1 00:00:01,160 --> 00:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to steph you missed in history class from how 2 00:00:04,160 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Stuff Works dot com. Hello and welcomed the podcast. I'm 3 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: Racy Wilson. I'm Holly Frying. Holly. Do you know who 4 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:21,200 Speaker 1: we've gotten a lot of requests talk about lately. Yes, 5 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,720 Speaker 1: but I'll let you say it, Harriet Summach. So many 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: requests we had all I mean, we've already been getting 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: a lot. They started well before the announcement that she 8 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 1: is going to be on the new US twenty dollar bill. 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,560 Speaker 1: We also had another big spike after the Drunk History 10 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: episode about her. If you don't mind lots of bleep 11 00:00:42,720 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: swear words, that is quite funny. I watched it three 12 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: or four times. Um. So, most people are familiar with 13 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: Harriet Tubman's involvement in the Underground Railroad, but she also 14 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 1: as people who have watched that drug that Drunk History 15 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,080 Speaker 1: episode no, that she was also a spy for the 16 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: Union during the Civil War, among many other things at 17 00:01:06,800 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: the same time. Uh, maybe more than anyone else I 18 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:15,720 Speaker 1: can think of in American history. She has this near 19 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 1: mythical reputation that makes her kind of a tricky person 20 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:22,759 Speaker 1: to talk about. Everybody has some tidbits of information, and 21 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: some of that is accurate and some of them is not. Yeah, 22 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,520 Speaker 1: there's a lot about her life and about slavery in 23 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:33,440 Speaker 1: the underground railroad in general that people know with no 24 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:38,400 Speaker 1: in serious air quotes, but it's really uh like it's 25 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: really taken for granted. But a lot of it is 26 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,920 Speaker 1: on somewhere on a spectrum between that can't be substantiated 27 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: and that definitely did not happen. And a lot of 28 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,919 Speaker 1: this is because for a long time, children's books really 29 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: dominated the work written about Harriet Tubman. We've talked about 30 00:01:53,920 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: that phenomenon before, how a lot of important figures, especially 31 00:01:57,520 --> 00:02:00,440 Speaker 1: in black history, are the subjects of children's books and 32 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,360 Speaker 1: not serious academic scholarship as much, which is frustrating. Uh. 33 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,600 Speaker 1: Even the books for adults for a long time uncritically 34 00:02:07,680 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: repeated details from these nineteenth century accounts of her life 35 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: that were definitely embellished, and really serious scholarly examination to 36 00:02:16,600 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: try to get a more accurate picture of Harriet Tubman's 37 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,239 Speaker 1: life and work has been a lot harder to come 38 00:02:21,240 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: by and overall a lot more recent than the things 39 00:02:23,600 --> 00:02:25,959 Speaker 1: that sort of set the standards of how we think 40 00:02:25,960 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: about Harriet Tubman. So because there's so much to talk about, 41 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: and because so much of it requires some level setting. 42 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: To be honest, we are going to talk about Harriet 43 00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: Tubman's life and work in two parts, and today's podcast 44 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,120 Speaker 1: is about her work liberating enslaved people, many of them 45 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:45,079 Speaker 1: her family members, by the Underground Railroad, and then in 46 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: our next episode we will talk about her Civil War 47 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:49,679 Speaker 1: work in her life as a spy and what came 48 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 1: after that. Because there are so many misperceptions about the 49 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: Underground rail Road and the institution of slavery in the 50 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,440 Speaker 1: United States, we're going to get into some of that 51 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: contact before we talked about the details of Harriet Tubman's life. 52 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,160 Speaker 1: The use of unpaid, unfree labor began long before the 53 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,320 Speaker 1: United States became an independent nation. It was a big 54 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: part of the economy and the labor force, almost from 55 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: the moment Europeans started trying to establish permanent colonies in 56 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: North America. And we know enslavement existed in North America 57 00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:23,800 Speaker 1: before European arrival, and there's an increasing body of historical 58 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: research on enslavement of Native Americans by colonists as well, 59 00:03:27,560 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 1: But all of that is outside the scope of today's episode. Yeah, 60 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 1: that is one of the things people will right to 61 00:03:33,639 --> 00:03:38,000 Speaker 1: try to dispel talking about slavery, like slavery existed everywhere, 62 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: not what we were talking about. So at first, this 63 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: system of unfree labor in the colonies was based on indenture. Basically, 64 00:03:49,440 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: people would pay their way from Europe to North America 65 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,880 Speaker 1: through indentured servitude, which was essentially an agreement to work 66 00:03:56,320 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: without pay for a particular amount of time in exchange 67 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: for shelter and food and passage across the Atlantic Ocean. 68 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: Sometimes this was a choice people made. It was sometimes 69 00:04:05,640 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: under duress and sometimes not. That was people just wanted 70 00:04:09,680 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: to move and that was the only way they could 71 00:04:10,880 --> 00:04:14,800 Speaker 1: afford it, but other times it was a punishment that 72 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 1: they were sentenced to. Although the conditions indentured servants worked 73 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: under it could be appalling, and there were definitely cases 74 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: of people dying before their indenture was over. This indenture 75 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:29,400 Speaker 1: had some very specific differences when compared with chattel slavery. 76 00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: The first and biggest was that there was an end 77 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:36,440 Speaker 1: date involved. Indenture was not supposed to be a lifetime condition. 78 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: Once the indenture was over, that person was free to 79 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: go and was often granted some kind of compensation In 80 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:47,799 Speaker 1: the form of supplies or land. Indentured servitude also wasn't 81 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 1: hereditary or tied to a person's race. As more colonists 82 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: started moving to North America, indentured servants included people from 83 00:04:55,520 --> 00:05:00,360 Speaker 1: places like England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Africa. The first 84 00:05:00,440 --> 00:05:03,400 Speaker 1: enslaved Africans who arrived in North America is landed in 85 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: Virginia Colony in sixteen nineteen, and the Dutch traded them 86 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: to the colonists as indentured servants. However, a number of social, economic, 87 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:16,720 Speaker 1: and industrial factors led to the dominant system of unfree 88 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,320 Speaker 1: labor in the colonies, gradually shifting from indentured servitude to 89 00:05:20,440 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 1: chattel slavery. These factors included uprisings and rebellions on the 90 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: part of indentured workers, the expense involved in contracting new 91 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:32,760 Speaker 1: indentured servants as the old indentures expired, and the ease 92 00:05:32,800 --> 00:05:35,800 Speaker 1: with which white indentured servants could blend in with the 93 00:05:35,839 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: rest of white society after escaping from an indenture. There 94 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:42,839 Speaker 1: were religious elements as well. In some cases, it was 95 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: socially acceptable to hold a non Protestant person in bondage, 96 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:50,119 Speaker 1: but if that person converted, that was no longer the case. 97 00:05:51,480 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: Beginning in the mid sixteen hundreds, colonies started to pass 98 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,120 Speaker 1: slave codes, which defined exactly what it meant to be 99 00:05:58,160 --> 00:06:01,279 Speaker 1: a slave. Many of these laws were written in terms 100 00:06:01,279 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: of race, so where whether they described slaves in general 101 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: or enslaved people of African descent specifically. These codes meant 102 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:10,479 Speaker 1: that in a lot of places it became illegal for 103 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:14,040 Speaker 1: an enslaved person to own property and weapons, to congregate, 104 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: to get married, to travel, and to learn to read 105 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: or write. Chattole slavery became codified as something that was lifelong, 106 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,160 Speaker 1: It was hereditary based on whether a person's mother was enslaved, 107 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,560 Speaker 1: and it was tied to African descent. When the Declaration 108 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,320 Speaker 1: of Independence was issued in seventeen seventy six, slavery was 109 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: legal in all thirteen colonies. When the U s Constitution 110 00:06:36,279 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 1: was signed, it didn't include the word slavery, but it 111 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:44,000 Speaker 1: did include references to the Institution, including Article four, Section two, 112 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:47,520 Speaker 1: Clause three, which specified that a person held in service 113 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:50,320 Speaker 1: or labor in one state would not be discharged from 114 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: that service or labor if they escaped to another state. Then, 115 00:06:55,279 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety three, to jump ahead, just a little 116 00:06:57,800 --> 00:07:01,720 Speaker 1: bit eli Whitney invented the cotton in. Cotton was already 117 00:07:01,760 --> 00:07:05,400 Speaker 1: being grown in the South, especially, and farming cotton was 118 00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: hugely labor intensive. With the invention of the cotton gin, 119 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: it was still labor intensive, but it was a lot 120 00:07:11,600 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: more lucrative because the process of removing the seeds from 121 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: the harvested cotton became dramatically faster and easier. Consequence, consequently, 122 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: the prevalence of slavery in the American South increased immediately 123 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:27,800 Speaker 1: and dramatically in response to how much easier it became 124 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 1: to make a lot of money growing cotton. At the 125 00:07:31,360 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: same time, in the North, slavery was on the wane, 126 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,760 Speaker 1: mostly because although plenty of Northern people and businesses were 127 00:07:37,800 --> 00:07:41,280 Speaker 1: profiting from slavery, there wasn't a huge industry that was 128 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: dependent on slave labor, like cotton farming or large scale 129 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: agriculture that was actually being worked. There. Also present in 130 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,040 Speaker 1: the North was an increasingly active movement for abolition, and 131 00:07:52,040 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: while there were certainly abolitionists in the South as well, 132 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: the institution of slavery was so entrenched in the South 133 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:02,080 Speaker 1: that the movement was all but invisible. They are all 134 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: of this history together means that by the time Harriet 135 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,440 Speaker 1: Tubman was born, a couple of decades into the nineteenth century, 136 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:12,840 Speaker 1: many northern states had either abolished slavery or had passed 137 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: laws that were meant to gradually in the practice within 138 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: their own borders. The idea that slavery should be abolished 139 00:08:19,400 --> 00:08:22,880 Speaker 1: nationwide was at that point still largely viewed as radical, 140 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: even among people who were advocating for its abolition. Within 141 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: individual states and southern states, on the other hand, slavery 142 00:08:30,560 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: was flourishing, and other industries that were related to selling 143 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,520 Speaker 1: and managing and capturing escaped slaves were thriving in the 144 00:08:38,559 --> 00:08:43,040 Speaker 1: South as well. In many border states, including Maryland, where 145 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:46,719 Speaker 1: Harriet Tubman was born and grew up, slavery was still practiced, 146 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,199 Speaker 1: but often not quite as entrenched, widespread, and regulated as 147 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,800 Speaker 1: it was farther south. For the sake of comparison, in 148 00:08:53,840 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: the middle of the nineteenth century, enslaved people made up 149 00:08:56,480 --> 00:09:00,880 Speaker 1: about thirteen percent of Maryland's population, compared to seven percent 150 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:06,880 Speaker 1: of South Carolina, of Mississippi, percent of Louisiana, and forty 151 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:10,440 Speaker 1: percent of Georgia. So, in addition to having less of 152 00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:13,520 Speaker 1: a distance to travel to reach a free state. Slaves 153 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: escaping from border states like Maryland were often traveling through 154 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: territory that had fewer resources devoted to maintaining and protecting 155 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: the institution of slavery. And this is where we get 156 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:27,440 Speaker 1: to the Underground Railroad, which is a name that was 157 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,760 Speaker 1: applied to a loosely collected network of people who were 158 00:09:30,760 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: all working toward the same end, which was to liberate slaves. 159 00:09:34,520 --> 00:09:37,960 Speaker 1: The Underground Railroad didn't have a formal organization or an 160 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: established leadership structure, and it liberated people mainly from the 161 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,679 Speaker 1: border states, not from the Deep South, as a lot 162 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: of people may imagine. And while our focus is really 163 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,680 Speaker 1: on Maryland today, a lot of the Underground Railroad's work 164 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:53,679 Speaker 1: was really through territory that was closer to the Mississippi River. 165 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 1: It wasn't enough for the Underground Railroad to guide people 166 00:09:56,800 --> 00:10:00,680 Speaker 1: to a free state, though in con as had passed 167 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,320 Speaker 1: a Fugitive Slave Act, which is basically an enforcement clause 168 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: for Article for Section two of the Constitution, setting out 169 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:11,000 Speaker 1: how escaped slaves could be captured and returned to the South. 170 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: A second, even stricter fugitive Slave law would be passed 171 00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:18,679 Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty about thirty years after Harriet Tubman's birth, 172 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:23,600 Speaker 1: So we don't know precisely when people started to use 173 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:28,000 Speaker 1: the term underground railroad to describe existing efforts to liberate 174 00:10:28,120 --> 00:10:31,160 Speaker 1: enslaved people from bondage, but it was appearing and writing 175 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: by the middle of the nineteenth century. So we're going 176 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: to talk about Harriet Tubman's early life and how she 177 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:39,240 Speaker 1: became part of the underground railroad after a brief break 178 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:49,800 Speaker 1: for a word from a sponsor. So now we will 179 00:10:49,800 --> 00:10:53,360 Speaker 1: get to Harriet Tubman's life specifically, and unfortunately we don't 180 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,439 Speaker 1: have a lot of detail about the earlier parts of it. 181 00:10:57,000 --> 00:10:59,600 Speaker 1: While she was enslaved, it was illegal for her to 182 00:10:59,720 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: learn to read or write, and if she did learn 183 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 1: after she liberated herself, the historical record doesn't reflect that. 184 00:11:05,720 --> 00:11:09,240 Speaker 1: A lot of people think she probably did not learn. Instead, 185 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: she dictated her life to people who were literate, and 186 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,840 Speaker 1: one of these people was Sarah Hopkins Bradford, whose biographies 187 00:11:15,880 --> 00:11:18,600 Speaker 1: of Tubman were definitely filtered through her own lens and 188 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 1: in some case. In some cases we're specifically written for 189 00:11:21,880 --> 00:11:25,000 Speaker 1: the purpose of helping Tubman to raise money to support 190 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: herself and other people. So they were books written to sell. Also, 191 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: Harriet Tubman was herself an incredible storyteller who spun out compelling, evocative, 192 00:11:35,920 --> 00:11:39,720 Speaker 1: and dramatic stories. So in many cases, once she narrated 193 00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: her autobiography, she was telling stories that she had told 194 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:47,080 Speaker 1: again and again for years. It's probable and really even 195 00:11:47,120 --> 00:11:50,439 Speaker 1: inevitable that these stories had been refined and embellished along 196 00:11:50,480 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: the way through her years of retellings. I mean, if 197 00:11:53,240 --> 00:11:55,319 Speaker 1: you tell the same joke at a party and it's 198 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,800 Speaker 1: your go to if you tell it today, five years 199 00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,320 Speaker 1: from now, you're still telling it. You're probably changed some things, 200 00:12:02,120 --> 00:12:07,160 Speaker 1: and you probably don't remember. It's not necessarily a conscious 201 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:10,440 Speaker 1: move right in your mind. That's how it happened. Now. 202 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:13,680 Speaker 1: We do know that she was born in Maryland, which, 203 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,040 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, was at the time a slave state. 204 00:12:16,480 --> 00:12:19,040 Speaker 1: Her birth date is unknown, although it was probably within 205 00:12:19,080 --> 00:12:22,600 Speaker 1: a couple of years of eighteen twenty. Tubman's parents were 206 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: Harriet Green and Benjamin Ross, and Tubman's name at birth 207 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: seems to have been Arementa, and she was often called Minty. 208 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: She sticked the name Harriet later on in her life. 209 00:12:31,880 --> 00:12:34,880 Speaker 1: We don't know much about her relationship with her family, 210 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: other than that she did have several siblings and was 211 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,360 Speaker 1: charged with caring for the ones who were younger than 212 00:12:40,400 --> 00:12:43,280 Speaker 1: her when she was still a child. We also know 213 00:12:43,360 --> 00:12:47,120 Speaker 1: that two older sisters were sold south. The family had 214 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,200 Speaker 1: some religious instruction, probably Methodist, and religious observance was part 215 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: of their family and social life. Based on Harriet's later 216 00:12:54,920 --> 00:12:58,400 Speaker 1: knowledge of folk healing and herbal medicines, it's also likely 217 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:01,400 Speaker 1: that they observed folk traditions passed down from her grandmother, 218 00:13:01,679 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: who was part of the Ashanti tribe. Tubman and many 219 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: of her family were owned by a man named Edward Broadus. 220 00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:12,520 Speaker 1: Tubben was often hired out, including a brief apprenticeship as 221 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:15,440 Speaker 1: a weaver and work as a housemaider and nursemaid, but 222 00:13:15,559 --> 00:13:18,760 Speaker 1: a lot of her work involved manual labor, including working 223 00:13:18,760 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: with timber. While still in her adolescence, Tubman experienced a 224 00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,200 Speaker 1: head injury that led to her being disabled for the 225 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,840 Speaker 1: rest of her life. An overseer or slave owner threw 226 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: a weight while trying to stop an escaping slave, and 227 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,080 Speaker 1: it hit Tubman instead. The resulting injury led to what 228 00:13:35,160 --> 00:13:38,199 Speaker 1: seems to have been a form of narcolepsy or epilepsy, 229 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: which her biographers described as somnolence. She was basically prone 230 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:46,600 Speaker 1: to periods of what sounds like seizures or unexpected periods 231 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: of sleep. There are also some people who theorized that 232 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:53,080 Speaker 1: the reason she never learned to read was that this 233 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,160 Speaker 1: head injury damaged the part of her brain that works 234 00:13:57,200 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 1: with literacy. So, uh, totally unclear whether that was the 235 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,120 Speaker 1: case or not, but that is a thing that people theorize. 236 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: This disability, along the with the fact that a lot 237 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: of her work involved heavy manual labor, might be one 238 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:13,640 Speaker 1: of the reasons that she didn't marry John Tubman until 239 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: she was about twenty four, which was relatively late for 240 00:14:16,679 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: an enslaved woman living at the time. The Tubmans had 241 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: no children, and their relationship was kind of unusual, not 242 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: necessarily unusual in Maryland, but unusual as in a general sense, 243 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: because John Tubman was free and Harriet Tubman, his wife, 244 00:14:31,960 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: was actually another man's property. Harriet's efforts to free other 245 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:41,360 Speaker 1: people started while she was still enslaved herself. In forty five, 246 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:44,120 Speaker 1: about a year after her marriage, she paid a lawyer 247 00:14:44,240 --> 00:14:47,200 Speaker 1: five dollars to look into her suspicion that her mother's 248 00:14:47,280 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 1: enslavement was not legal, and it turned out she was right. 249 00:14:51,200 --> 00:14:53,920 Speaker 1: According to the will of her prior owner, Tubman's mother 250 00:14:54,000 --> 00:14:55,840 Speaker 1: should have been freed when she reached the age of 251 00:14:55,880 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 1: forty five. She had already been enslaved for another eleven 252 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:03,480 Speaker 1: years when Tubman confirmed those suspicions. Nothing seems to have 253 00:15:03,560 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: come of this investigation, though, Tubman's father, who had been 254 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: freed in eighteen forty, legally purchased her mother in eighteen 255 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:14,160 Speaker 1: fifty five, a full decade after Tubman's investigation revealed that 256 00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:18,240 Speaker 1: she was in fact being enslaved illegally. Yeah, I went 257 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:20,000 Speaker 1: to a thing called History Camp that was here in 258 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,360 Speaker 1: Boston a few weeks ago, and I watched a several 259 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: presentations that were about tracking down formally enslaved people in 260 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: New England and trying to figure out what their family 261 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,400 Speaker 1: histories were. And one of the rules, uh, like, it 262 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: was sort of like the rules for doing this kind 263 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:39,720 Speaker 1: of research, and it was dispelling misconceptions about about enslavement, 264 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:42,320 Speaker 1: and one of them was people did not necessarily follow 265 00:15:42,400 --> 00:15:46,760 Speaker 1: the law, like, well, it was illegal to do that 266 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:51,680 Speaker 1: to a slave. People didn't necessarily follow the law. Clearly, 267 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,080 Speaker 1: Subban's mother was supposed to have been freed way before 268 00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,720 Speaker 1: her husband legally bought her as a way to set 269 00:15:59,720 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 1: her for anyway Edward brought us died on March nine 270 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:07,160 Speaker 1: of eighteen forty nine, and in his will he specified 271 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 1: that his widow would have quote use and hire of 272 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: Tubman and any children she had for the rest of 273 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:17,000 Speaker 1: her life, so that Tubman could help raise his children. However, 274 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,360 Speaker 1: Tubman and the rest of her family were really worried 275 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:22,440 Speaker 1: that instead some of them might be sold to pay 276 00:16:22,440 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: off debts or settle estate fees, which was a common 277 00:16:25,160 --> 00:16:29,400 Speaker 1: occurrence when a slave owner died, possibly because of the 278 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: potential threat of being sold south. It was not long 279 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: after this that Tubman escaped. Later that same year, she 280 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:39,920 Speaker 1: and two or three brothers left the plantation, although her 281 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: brother soon turned back and took her with them because 282 00:16:42,920 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: they were afraid of the dangers they would face in escaping, 283 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: so when Tubman struck out again, it was on her own. 284 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,240 Speaker 1: In the earliest accounts of Tubman's escape, she had the 285 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:55,960 Speaker 1: help of a sympathetic white woman. She's described in the 286 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: earliest biography of Tubman as quote a white lady who 287 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:01,680 Speaker 1: knew her story helped her on her way, and Hugh 288 00:17:01,720 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: Tubman repaid for these efforts with giving her a quilt. However, 289 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:09,480 Speaker 1: later biographers added, in one of the first fantastic embellishments 290 00:17:09,480 --> 00:17:12,400 Speaker 1: that has become tied say sort of everyone's collective memory 291 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: of Harriet's Hubman, that she had a vision that she 292 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: needed to follow the North Star. That probably an embellishment. 293 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: She did, however, talk later about feeling as though she 294 00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: had been called by God to help people to freedom. 295 00:17:26,560 --> 00:17:29,359 Speaker 1: She made her way to Philadelphia, where she immediately began 296 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:32,720 Speaker 1: working with the anti slavery community in the Underground Railroad. 297 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:34,240 Speaker 1: And we were going to talk about all of that 298 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:37,040 Speaker 1: after we pause for another break from one of our 299 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:49,639 Speaker 1: fabulous sponsors. So back to Harriet Tubman. When she escaped 300 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:52,639 Speaker 1: to Pennsylvania in eighteen forty nine, she found work at 301 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,639 Speaker 1: a resort to support herself, and she began making connections 302 00:17:55,680 --> 00:17:59,000 Speaker 1: with the anti slavery movement in the area. Soon she 303 00:17:59,160 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: was working with the Nderground Railroad. By the time Harriet 304 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: Tubman became involved in the Underground Railroad, the idea that 305 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:09,920 Speaker 1: the entire nation should abolish slavery, which as we mentioned 306 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,120 Speaker 1: at the top of the show, had been considered radical 307 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: just thirty thirty years before, was starting to gain some traction. 308 00:18:17,040 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: An organized abolition movement had been growing in the North 309 00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:22,240 Speaker 1: for a couple of decades, and by the time Harriet 310 00:18:22,200 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: Tubman reached Philadelphia, there were multiple anti slavery societies, including 311 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 1: women's anti slavery societies, operating there. There were also anti 312 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,480 Speaker 1: slavery newspapers like William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator, which was established 313 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:39,120 Speaker 1: in eighteen thirty one, and newspapers run by Frederick Douglas. 314 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: The movement for ambolition had largely originated with escaped slaves 315 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 1: and free African Americans, and as it grew throughout the 316 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: early mid eighteen hundreds, it also attracted more white participants, 317 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 1: particularly Quakers, who objected to slavery on religious grounds. Most 318 00:18:56,600 --> 00:19:00,239 Speaker 1: likely Harriet Tubman's introduction to the organized anti a Roe 319 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:03,640 Speaker 1: movement in general and the Underground Road in particular, came 320 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:06,160 Speaker 1: by a William Still, who was a free black man 321 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: who would later self publish a book on the Underground 322 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:11,399 Speaker 1: l Road, or it might have come from Lucretia or 323 00:19:11,520 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 1: James Mott. Tubman started making trips back into Maryland to 324 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: try to free enslaved people, beginning in December of eighteen fifty, 325 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:21,879 Speaker 1: when she went to Baltimore to bring back her niece 326 00:19:21,960 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 1: and two children. Her niece's husband, who was free, helped 327 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,200 Speaker 1: plan this escape. Another trip to Baltimore may have followed, 328 00:19:29,200 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: but the historical record on that one is a little 329 00:19:31,359 --> 00:19:35,800 Speaker 1: bit spottier. In the fall of eighteen fifty one, Tubman 330 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:38,159 Speaker 1: went back to Dorchester County, where she had grown up 331 00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: to try to get her husband, who was free as 332 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:43,480 Speaker 1: we said before, but he had stayed behind in Maryland 333 00:19:43,640 --> 00:19:47,720 Speaker 1: when Tubman escaped. However, when she got there, she learned 334 00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:51,760 Speaker 1: that he had married someone else after she left. Marriage 335 00:19:51,840 --> 00:19:55,360 Speaker 1: is involving enslaved people really had no legal standing, so 336 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: from a legal standpoint, his marriage to Harriet was not 337 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: really a barrier to him marrying someone else. After she left, 338 00:20:04,320 --> 00:20:07,000 Speaker 1: for about a decade, Tubman continued to make trips into 339 00:20:07,080 --> 00:20:10,199 Speaker 1: Maryland to help people liberate themselves, many of the members 340 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:12,919 Speaker 1: of her family, because it wasn't enough to make it 341 00:20:12,960 --> 00:20:15,320 Speaker 1: to a free state. She also established a base of 342 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:19,199 Speaker 1: operations in British North America, which is now Canada. She 343 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:22,280 Speaker 1: secured some land in St. Catharine's, which was across a 344 00:20:22,320 --> 00:20:26,080 Speaker 1: suspension bridge from Buffalo, New York, near Niagara Falls, and 345 00:20:26,160 --> 00:20:28,760 Speaker 1: to get there she had to guide people from Maryland 346 00:20:28,760 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: to Philadelphia and then into New York through Albany, Syracuse, 347 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:37,400 Speaker 1: and Rochester before crossing the bridge. Getting started in St. 348 00:20:37,480 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: Catharine's wasn't easy. After having liberated themselves, most of the 349 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:44,360 Speaker 1: people tub been guided there had virtually nothing to live 350 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,679 Speaker 1: on or it used to make a living. It's like 351 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:49,560 Speaker 1: a while before Tubman could establish a real foothold there, 352 00:20:49,600 --> 00:20:51,879 Speaker 1: and even after she did, money continued to be a 353 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:55,640 Speaker 1: real problem. According to the letters of Thomas Garrett, by 354 00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:58,959 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty five, Harriet Tubman had successfully returned to her 355 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:03,119 Speaker 1: old neighborhood four times and had liberated seventeen family members 356 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:06,520 Speaker 1: and friends. By eighteen sixty that number had grown to 357 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:10,720 Speaker 1: eight or nine forays into slave territory. The grand total 358 00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: is probably somewhere in the vicinity of ten to thirteen missions, 359 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:18,080 Speaker 1: leading seventy to eighty people to freedom herself and instructing 360 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: fifty or so others how to escape on their own. 361 00:21:21,760 --> 00:21:24,280 Speaker 1: One of these trips was to bring back her parents, 362 00:21:24,320 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 1: who were elderly by that point, after her father was 363 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,400 Speaker 1: caught sheltering escaping slaves. After she returned with her parents, 364 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: Tubmen resettled in Albany, New York, that maintained her ties 365 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:38,399 Speaker 1: to St. Catherine's because their parents just were not happy 366 00:21:38,440 --> 00:21:42,959 Speaker 1: living in Canada. Harriet Tubman's last trip into Maryland was 367 00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:45,760 Speaker 1: an attempt to bring out a woman described as a sister, 368 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:48,640 Speaker 1: who sadly died before the trip could actually be made. 369 00:21:49,440 --> 00:21:52,480 Speaker 1: The journey was documented in the letters of Martha Coffin Right, 370 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,280 Speaker 1: and some elements of that letter are now firmly rooted 371 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:58,879 Speaker 1: in what people quote no again in in those air 372 00:21:58,960 --> 00:22:03,119 Speaker 1: quotes about the underground Railroad. For example, Tubpan and the 373 00:22:03,160 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: seven people she was guiding used songs not to convey 374 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: coded information, which has become a popular part of Underground 375 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,560 Speaker 1: Railroad war, but to help tub And find the rest 376 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:14,760 Speaker 1: of the group after she had left them to forage 377 00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:17,200 Speaker 1: for food, and for them to signal back to her 378 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:22,160 Speaker 1: that it was safe to approach. These missions that Harriet 379 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:27,040 Speaker 1: Tubman took between Maryland and Canada really illustrate how the 380 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:30,919 Speaker 1: underground Railroad really operated. A lot of people envision the 381 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:34,639 Speaker 1: underground Railroad as being a firmly established network of mostly 382 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,560 Speaker 1: white conductors who were secreting enslaved quote cargo from deep 383 00:22:38,560 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: in the South through a series of fixed hiding places 384 00:22:41,840 --> 00:22:45,000 Speaker 1: and homes and barns and other buildings known as stations, 385 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,320 Speaker 1: so you would go from one station to the next 386 00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,160 Speaker 1: one day at a time, and our collective imaginations every 387 00:22:51,160 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: stop is planned in advance and as part of a 388 00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:58,440 Speaker 1: regularly used route from one place to another. And while 389 00:22:58,480 --> 00:23:01,800 Speaker 1: there were white people involved in the underground Railroad, particularly 390 00:23:01,800 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: among Quakers as we mentioned earlier, and there were definitely 391 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,679 Speaker 1: people who repeatedly sheltered escaping slaves in their homes or 392 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:12,280 Speaker 1: other buildings, in reality the whole thing worked a lot 393 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 1: more like what Harriet Tubman was doing here. They were planned, 394 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,080 Speaker 1: but they were also improvisational. These trips were, you know, 395 00:23:20,119 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: mainly into border states, frequently carried out by free or 396 00:23:23,200 --> 00:23:27,360 Speaker 1: escaped African Americans, traveling by night and hiding by day, 397 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: who made use of connections they had and roots that 398 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:34,879 Speaker 1: they knew to do it. Contrary to popular mythology, Harriet 399 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:37,840 Speaker 1: Tubman did not invent the underground Railroad, and the number 400 00:23:37,880 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: of people that she guided to freedom before the Civil 401 00:23:40,040 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 1: War was much lower than the three hundred that is 402 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 1: often sided. However, none of this should take away from 403 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: what she was doing. Harriet Tubman's liberty and even her 404 00:23:51,359 --> 00:23:54,760 Speaker 1: life were at enormous risk every time she returned to 405 00:23:55,080 --> 00:23:58,560 Speaker 1: to slave territory, and when she was in free States 406 00:23:58,560 --> 00:24:01,639 Speaker 1: in the company of escaping slaves who were also putting 407 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:05,960 Speaker 1: themselves at enormous risk by trying to escape. Really she 408 00:24:06,080 --> 00:24:09,240 Speaker 1: was jeopardizing her own life in safety any time she 409 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,119 Speaker 1: was in the United States at all, because she had 410 00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:15,639 Speaker 1: escaped rather than being legally freed. There was also at 411 00:24:15,680 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: times of bounty for her capture. Although the number forty 412 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: thou dollars that's routinely specified as inflated, it was probably 413 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:27,560 Speaker 1: either twelve hundred or twelve thousand dollars. There's some debate 414 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:31,520 Speaker 1: about the existence of that last zero. By the late 415 00:24:31,560 --> 00:24:35,080 Speaker 1: eighteen fifties and into the eighteen sixties, Harriet Tubman had 416 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: become well known and well respected in New England's anti 417 00:24:38,040 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: slavery circles. Her work guiding escaped slaves was at first 418 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: a secret, but became more widely known in the years 419 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:48,600 Speaker 1: just before the Civil War. She earned the nickname Moses, 420 00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:52,200 Speaker 1: and at anti slavery meetings people spoke often of the 421 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: escaped slave who had returned to slave territory again and 422 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:59,960 Speaker 1: again to liberate others the Civil War began in eighteen six, 423 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,640 Speaker 1: the one which really changed the nature of Harriet's work. 424 00:25:02,800 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: So that is where we are going to pause to 425 00:25:05,200 --> 00:25:08,080 Speaker 1: pick up the next time, so to hold us over 426 00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,040 Speaker 1: before we get to that next one, will you read 427 00:25:10,119 --> 00:25:13,439 Speaker 1: us some listener mail? I will, And this is actually 428 00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,000 Speaker 1: listener mail that is directly tied to one of the 429 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:21,320 Speaker 1: themes of this episode. It follows our episode on Six 430 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:25,040 Speaker 1: Impossible Episodes where we talked about things that were possibly apocryphal, 431 00:25:25,400 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: and it is from Mary Anne. Maryanne says, hello, ladies, 432 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 1: thanks for the podcast. I just finished listening to the 433 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: recent Six Impossible episodes where he talked about quilts as 434 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,080 Speaker 1: codes in the underground railroad, and I remembered a great 435 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:41,240 Speaker 1: story with similar themes that just isn't true. I completed 436 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:43,320 Speaker 1: my masters in teaching a few years back, and we 437 00:25:43,400 --> 00:25:47,639 Speaker 1: focused heavily on social justice and diversity. One of my classes, 438 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:49,920 Speaker 1: the professor told us about a lesson that was given 439 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,199 Speaker 1: by somebody she knew on a song Amazing Grace. The 440 00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: lesson explained that the author of Amazing Grace was a 441 00:25:56,040 --> 00:25:58,719 Speaker 1: ship captain who had been involved in the slave trade. 442 00:25:59,240 --> 00:26:02,000 Speaker 1: This captain had a conversion experience and wrote the song. 443 00:26:02,280 --> 00:26:04,680 Speaker 1: The lesson also said that the music was inspired by 444 00:26:04,680 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: the singing of slaves down in the hold. This is 445 00:26:07,240 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: a great story, but when I researched, it didn't hold water. 446 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,399 Speaker 1: It is accurate that the author of the lyrics of 447 00:26:13,400 --> 00:26:15,919 Speaker 1: Amazing Grace was involved in the slave trade and that 448 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: he did have a conversion experience. However, he did not 449 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:21,920 Speaker 1: write the music of the song, nor is the tune 450 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: now associated with it the tune to which it was 451 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,879 Speaker 1: first set. The lyrics were set to existing tunes, as 452 00:26:28,000 --> 00:26:31,000 Speaker 1: was quite common at the time. The tune we now use, 453 00:26:31,080 --> 00:26:34,240 Speaker 1: which Handel's name, Old Hundreds, is an old Calvinist tune 454 00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:38,440 Speaker 1: that is dated to one They're the usual attributed to details, 455 00:26:38,760 --> 00:26:41,199 Speaker 1: but I will skip them. Ever, since I did my 456 00:26:41,240 --> 00:26:43,800 Speaker 1: research and realize the information was false, I have wanted 457 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:45,879 Speaker 1: to share the correction, but I was not sure if 458 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:48,440 Speaker 1: the information would be welcome. This is one of those 459 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:50,879 Speaker 1: stories that makes a person feel good and if you 460 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: like to have a cherished story debunked. However, since you 461 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: shared your story with me, I decided to share mine 462 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: with you. Thanks again for the many hours of enjoyment 463 00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:05,080 Speaker 1: your research and presentation provide. Mary Anne thank you so much, Marianne. 464 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: I wanted to read this for two reasons. One, Yeah, 465 00:27:08,560 --> 00:27:11,200 Speaker 1: that is one of the things that I obliquely referred 466 00:27:11,240 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: to in that episode about people sort of retroactively associating songs. Um. Uh. 467 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,280 Speaker 1: There's another one that's followed, the Drinking Gourd, Like a 468 00:27:23,560 --> 00:27:26,359 Speaker 1: lot of people think that is an underground railroad coded song, 469 00:27:26,440 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: but the historical documentation seems to indicate that it that's 470 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:35,240 Speaker 1: a lot more recent. Uh. And the other is, yeah, 471 00:27:35,520 --> 00:27:40,280 Speaker 1: some people were really mad about the quilts. There were 472 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: definitely people who felt like, uh, we had trampled on 473 00:27:45,320 --> 00:27:47,399 Speaker 1: a story that was important to them, which is definitely 474 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 1: not our intent. Um. But that's definitely something that does 475 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:56,560 Speaker 1: not hold up under historical scrutiny. So yeah, I am 476 00:27:56,560 --> 00:27:59,200 Speaker 1: an agreement with Marianne. When I am talking to random 477 00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:02,440 Speaker 1: people on the street and they suddenly talk about slave 478 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: quilts for some reason, I'm probably not going to just 479 00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:11,000 Speaker 1: abruptly correct them because that's rude. And my rule of 480 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:15,359 Speaker 1: femine life is only to correct people if I'm preventing 481 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:22,080 Speaker 1: embarrassment or preventing harm. That's a good rule. It's hard 482 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,879 Speaker 1: to live up to you. I find I'm practically a 483 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:31,040 Speaker 1: man spleener on some topics. But well, and you could 484 00:28:31,119 --> 00:28:35,240 Speaker 1: argue that that perpetuating stereotypes that sort of make the 485 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:38,840 Speaker 1: underground rail road into an experience meant to make white 486 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,480 Speaker 1: people feel better. That's harmful. Uh, But not in a 487 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: way that I would individually stop a person in the 488 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 1: middle of their sentence and tell them, no, that's not 489 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 1: really what the quilts were about. Well, and it's one 490 00:28:50,240 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: of those things where, uh two in the you would 491 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: only do it to prevent embarrassments. I cannot imagine you. 492 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,880 Speaker 1: I certainly try not to do this, but I'm sure 493 00:28:59,880 --> 00:29:02,320 Speaker 1: I have done so at some horrible point in my life. 494 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:05,680 Speaker 1: You do not want to cause embarrassment with the correction either. No, 495 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: there was there was a time, and my relatively recent memory, 496 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,600 Speaker 1: where somebody pronounced the word crewe tee in front of 497 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:20,760 Speaker 1: me as crewdites fun, that is fun. And I did 498 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:23,800 Speaker 1: I did. I did gently correct that person because we 499 00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:26,320 Speaker 1: were at a party where crewete were being served, and 500 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: I was afraid that he would say it in front 501 00:29:28,120 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: of other people and then be embarrassed when another person 502 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: corrected him publicly about it. So that was my attempt 503 00:29:37,640 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 1: to prevent embarrassment. Anyway. Also on the subject of quilts, 504 00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:46,080 Speaker 1: quite a few people wrote in to mention the quilts 505 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 1: of geez Bend, which are kind of an exception that 506 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: pols proved the rule in the world of quilting. The 507 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,600 Speaker 1: gee Bend is an African American community in Alabama where 508 00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: there is a long and passed down through dinner ration's 509 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: history of African American people quilting. These quilts are beautiful, 510 00:30:05,360 --> 00:30:09,959 Speaker 1: they are in museum exhibitions and like, now, that is 511 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,840 Speaker 1: the thing people say when you mentioned like black quilting traditions, 512 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: and that's part of the part of what we were 513 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:20,000 Speaker 1: saying in that episode. There are others also, but they 514 00:30:20,040 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: have not been the subject of study, like uh, like 515 00:30:24,160 --> 00:30:29,719 Speaker 1: the traditions of frankly white people. So anyway, uh. 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