get one of our
trusty colored men to take them

447
00:25:04,466 --> 00:25:07,666
tomorrow morning to the
Anti-slavery office.

448
00:25:07,666 --> 00:25:10,133
You can then pass them on.

449
00:25:10,133 --> 00:25:12,033
- Thomas Garrett.

450
00:25:12,033 --> 00:25:15,766
♪ ♪

451
00:25:15,766 --> 00:25:18,433
[Leggett] Whenever
an enslaved or runaway

452
00:25:18,433 --> 00:25:21,333
got to Philadelphia,
they debriefed

453
00:25:21,333 --> 00:25:22,766
with William Still.

454
00:25:22,766 --> 00:25:25,000
They want to know,
"How did you get here?

455
00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,333
What were conditions like
on your plantation?

456
00:25:29,333 --> 00:25:30,766
Who helped you?"

457
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:34,566
[Cohen] So, he wanted to
keep a record,

458
00:25:34,566 --> 00:25:36,133
not only of these people's
stories,

459
00:25:36,133 --> 00:25:41,333
but also keep their accounts as
a way of them being able

460
00:25:41,333 --> 00:25:46,833
to reunite with family.

461
00:25:46,833 --> 00:25:47,833
(horses trotting)

462
00:25:52,666 --> 00:26:01,800
♪ I am an abolitionist
Thy glory in the name; ♪

463
00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,400
[Tony Cohen] When someone
decided to escape,

464
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,066
they were not simply
freeing themselves

465
00:26:08,066 --> 00:26:12,066
from a negative situation,
but helping to free

466
00:26:12,066 --> 00:26:14,866
a whole class of people.

467
00:26:14,866 --> 00:26:21,200
So, by running, they actually
became the first abolitionists.

468
00:26:21,200 --> 00:26:25,233
♪ I am an abolitionist... ♪

469
00:26:25,233 --> 00:26:27,900
[Manisha Sinha] Enslaved
people like Harriet Tubman

470
00:26:27,900 --> 00:26:30,333
were the original abolitionists.

471
00:26:30,333 --> 00:26:33,933
Even white abolitionists
constantly referred to instances

472
00:26:33,933 --> 00:26:36,966
of Black resistance to slavery
to argue that,

473
00:26:36,966 --> 00:26:39,433
that is why we are
abolitionists.

474
00:26:39,433 --> 00:26:41,833
So not only were they the first
abolitionists,

475
00:26:41,833 --> 00:26:45,500
but they are the ones who first
converted white Americans

476
00:26:45,500 --> 00:26:46,966
into abolition.

477
00:26:48,166 --> 00:26:50,933
[Narrator] At the time
Tubman made her escape,

478
00:26:50,933 --> 00:26:53,866
abolitionism was gaining
momentum.

479
00:26:53,866 --> 00:26:58,366
Challenging the morality of
slavery in newspapers and books,

480
00:26:58,366 --> 00:27:02,433
from lecterns and pulpits
across the nation.

481
00:27:02,433 --> 00:27:08,233
Black formerly enslaved people
were powerful advocates.

482
00:27:08,233 --> 00:27:11,700
With the passage of the
Fugitive Slave Law in 1850,

483
00:27:11,700 --> 00:27:16,200
escaping became even more
difficult.

484
00:27:16,200 --> 00:27:19,700
The law made it a federal crime
to offer food or shelter

485
00:27:19,700 --> 00:27:25,166
to a runaway and any citizen in
any state, North or South,

486
00:27:25,166 --> 00:27:28,233
was compelled to report
an alleged fugitive

487
00:27:28,233 --> 00:27:29,833
to the authorities.

488
00:27:32,500 --> 00:27:33,966
[Chatelain] One of
the great tragedies

489
00:27:33,966 --> 00:27:37,566
of the fugitive slave law
was that it deputized

490
00:27:37,566 --> 00:27:41,666
everyday people to become
an extension of the system

491
00:27:41,666 --> 00:27:42,966
of slavery.

492
00:27:44,300 --> 00:27:51,900
(eerie music)

493
00:27:51,900 --> 00:27:54,800
[Aching] That just creates
a huge amount of anxiety

494
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:59,033
in the communities of people
who freed themselves,

495
00:27:59,033 --> 00:28:01,566
around Philadelphia,
around New York City,

496
00:28:01,566 --> 00:28:04,100
and knowing that at any point
since a claim could be

497
00:28:04,100 --> 00:28:08,066
made on them by a slaveholder,
now they have to think about

498
00:28:08,066 --> 00:28:11,333
heading north to Canada
to escape even that.

499
00:28:11,333 --> 00:28:18,800
♪ I'm on my way to Canada,
that cold and dreary land. ♪

500
00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:26,300
♪ The dire effects of slavery,
I can no longer stand ♪

501
00:28:26,300 --> 00:28:28,400
[Ludwig] The Fugitive Slave Act
is the shadow that looms

502
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,133
over everything else Tubman
does.

503
00:28:32,700 --> 00:28:36,233
She begins to enter the speaking
circuit, rubbing elbows with,

504
00:28:36,233 --> 00:28:38,833
now not just planners from
the Underground Railroad

505
00:28:38,833 --> 00:28:41,833
but national figures,
like Frederick Douglass.

506
00:28:42,900 --> 00:28:45,366
Like, Sojourner Truth telling
these stories,

507
00:28:45,366 --> 00:28:48,833
horrors of slavery galvanizing
a response,

508
00:28:48,833 --> 00:28:51,700
pumping up the growing
abolitionist movement.

509
00:28:51,700 --> 00:28:55,000
[LaRoche] She apparently
was a fabulous storyteller

510
00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:57,833
and people just hung on her
every word.

511
00:28:57,833 --> 00:29:01,033
She's spinning these stories;
she's got the dialect

512
00:29:01,033 --> 00:29:05,900
and she's got this,
this amazing set of experiences

513
00:29:05,900 --> 00:29:08,266
that she's had.

514
00:29:08,266 --> 00:29:10,733
[Narrator] Harriet Tubman took
her place among the many

515
00:29:10,733 --> 00:29:14,966
abolitionists building public
support for the cause.

516
00:29:14,966 --> 00:29:20,233
But she quickly grew impatient
with the lecture circuit.

517
00:29:20,233 --> 00:29:24,000
For Tubman the dire
situation of enslaved people

518
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:26,933
called for immediate,
direct action.

519
00:29:28,566 --> 00:29:31,366
[Tubman] "I have heard
their groans and sighs,

520
00:29:31,366 --> 00:29:35,200
and seen their tears,
and I would give every drop

521
00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,066
of blood in my veins
to free them."

522
00:29:39,066 --> 00:29:40,333
[Gloria Browne-Marshall]
She didn't wait.

523
00:29:40,333 --> 00:29:43,333
She didn't decide that she's
going to wait until Congress

524
00:29:43,333 --> 00:29:46,133
determined that slavery
was a crime,

525
00:29:46,133 --> 00:29:48,500
that slavery was morally wrong.

526
00:29:48,500 --> 00:29:51,066
She decided that she was going
to take as many people

527
00:29:51,066 --> 00:29:54,300
out of that same situation as
she could possibly take.

528
00:29:56,233 --> 00:29:58,233
(dogs barking)

529
00:29:58,233 --> 00:29:59,866
(pensive dramatic music)

530
00:29:59,866 --> 00:30:02,533
[Narrator] Tubman knew that the
Fugitive Slave Law

531
00:30:02,533 --> 00:30:05,766
would make the stakes even
higher.

532
00:30:05,766 --> 00:30:09,466
The roads were crawling with
professional slave catchers who

533
00:30:09,466 --> 00:30:16,200
now had even greater
financial incentive.

534
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:21,500
Yet, Harriet Tubman returned to
Dorchester County.

535
00:30:21,500 --> 00:30:25,400
Her first goal - to bring her
husband, John Tubman, out of

536
00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:27,066
Maryland.

537
00:30:27,066 --> 00:30:34,166
(dramatic music)

538
00:30:34,166 --> 00:30:35,366
[Rev. Carter] Harriet was...was
excited about going to get

539
00:30:35,366 --> 00:30:37,566
her husband, John.

540
00:30:37,566 --> 00:30:39,033
Matter of fact,
she was so excited that,

541
00:30:39,033 --> 00:30:41,333
during that time that
she was away,

542
00:30:41,333 --> 00:30:43,466
she had saved enough money
to be able to purchase

543
00:30:43,466 --> 00:30:44,933
him a new suit.

544
00:30:44,933 --> 00:30:47,233
And so, she had a new suit
for him,

545
00:30:47,233 --> 00:30:52,333
and only to get back to find out
that he had taken another wife.

546
00:30:52,333 --> 00:30:56,133
[Larson] She said in lectures
that she was so furious,

547
00:30:56,133 --> 00:30:59,700
she was going to storm into
their home and make a big scene,

548
00:30:59,700 --> 00:31:01,400
but then she thought
better of it,

549
00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,566
and she cast him out
of her heart.

550
00:31:04,566 --> 00:31:06,866
[LaRoche] It took her a while,
the fury was there -

551
00:31:06,866 --> 00:31:10,000
she's human -
this woman is not a saint.

552
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,566
But she did not waste the trip.

553
00:31:13,566 --> 00:31:16,033
She gathered folks up and took
them out of slavery

554
00:31:16,033 --> 00:31:16,933
on that trip.

555
00:31:16,933 --> 00:31:20,100
And I think she never
looked back.

556
00:31:20,100 --> 00:31:23,500
(footsteps in the woods)
(owls hooting)

557
00:31:23,500 --> 00:31:27,366
(suspenseful music)

558
00:31:27,366 --> 00:31:30,633
[Narrator] Tubman decided to
focus all her energy

559
00:31:30,633 --> 00:31:34,666
on helping enslaved people
navigate the dangerous journey

560
00:31:34,666 --> 00:31:37,900
to freedom.

561
00:31:37,900 --> 00:31:41,500
She returned to Maryland,
again and again,

562
00:31:41,500 --> 00:31:44,566
using every tool at her disposal

563
00:31:44,566 --> 00:31:46,133
- traveling in the winter
months,

564
00:31:46,133 --> 00:31:49,200
when the nights were longer;
employing disguises

565
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,733
and deception to evade slavers
and bounty hunters alike.

566
00:31:53,733 --> 00:31:56,933
Tubman utilized the loose-knit
secret network of ordinary

567
00:31:56,933 --> 00:32:00,833
people that was called
the Underground Railroad.

568
00:32:00,833 --> 00:32:02,666
(Man singing over guitar)

569
00:32:02,666 --> 00:32:08,566
♪ Follow the drinking gourd
Follow the drinking gourd ♪

570
00:32:08,566 --> 00:32:12,133
[Bordewich] It included a whole
infrastructure of other people

571
00:32:12,133 --> 00:32:15,400
who made it possible for the
conductors and station masters

572
00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,100
to safely do their work.

573
00:32:17,100 --> 00:32:20,066
The people who provided money,
the people who

574
00:32:20,066 --> 00:32:21,033
provided clothing,
the people who provided food,

575
00:32:21,033 --> 00:32:25,233
uh, the people who lent
their wagons.

576
00:32:25,233 --> 00:32:30,000
Follow the drinking gourd
For the old man is comin'

577
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:41,500
' just to carry you to freedom
Follow the drinking gourd

578
00:32:41,500 --> 00:32:46,033
When the sun comes back,
and the first quail calls

579
00:32:46,033 --> 00:32:46,933
Follow...

580
00:32:46,933 --> 00:32:48,033
[Larson] Some of the
misconceptions

581
00:32:48,033 --> 00:32:49,200
that people have with the
Underground Railroad -

582
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:52,600
that it was all white Quakers
that ran the network

583
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:53,633
and that's not true.

584
00:32:53,633 --> 00:32:56,000
It was people of all
backgrounds,

585
00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:58,166
but the foundation of the
Underground Railroad

586
00:32:58,166 --> 00:33:01,233
was African Americans
themselves.

587
00:33:01,233 --> 00:33:04,000
Follow the drinking gourd

588
00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:05,366
[Larson] And in the South
it definitely

589
00:33:05,366 --> 00:33:07,866
was African Americans who were
running the Underground Railroad

590
00:33:07,866 --> 00:33:11,300
network because in the South,
white people who were friendly

591
00:33:11,300 --> 00:33:14,400
and wanted to help people escape
were...were not that common.

592
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:16,866
So, the people who wanted
to flee were dependent

593
00:33:16,866 --> 00:33:19,800
on their loved ones and other
African Americans

594
00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:21,233
that they could trust.

595
00:33:21,233 --> 00:33:22,566
(guitar music)

596
00:33:22,566 --> 00:33:25,233
[Bay] And we know less about
Black participation

597
00:33:25,233 --> 00:33:28,100
because Blacks had to be
particularly secretive

598
00:33:28,100 --> 00:33:29,900
and careful when they
helped people

599
00:33:29,900 --> 00:33:31,666
on the Underground Railroad.

600
00:33:31,666 --> 00:33:34,333
Um...you know, they were very
vulnerable to all sorts

601
00:33:34,333 --> 00:33:37,133
of punishment,
including being enslaved,

602
00:33:37,133 --> 00:33:39,900
or being targeted by
slave traders.

603
00:33:39,900 --> 00:33:46,800
For the old man is waiting just
to carry you to freedom

604
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:52,900
If you follow the drinking gourd

605
00:33:58,766 --> 00:34:02,100
[Larson] Harriet Tubman was
denied a formal education

606
00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:04,200
but she did have great literacy.

607
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:07,033
Her father helped train her
to survive in the woods

608
00:34:07,033 --> 00:34:09,433
and to read that landscape.

609
00:34:09,433 --> 00:34:11,100
Her mother, of course,
was really important,

610
00:34:11,100 --> 00:34:13,600
teaching her folk medicines.

611
00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:18,033
(gentle music)

612
00:34:18,033 --> 00:34:20,033
[Larson] She grew up in
a maritime community.

613
00:34:20,033 --> 00:34:22,333
And of course,
those sailors all knew how

614
00:34:22,333 --> 00:34:29,400
to navigate by the stars, so
she learned about the night sky.

615
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,100
Sometimes, her rescue missions
would be four days,

616
00:34:32,100 --> 00:34:37,200
and other times
it could take weeks.

617
00:34:37,200 --> 00:34:40,466
[Leggett] Harriet Tubman did
a lot of her work at night.

618
00:34:40,466 --> 00:34:44,833
And not only was it on land,
but also used the marshes

619
00:34:44,833 --> 00:34:47,833
and the creeks and the waterways

620
00:34:47,833 --> 00:34:49,900
(horse whinnies)
because the hound dogs

621
00:34:49,900 --> 00:34:54,566
had a hard time trying
to follow the scent.

622
00:34:54,566 --> 00:34:58,033
(waves rippling)
(ducks calling)

623
00:34:58,033 --> 00:35:00,333
[Fredara Hadley] Lots of
Black people were baptized

624
00:35:00,333 --> 00:35:01,900
in rivers and streams.

625
00:35:01,900 --> 00:35:04,066
Wade in the water is a song
that we would

626
00:35:04,066 --> 00:35:07,666
sing to ease people into
the water to be baptized.

627
00:35:07,666 --> 00:35:11,866
And so, it comes to have
that double meaning.

628
00:35:11,866 --> 00:35:16,100
Wade in the water can start
with a low moan or a low hum...

629
00:35:16,100 --> 00:35:19,900
(starts to hum)

630
00:35:19,900 --> 00:35:22,466
And so, if someone is just kind
of moaning and motioning

631
00:35:22,466 --> 00:35:26,066
for people to move past or if
everybody is kind of singing

632
00:35:26,066 --> 00:35:27,866
it softly...
(starts to sing softly).

633
00:35:27,866 --> 00:35:35,733
♪ Wade in the water
Wade in the water ♪

634
00:35:35,733 --> 00:35:41,333
♪ Wade in the water children
Wade in the water ♪

635
00:35:41,333 --> 00:35:44,566
♪ God is gonna trouble
these waters ♪

636
00:35:44,566 --> 00:35:48,500
♪ See that band
all dressed in white ♪

637
00:35:48,500 --> 00:35:50,800
[Karen Hill] To be a conductor
on the Underground Railroad,

638
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,333
like Harriet Tubman,
you had to really teach

639
00:35:54,333 --> 00:35:57,366
those under your
care how they need to behave

640
00:35:57,366 --> 00:36:00,466
in every possible circumstance.

641
00:36:00,466 --> 00:36:05,366
And she was clear that once you
start this path towards freedom,

642
00:36:05,366 --> 00:36:07,233
there was no turning back.

643
00:36:07,233 --> 00:36:10,900
♪ Wade in the water ♪

644
00:36:10,900 --> 00:36:14,300
♪ God is gonna trouble
the water ♪

645
00:36:14,300 --> 00:36:16,800
[Bordewich] Famously,
when a freedom seeker traveling

646
00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,400
with her got cold feet,
she pulled out a pistol

647
00:36:19,400 --> 00:36:21,100
and threatened to use it
on them.

648
00:36:21,100 --> 00:36:25,000
Because nobody would be more
dangerous to Harriet Tubman

649
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:27,900
than somebody who had come
partway with her, given up,

650
00:36:27,900 --> 00:36:29,933
and then gone back into slavery.

651
00:36:29,933 --> 00:36:32,333
♪ Wade in the water ♪

652
00:36:32,333 --> 00:36:34,700
[Green] She was short
and she was small

653
00:36:34,700 --> 00:36:36,033
and she was a woman.

654
00:36:36,033 --> 00:36:39,933
That pistol gave many of those
who were running for their lives

655
00:36:39,933 --> 00:36:45,000
a great level of confidence in
that she was clearly in charge.

656
00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:48,633
 
♪ My Lord delivered
Daniel well ♪

657
00:36:48,633 --> 00:36:51,400
♪ Daniel well, Daniel well ♪

658
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:52,933
[Baptist] A whole mythology has
grown up around

659
00:36:52,933 --> 00:36:56,166
the Underground Railroad,
but you've got to say

660
00:36:56,166 --> 00:37:01,333
what Harriet Tubman was doing
is something ah, that's,

661
00:37:01,333 --> 00:37:05,200
that's much more like
a military raid.

662
00:37:05,200 --> 00:37:07,066
♪ Daniel well, ♪

663
00:37:07,066 --> 00:37:11,400
♪ My Lord delivered
Daniel well ♪

664
00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:14,700
[Leggett] Harriet Tubman knew
how to use the disguises

665
00:37:14,700 --> 00:37:15,900
and subterfuge.

666
00:37:15,900 --> 00:37:17,866
I mean, she was brilliant!

667
00:37:17,866 --> 00:37:18,866
Brilliant.

668
00:37:18,866 --> 00:37:22,366
♪ Man went down to the
river lord ♪

669
00:37:22,366 --> 00:37:27,833
[Dunbar] She never accepted
praise or responsibility

670
00:37:27,833 --> 00:37:29,466
even for these great feats.

671
00:37:29,466 --> 00:37:34,200
She always saw herself
as a vessel of her God.

672
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:35,600
[Aching] There's a fearlessness
there.

673
00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:37,200
There's a conviction there.

674
00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:41,566
She herself knew that she could
be captured at any moment,

675
00:37:41,566 --> 00:37:43,333
but she did not waver about it,
you know,

676
00:37:43,333 --> 00:37:45,933
she knew that her prayers would
be answered.

677
00:37:45,933 --> 00:37:52,900
♪ God's gonna trouble
these waters ♪

678
00:37:52,900 --> 00:37:56,033
[Ludwig] The last of the
approximate 13 trips

679
00:37:56,033 --> 00:37:59,966
that Harriet Tubman makes is as
a Civil War is just beginning.

680
00:37:59,966 --> 00:38:03,600
Very late in 1860,
Lincoln has been elected,

681
00:38:03,600 --> 00:38:05,333
but not yet inaugurated.

682
00:38:05,333 --> 00:38:08,600
You could cut the tensions in
this country with a knife.

683
00:38:08,600 --> 00:38:11,266
Harriet Tubman has already
purchased a home in New York,

684
00:38:11,266 --> 00:38:13,233
in Auburn.

685
00:38:13,233 --> 00:38:17,233
And Harriet's main purposes
for returning,

686
00:38:17,233 --> 00:38:20,666
very dangerous to Dorchester
County and the Eastern Shore,

687
00:38:20,666 --> 00:38:23,933
were to bring others,
but especially her family,

688
00:38:23,933 --> 00:38:25,000
to freedom.

689
00:38:25,000 --> 00:38:26,866
(solemn music)

690
00:38:26,866 --> 00:38:30,766
And time and time again,
Harriet has tried unsuccessfully

691
00:38:30,766 --> 00:38:33,133
to liberate her sister, Rachel.

692
00:38:34,700 --> 00:38:35,866
[Rev. Carter] Well,
when she goes down there

693
00:38:35,866 --> 00:38:39,633
this time to get her sister
and her children,

694
00:38:39,633 --> 00:38:42,533
she comes to find out that her
sister Rachel had died

695
00:38:42,533 --> 00:38:45,466
just a few months prior to
her coming down.

696
00:38:45,466 --> 00:38:50,333
And, of course, she was floored
when she found that out.

697
00:38:50,333 --> 00:38:51,800
Probably heartbroken.

698
00:38:52,566 --> 00:38:56,633
But while she was there,
she made the decision again,

699
00:38:56,633 --> 00:39:00,766
not let's not waste this
journey.

700
00:39:00,766 --> 00:39:02,800
And there was the family,
the Ennals family

701
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,700
that was ready to go.

702
00:39:04,700 --> 00:39:07,166
The husband, wife,
and three children.

703
00:39:08,966 --> 00:39:10,666
[Angela Crenshaw] She was very
to the point,

704
00:39:10,666 --> 00:39:11,733
"my name is Harriet Tubman.

705
00:39:11,733 --> 00:39:13,266
I'm here to take you to freedom.

706
00:39:13,266 --> 00:39:15,633
You need to follow me and we
need to move right now."

707
00:39:16,933 --> 00:39:20,600
We are in trouble - this entire
time we are being watched."

708
00:39:20,600 --> 00:39:23,666
(footsteps in woods)
(dogs bark)

709
00:39:23,666 --> 00:39:25,166
[Larson] It was a very difficult
journey.

710
00:39:25,166 --> 00:39:26,100
It was cold.

711
00:39:26,100 --> 00:39:30,000
It snowed.

712
00:39:30,000 --> 00:39:33,333
Tubman had to give paregoric,
which is an opiate,

713
00:39:33,333 --> 00:39:35,900
to the baby to keep it from
crying while they hid

714
00:39:35,900 --> 00:39:40,766
in the woods and in swamps.

715
00:39:40,766 --> 00:39:44,766
[Crenshaw] (sings) 
♪ Go down Moses, ♪

716
00:39:44,766 --> 00:39:53,766
♪ way down into Egypt's land,
tell 'ole Pharaoh ♪

717
00:39:53,766 --> 00:39:57,966
♪ to let my people go. ♪

718
00:39:57,966 --> 00:40:00,133
And when she sung that refrain,
people knew that they could

719
00:40:00,133 --> 00:40:02,700
stand up and move forward
and continue their journey

720
00:40:02,700 --> 00:40:03,933
to freedom.

721
00:40:03,933 --> 00:40:07,233
(woman singing over piano)
♪ Go down Moses ♪

722
00:40:07,233 --> 00:40:14,133
♪ way down in Egypt land
Tell ole, Pharaoh ♪

723
00:40:14,133 --> 00:40:20,600
♪ Let my people go
Go down Moses way down... ♪

724
00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:23,600
[Narrator] Tubman made at least
13 secret missions

725
00:40:23,600 --> 00:40:26,300
into slave-holding Maryland.

726
00:40:26,300 --> 00:40:29,400
Her vision of freedom had
become a reality

727
00:40:29,400 --> 00:40:34,466
for at least 70 people.

728
00:40:34,466 --> 00:40:38,066
By 1860, the number of enslaved
people directly helped

729
00:40:38,066 --> 00:40:41,733
by Harriet Tubman
was about to explode.

730
00:40:41,733 --> 00:40:44,900
(dramatic military music)

731
00:40:44,900 --> 00:40:47,333
[Narrator] Within months of
Lincoln's election,

732
00:40:47,333 --> 00:40:50,266
the Southern states had
seceded and formed

733
00:40:50,266 --> 00:40:53,033
the Confederate States
of America.

734
00:40:53,033 --> 00:40:57,266
And in April 1861,
the simmering argument

735
00:40:57,266 --> 00:41:01,700
over slavery erupted into
armed conflict.

736
00:41:01,700 --> 00:41:03,700
(suspenseful music)

737
00:41:09,533 --> 00:41:12,166
[Narrator] Tubman was closely
watching the politics

738
00:41:12,166 --> 00:41:13,733
of the moment.

739
00:41:13,733 --> 00:41:17,166
In January 1863,
when Lincoln issued

740
00:41:17,166 --> 00:41:22,133
the Emancipation Proclamation,
she knew it would not be enough.

741
00:41:22,133 --> 00:41:25,433
She'd already concluded that the
south would never be

742
00:41:25,433 --> 00:41:30,466
talked out of slavery, the only
way to end it would be war.

743
00:41:30,466 --> 00:41:33,466
(dark orchestra music)

744
00:41:33,466 --> 00:41:36,433
[Dunbar] The Emancipation
Proclamation only granted

745
00:41:36,433 --> 00:41:40,733
"freedom" to those enslaved
people who lived

746
00:41:40,733 --> 00:41:44,100
in states that had seceded
from the Union.

747
00:41:44,100 --> 00:41:48,100
But for states like Maryland,
Delaware,

748
00:41:48,100 --> 00:41:50,200
states that were called
border states,

749
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:53,966
that still had slavery but
had not joined up

750
00:41:53,966 --> 00:41:56,800
with the Confederacy,
Lincoln understood

751
00:41:56,800 --> 00:42:01,633
that he could not place the
Emancipation Proclamation

752
00:42:01,633 --> 00:42:03,333
onto these border states.

753
00:42:03,333 --> 00:42:08,900
If he did...they would more than
almost certainly jump

754
00:42:08,900 --> 00:42:12,400
to the Confederate side,
so he strategically left

755
00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,866
these border states to hold
onto their slaves

756
00:42:15,866 --> 00:42:18,233
while the war raged.

757
00:42:18,233 --> 00:42:20,300
(cannons firing)

758
00:42:20,300 --> 00:42:23,033
[Narrator] By the time of
Lincoln's proclamation,

759
00:42:23,033 --> 00:42:27,500
Tubman was already engaged in
the war effort - lecturing,

760
00:42:27,500 --> 00:42:30,833
nursing wounded soldiers,
and encouraging Black men

761
00:42:30,833 --> 00:42:33,333
to aid in the cause.

762
00:42:33,333 --> 00:42:35,733
But she wanted to do more.

763
00:42:35,733 --> 00:42:37,033
(dramatic military music)

764
00:42:37,033 --> 00:42:38,666
[Larson] During those
lecture circuits throughout

765
00:42:38,666 --> 00:42:41,100
New England, she had met the
governor of Massachusetts,

766
00:42:41,100 --> 00:42:42,433
John Andrew.

767
00:42:42,433 --> 00:42:46,533
And when the war started,
he immediately thought of Tubman

768
00:42:46,533 --> 00:42:48,900
and that she needed to go
into the South and help

769
00:42:48,900 --> 00:42:50,666
the United States army.

770
00:42:50,666 --> 00:42:54,600
So, he made arrangements for
her to go to South Carolina.

771
00:42:57,066 --> 00:42:59,100
[Narrator] At first,
Tubman spent her time

772
00:42:59,100 --> 00:43:02,500
nursing Black soldiers and
providing for the droves

773
00:43:02,500 --> 00:43:08,266
of ex-slaves fleeing Southern
plantations for Union territory.

774
00:43:08,266 --> 00:43:10,666
Then, she became a spy.

775
00:43:10,666 --> 00:43:13,733
Using knowledge gained from
the newly free people,

776
00:43:13,733 --> 00:43:17,666
Tubman recruited and led a team
of eight Black scouts,

777
00:43:17,666 --> 00:43:21,666
gathering critical intelligence
for the Union Army.

778
00:43:21,666 --> 00:43:23,566
[Fuentes]
With all of that interaction

779
00:43:23,566 --> 00:43:26,366
with formerly enslaved people,
she was able to get

780
00:43:26,366 --> 00:43:27,800
the lay of the land.

781
00:43:27,800 --> 00:43:33,500
And get specific information
about where the Confederate army

782
00:43:33,500 --> 00:43:37,300
was stationed, what kinds
of weapons that they had.

783
00:43:37,300 --> 00:43:39,266
She was gathering intelligence.

784
00:43:39,266 --> 00:43:42,333
And she would share that
with these Union officers.

785
00:43:44,300 --> 00:43:47,733
[Narrator] In June of 1863,
General Tubman,

786
00:43:47,733 --> 00:43:50,566
as John Brown called her,
set into motion

787
00:43:50,566 --> 00:43:55,533
one of the most daring and
successful raids of the War.

788
00:43:55,533 --> 00:43:59,500
Northern and Southern newspapers
related breathless accounts

789
00:43:59,500 --> 00:44:02,733
of Colonel Montgomery's campaign
on the Combahee River

790
00:44:02,733 --> 00:44:05,933
in South Carolina,
led by Harriet Tubman.

791
00:44:08,700 --> 00:44:10,000
[Combahee Reporter]
Colonel Montgomery and his

792
00:44:10,000 --> 00:44:13,700
gallant band of 300 Black
soldiers under the guidance

793
00:44:13,700 --> 00:44:16,900
of a Black woman,
dashed into the enemy's country,

794
00:44:16,900 --> 00:44:19,233
struck a bold and
effective blow,

795
00:44:19,233 --> 00:44:21,833
(cannons firing)

796
00:44:21,833 --> 00:44:26,066
brought off nearly 800 slaves
and thousands of dollars worth

797
00:44:26,066 --> 00:44:30,233
of property, without losing
a man or receiving a scratch.

798
00:44:30,233 --> 00:44:32,733
It was a glorious consummation.

799
00:44:32,733 --> 00:44:34,466
(dramatic music)

800
00:44:34,466 --> 00:44:37,733
[Rev. Carter] It was kind of
an Exodus moment.

801
00:44:37,733 --> 00:44:40,533
Harriet saw the people coming
to get on the boats,

802
00:44:40,533 --> 00:44:43,800
and some of the women would be
running with a kid hanging off

803
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:47,166
of their skirt, and one of them
hanging off the hand.

804
00:44:47,166 --> 00:44:51,000
She said that one lady had a pot
on her head and with rice in it,

805
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,033
and it just like she took it
right off the stove

806
00:44:53,033 --> 00:44:55,533
and put it on her head and she
was running with this.

807
00:44:55,533 --> 00:44:57,966
And people were coming off
the plantations,

808
00:44:57,966 --> 00:45:02,733
so regularly that the...the
military thought that

809
00:45:02,733 --> 00:45:05,433
they were going to sink
the boats.

810
00:45:05,433 --> 00:45:07,500
[Combahee Reporter] The Colonel
was followed by a speech

811
00:45:07,500 --> 00:45:10,000
from the Black woman who led
the raid,

812
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,100
and under whose inspiration
it was originated and conducted.

813
00:45:14,100 --> 00:45:18,800
Her address would do honor to
any man and it created

814
00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:20,866
a great sensation.

815
00:45:20,866 --> 00:45:23,966
She is now called "Moses".

816
00:45:27,866 --> 00:45:32,400
[Narrator] At least 727 men,
women and children

817
00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:36,900
made it onto the Union boats,
making General Tubman's raid

818
00:45:36,900 --> 00:45:40,000
one of the largest liberations
of the War,

819
00:45:40,000 --> 00:45:44,433
and marking the first major
military operation

820
00:45:44,433 --> 00:45:47,833
in American history that was
planned and executed

821
00:45:47,833 --> 00:45:50,066
by a woman.

822
00:45:50,066 --> 00:45:51,666
(woman singing)

823
00:45:51,666 --> 00:46:06,366
♪ Oh Freedom, oh freedom,
oh freedom, over me ♪

824
00:46:06,366 --> 00:46:14,200
♪ And before I'd be a slave,
I'd be buried in my grave ♪

825
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:22,566
♪ And go home to my Lord
and be free ♪

826
00:46:22,566 --> 00:46:24,900
[Ludwig] Who knew what was going
to come in the aftermath

827
00:46:24,900 --> 00:46:26,166
of the Civil War?

828
00:46:26,166 --> 00:46:29,733
Tubman predicted the end of
slavery and it came to pass.

829
00:46:29,733 --> 00:46:33,300
And so now, the rebuild,
the reconstruction,

830
00:46:33,300 --> 00:46:35,833
reunification, bringing
North and South together

831
00:46:35,833 --> 00:46:38,066
after four years of
bloody conflict,

832
00:46:38,066 --> 00:46:42,500
and 800,000 dead,
and 4.2 million men and women

833
00:46:42,500 --> 00:46:43,766
freed from their bondage.

834
00:46:43,766 --> 00:46:45,300
What is that going to look like?

835
00:46:45,300 --> 00:46:47,366
(dramatic music)

836
00:46:49,966 --> 00:46:52,400
[Narrator] As Black families
struggled to build

837
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:56,333
new lives in freedom,
it quickly became clear

838
00:46:56,333 --> 00:47:00,933
that the battle for equality
had just begun.

839
00:47:03,533 --> 00:47:05,500
(train bell rings)

840
00:47:05,500 --> 00:47:09,300
(train whistle blows
and train chugs)

841
00:47:09,300 --> 00:47:10,900
[Rev. Carter] After the war
was over,

842
00:47:10,900 --> 00:47:13,933
she leaves Fort Monroe.

843
00:47:13,933 --> 00:47:16,033
After being there,
and it was all said and done,

844
00:47:16,033 --> 00:47:18,833
she wanted to come back home to
be with her family.

845
00:47:18,833 --> 00:47:21,500
She's on a train,
has a special ticket,

846
00:47:21,500 --> 00:47:25,100
half-price ticket that she could
ride on the train,

847
00:47:25,100 --> 00:47:27,633
any car that she wants
to ride on.

848
00:47:27,633 --> 00:47:31,133
And so, she goes to sit in
a car and gets comfortable.

849
00:47:31,133 --> 00:47:36,200
[Fuentes] The conductor told her
to get out of the mixed car

850
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:38,366
into the smoking car.

851
00:47:38,366 --> 00:47:39,766
And she refused.

852
00:47:39,766 --> 00:47:42,933
And while she refused,
she realized,

853
00:47:42,933 --> 00:47:44,900
"Oh, we're about to fight."

854
00:47:44,900 --> 00:47:46,433
(train chugs)

855
00:47:46,433 --> 00:47:48,866
[Rev. Carter] He tries to take
her off of her seat,

856
00:47:48,866 --> 00:47:52,366
this four-foot eleven,
five-foot woman,

857
00:47:52,366 --> 00:47:54,333
and because Harriet is
who she is,

858
00:47:54,333 --> 00:47:57,866
strong as an ox,
he couldn't do it.

859
00:47:57,866 --> 00:47:59,833
[Fuentes] He called for
reinforcements,

860
00:47:59,833 --> 00:48:02,333
other conductors and other
passengers,

861
00:48:02,333 --> 00:48:05,366
and they ended up throwing
her down,

862
00:48:05,366 --> 00:48:08,266
breaking her arm and some ribs.

863
00:48:08,266 --> 00:48:12,500
(train chugs)
(bell rings)

864
00:48:12,500 --> 00:48:17,300
[Fuentes] And she was able to
find her way to New York,

865
00:48:17,300 --> 00:48:20,400
but with dire injuries.

866
00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:23,333
This was a real humiliation of
her dignity,

867
00:48:23,333 --> 00:48:27,333
but also a violent act that
she suffered.

868
00:48:27,333 --> 00:48:28,500
[Ludwig] So,
she ends the Civil War

869
00:48:28,500 --> 00:48:32,466
on this incredible low note
of...uh the new taste

870
00:48:32,466 --> 00:48:35,566
of the segregation and the new
modes of discrimination

871
00:48:35,566 --> 00:48:38,466
that were going to emerge
immediately out of the carcass

872
00:48:38,466 --> 00:48:39,500
of slavery.

873
00:48:39,500 --> 00:48:42,066
There is going to be no utopia
of equality.

874
00:48:42,066 --> 00:48:45,833
Now, race-based discrimination
is going to take this form.

875
00:48:45,833 --> 00:48:47,900
(somber music)

876
00:48:47,900 --> 00:48:52,233
[Narrator] Injured but unbroken,
Tubman returned to her home

877
00:48:52,233 --> 00:48:57,233
in Auburn, New York, to take up
the struggle in new ways.

878
00:48:57,233 --> 00:48:59,566
[Rev. Carter] It's hard to stop
a calling.

879
00:48:59,566 --> 00:49:01,733
She believed that it was
better to live for a cause

880
00:49:01,733 --> 00:49:03,433
than just because.

881
00:49:03,433 --> 00:49:06,100
And this whole thing of seeing
people free and fighting

882
00:49:06,100 --> 00:49:10,633
for equality and justice, and,
and the right to live free,

883
00:49:10,633 --> 00:49:12,066
was just something that was
within her.

884
00:49:13,633 --> 00:49:16,166
[Browne-Marshall]
Harriet Tubman took justice.

885
00:49:16,166 --> 00:49:20,166
I just see her as someone who
epitomizes not waiting

886
00:49:20,166 --> 00:49:23,466
until justice catches up
to the situation.

887
00:49:23,466 --> 00:49:27,766
She used her home in upstate
New York to shelter elderly,

888
00:49:27,766 --> 00:49:30,533
formerly-enslaved people
who couldn't take care

889
00:49:30,533 --> 00:49:31,533
of themselves.

890
00:49:32,800 --> 00:49:37,033
And she was a suffragette for
the women's right to vote.

891
00:49:37,033 --> 00:49:39,166
[Larson] She was very close
to Susan B. Anthony,

892
00:49:39,166 --> 00:49:43,066
and at one convention,
Harriet Tubman was brought

893
00:49:43,066 --> 00:49:46,800
on stage by Anthony,
and Tubman said

894
00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:50,000
her most famous words
(woman humming underneath),

895
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:51,966
"I was a conductor on the
Underground Railroad

896
00:49:51,966 --> 00:49:56,433
for eight years and I can say
what most conductors can't.

897
00:49:56,433 --> 00:49:58,500
I never ran my train
off the track

898
00:49:58,500 --> 00:50:00,700
and I never lost a passenger."

899
00:50:00,700 --> 00:50:06,600
(woman singing) 
♪ I am bound, I am bound ♪

900
00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:09,600
[Narrator] For the last two
years of her life,

901
00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:14,833
Harriet Tubman was cared for
in the home she'd founded

902
00:50:14,833 --> 00:50:16,700
to care for others.

903
00:50:16,700 --> 00:50:19,900
♪ I am bound, I am bound ♪

904
00:50:19,900 --> 00:50:23,700
[Narrator] In her lifetime,
she had been enslaved

905
00:50:23,700 --> 00:50:28,000
and led battles in a bloody war.

906
00:50:28,000 --> 00:50:32,333
She'd witnessed the introduction
of the telephone

907
00:50:32,333 --> 00:50:36,433
and electric lights.

908
00:50:36,433 --> 00:50:41,033
And Harriet Tubman had made
history.

909
00:50:41,033 --> 00:50:44,966
Her singular contribution
was recognized by her fellow

910
00:50:44,966 --> 00:50:48,400
revolutionary,
Frederick Douglass.

911
00:50:48,400 --> 00:50:49,833
[Frederick Douglass]
(woman humming underneath)

912
00:50:49,833 --> 00:50:55,100
Dear Harriet - The difference
between us is very marked.

913
00:50:55,100 --> 00:50:57,800
Most that I have done and
suffered in the service

914
00:50:57,800 --> 00:51:00,700
of our cause has been in public.

915
00:51:00,700 --> 00:51:04,866
The most you have done has been
witnessed by a few trembling,

916
00:51:04,866 --> 00:51:09,200
scared and footsore bondmen,
and women whom you have led

917
00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:11,666
out of the house of bondage,
and whose heartfelt,

918
00:51:11,666 --> 00:51:16,600
"God bless you,"
has been your only reward.

919
00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:19,800
The midnight sky and the silent
stars have been witnessed

920
00:51:19,800 --> 00:51:23,133
to your devotion to freedom
and of your heroism.

921
00:51:23,133 --> 00:51:27,000
(woman humming)

922
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:33,266
♪ I am bound,
I am bound ♪

923
00:51:33,266 --> 00:51:34,200
♪ I am bound... ♪

924
00:51:34,200 --> 00:51:39,266
[Narrator] In 1913,
at the age of 91,

925
00:51:39,266 --> 00:51:42,633
Harriet Tubman passed away.

926
00:51:42,633 --> 00:51:45,733
♪ I am bound,
I am bound ♪

927
00:51:45,733 --> 00:51:50,200
♪ I am bound for
the Promised Land ♪

928
00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:54,733
[Narrator] Freedom fighter,
visionary, patriot -

929
00:51:54,733 --> 00:51:59,066
Harriet Tubman left behind
an audacious legacy

930
00:51:59,066 --> 00:52:01,000
of courage that endures.

931
00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:04,533
(woman humming)

932
00:52:04,533 --> 00:52:07,600
With her work on the
Underground Railroad,

933
00:52:07,600 --> 00:52:12,266
and during the War, she helped
over 1000 African Americans

934
00:52:12,266 --> 00:52:14,566
escape enslavement.

935
00:52:14,566 --> 00:52:18,233
(woman humming)

936
00:52:18,233 --> 00:52:20,166
[Chatelain] Harriet Tubman
is a hero,

937
00:52:20,166 --> 00:52:25,500
because she does not have
a blueprint for freedom.

938
00:52:25,500 --> 00:52:28,200
But what she has is
incredible conviction

939
00:52:28,200 --> 00:52:32,966
and an incredible will to unmask
the brutality of slavery

940
00:52:32,966 --> 00:52:34,866
and to fight against it.

941
00:52:34,866 --> 00:52:37,700
(woman humming)

942
00:52:37,700 --> 00:52:41,300
[Griffin] Harriet Tubman was
someone who had these

943
00:52:41,300 --> 00:52:47,866
extraordinary capacities
for courage, a belief in herself

944
00:52:47,866 --> 00:52:50,766
that really was a belief
in a divine being

945
00:52:50,766 --> 00:52:55,766
that would allow her to do
extraordinary things

946
00:52:55,766 --> 00:52:57,566
in the world.

947
00:52:57,566 --> 00:53:01,900
She is someone who saw herself
as having a purpose

948
00:53:01,900 --> 00:53:09,033
and who was on earth to deliver
on that purpose,

949
00:53:09,033 --> 00:53:12,466
which was the purpose of
freeing people.

950
00:53:12,466 --> 00:53:15,466
The purpose of freedom.

951
00:53:15,466 --> 00:53:22,066
♪ I am bound for
the promised land ♪

952
00:53:22,066 --> 00:53:28,566
♪ I am bound,
I am bound ♪

953
00:53:28,566 --> 00:53:37,466
♪ I am bound for
the promised land ♪

954
00:53:39,533 --> 00:53:42,933
To order Harriet Tubman
Visions of Freedom on DVD

955
00:53:42,933 --> 00:53:46,900
visit shopPBS.org
or a call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

956
00:53:46,900 --> 00:53:51,066
Also available with PBS Passport
and on Amazon Prime Video.