1
00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:04,280
Speaker 1: She immediately said, I'm going to do what I can

2
00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:08,039
Speaker 1: to bring to freedom as many others who are enslaved

3
00:00:08,160 --> 00:00:12,840
Speaker 1: as possible, and she ended up making thirteen excursions, at

4
00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:17,520
Speaker 1: great personal risk, back into slave states to escort on

5
00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:21,759
Speaker 1: the so called underground Railroad as many slaves to freedom

6
00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,480
Speaker 1: as she could. She ended up rescuing about one hundred slaves.

7
00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,080
Speaker 2: Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney.

8
00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,240
Speaker 2: I'm a normal guy. I'm a husband, I'm a father,

9
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,680
Speaker 2: I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in

10
00:00:38,760 --> 00:00:42,760
Speaker 2: inner City Memphis. And the last part, well, somehow it

11
00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,400
Speaker 2: led to an oscar for the film about our team.

12
00:00:45,680 --> 00:00:50,320
Speaker 2: It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never

13
00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,400
Speaker 2: be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice

14
00:00:53,400 --> 00:00:57,600
Speaker 2: suits talking big words that nobody understands on CNN and Fox,

15
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:02,440
Speaker 2: but rather by an army of normal folks, US, just

16
00:01:02,520 --> 00:01:05,920
Speaker 2: you and me deciding you know what I can help,

17
00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:11,520
Speaker 2: and that's exactly what You're ready. Harriet Tubman did, the

18
00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:14,560
Speaker 2: former slave, is the most well known conductor on the

19
00:01:14,680 --> 00:01:19,000
Speaker 2: Underground Railroad, and today, along with Larry Reed, the author

20
00:01:19,040 --> 00:01:22,360
Speaker 2: of Real Heroes, We Pay tribute to her as part

21
00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:27,240
Speaker 2: of our special series and Army of Normal Dead Folks. Guys,

22
00:01:27,760 --> 00:01:30,360
Speaker 2: I know you've heard the name, but there's so much

23
00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:33,360
Speaker 2: about her I learned from Larry. I cannot wait if

24
00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:35,600
Speaker 2: you have to learn more about it. Right after these

25
00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:55,400
Speaker 2: brief messages from our general sponsors. One who's everybody named.

26
00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:02,120
Speaker 2: Everybody knows the name Harriet Tubman, Yes, chapter eleven. I

27
00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,920
Speaker 2: was unaware of some of the stuff that happened later

28
00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:11,560
Speaker 2: in her life, Yes, and her unbelievable toughness. So everybody

29
00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:17,480
Speaker 2: knows Harriet Tubman ran the underground railroad, saved runaway and

30
00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:22,160
Speaker 2: slaves from the South. But there's so much more to

31
00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:27,720
Speaker 2: her story. And I love the subtitle of the chapter,

32
00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,440
Speaker 2: which is she never lost a passenger. That's right. Tell

33
00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,520
Speaker 2: us not what we know about Harriet Tubman, but what

34
00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:36,400
Speaker 2: we don't know.

35
00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:40,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, the basic story of Harriet Tubman may be well known,

36
00:02:40,880 --> 00:02:43,919
Speaker 1: but there are fascinating things about her that have been

37
00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:49,320
Speaker 1: somewhat forgotten. She was, of course a slave well into

38
00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:53,680
Speaker 1: her twenties, but she was one who decided at some

39
00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:57,320
Speaker 1: point she was going to bolt for freedom, and she did,

40
00:02:57,480 --> 00:03:00,920
Speaker 1: and she successfully made her way from a slave plantation

41
00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,480
Speaker 1: in the South to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

42
00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:09,880
Speaker 1: And the thing that I most appreciate about Harriet Tubman

43
00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,760
Speaker 1: is that she didn't stop there. She was committed not

44
00:03:15,120 --> 00:03:20,040
Speaker 1: just to her own freedom, which she cherished and risked

45
00:03:20,600 --> 00:03:24,360
Speaker 1: greatly to achieve, but once she achieved it, she was

46
00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:28,320
Speaker 1: interested then immediately in the freedom of others. She could

47
00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:30,520
Speaker 1: have stayed in Philadelphia the rest of her life, done

48
00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:35,080
Speaker 1: any number of things, and left the whole slave story

49
00:03:35,120 --> 00:03:37,520
Speaker 1: behind her, but no, she immediately said, I'm going to

50
00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:39,800
Speaker 1: do what I can to bring to freedom as many

51
00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,680
Speaker 1: others who are enslaved as possible, and she ended up

52
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:49,880
Speaker 1: making thirteen excursions, at great personal risk back into slave

53
00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:54,360
Speaker 1: states to escort on the so called underground Railroad as

54
00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:59,160
Speaker 1: many slaves to freedom as she could. Some are runaway slaves, yes,

55
00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,280
Speaker 1: some were members of her family, most she did not know.

56
00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,720
Speaker 1: She ended up rescuing about one hundred slaves and personally

57
00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:09,680
Speaker 1: escorting them under the cover of darkness.

58
00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:15,640
Speaker 2: So it's important when people hear that story, that sounds awesome,

59
00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:23,200
Speaker 2: but I think it's important to put in context the

60
00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:27,560
Speaker 2: the physical demands it took to do that, the environment

61
00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:32,599
Speaker 2: in which she did that. That was really outlaid well

62
00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:33,960
Speaker 2: in the chapter share that.

63
00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:36,120
Speaker 3: So, you know, it's one thing to say, well, she

64
00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:39,480
Speaker 3: went down South under the cover of darkness, picked people up,

65
00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,159
Speaker 3: and got I'm slavery, and that is a great story,

66
00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:47,320
Speaker 3: but the context about what these folks had to endure

67
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:48,400
Speaker 3: is really important.

68
00:04:48,640 --> 00:04:51,520
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I mean it wasn't like she bought a

69
00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,560
Speaker 1: bus ticket and went down on a freeway to someplace

70
00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:56,720
Speaker 1: in the Deep South and everybody just boarded the bus

71
00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:57,920
Speaker 1: and she escorted them.

72
00:04:58,160 --> 00:04:59,120
Speaker 2: She wasn't a freedom rider.

73
00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:03,160
Speaker 1: No, that's right. She had to do this, not not

74
00:05:03,200 --> 00:05:05,760
Speaker 1: only under the cover of darkness, but she had to

75
00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:07,800
Speaker 1: outrun dogs.

76
00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:12,160
Speaker 2: Who would have chewed her and her absolutely. Yeah.

77
00:05:12,200 --> 00:05:16,440
Speaker 1: And they were having to scramble through briars and brush

78
00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,240
Speaker 1: and through the woods and having to somehow sustain themselves

79
00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,520
Speaker 1: for days on end. They couldn't walk into a store

80
00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:26,200
Speaker 1: and buy lunch, you know, I mean, they would have

81
00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:27,520
Speaker 1: been immediately apprehended.

82
00:05:27,839 --> 00:05:28,920
Speaker 2: So they often wet.

83
00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:31,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, no matter what the weather or not.

84
00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:33,800
Speaker 2: When I read that, I was thinking, how did they

85
00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:35,640
Speaker 2: get hyperthermic? Some of them?

86
00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,280
Speaker 1: You know, I'm sure some came close. I don't know

87
00:05:39,640 --> 00:05:43,120
Speaker 1: all the details, but they had to endure some horrific conditions,

88
00:05:43,560 --> 00:05:46,600
Speaker 1: whether as well as all the things you endure when

89
00:05:46,640 --> 00:05:50,560
Speaker 1: you're on the run and can't do anything that might

90
00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:54,920
Speaker 1: reveal yourself to the powers that be. They're all looking

91
00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,159
Speaker 1: for it. She did that thirteen times and saved almost

92
00:05:58,200 --> 00:05:59,000
Speaker 1: one hundred people.

93
00:05:59,200 --> 00:06:01,159
Speaker 2: Yeah. I got to believe after the first trip, I'd

94
00:06:01,160 --> 00:06:04,400
Speaker 2: have been like, Wow, I helped these six, seven, eight

95
00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:06,880
Speaker 2: nine people and that was great. But that trip sucked

96
00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:07,840
Speaker 2: and I ain't doing it again.

97
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:12,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, she did. She had a bounty on her

98
00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:17,679
Speaker 1: head and she knew that that if she had been captured.

99
00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:19,880
Speaker 2: The publicly, they would have made an example of her.

100
00:06:19,960 --> 00:06:23,240
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, the most amazing thing I think about her

101
00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,720
Speaker 1: involved something that happened when she was a slave and

102
00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:31,320
Speaker 1: that she had to deal with for decades thereafter. I

103
00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,719
Speaker 1: don't know the details of the incident, but somebody, probably

104
00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,880
Speaker 1: the foreman of the at the slave plantation where she was,

105
00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:43,200
Speaker 1: struck her in the head with a metal object and

106
00:06:43,360 --> 00:06:48,160
Speaker 1: it caused her for decades thereafter after to suffer headaches, migraines,

107
00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,520
Speaker 1: occasional dizziness, and blurriness of vision. It was a problem

108
00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:53,880
Speaker 1: until she was an old lady.

109
00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:54,840
Speaker 2: She's brain damage.

110
00:06:54,920 --> 00:06:58,119
Speaker 1: Yeah, and yet she was doing all this rescue work

111
00:06:58,520 --> 00:07:02,960
Speaker 1: suffering that personally at the same time. In the eighteen nineties,

112
00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:09,000
Speaker 1: when she was seventy, in her seventies anyway, long after

113
00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,920
Speaker 1: the end of the Civil War, she decided to have

114
00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,840
Speaker 1: surgery on her head to see if the surgeons could

115
00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:23,040
Speaker 1: provide some relief. And the incredible thing is that she

116
00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:25,680
Speaker 1: refused anesthesia.

117
00:07:25,120 --> 00:07:27,840
Speaker 2: Which when I read that, I just cannot believe it.

118
00:07:28,000 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 1: Yeah, I tell you what a tough bird this woman was.

119
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:33,920
Speaker 1: But she didn't want any anesthesia, which back then was

120
00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,440
Speaker 1: crude ether. But no anesthesia. She said, just give me

121
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,720
Speaker 1: a bullet and I'll bite down on it and go

122
00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,680
Speaker 1: ahead and do your thing. And so they opened up

123
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:46,000
Speaker 1: the top of her head. In fact, the way she

124
00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,560
Speaker 1: put it, she lived another fifteen years with tremendous relief

125
00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,760
Speaker 1: thanks to that surgery, and she would often talk about it,

126
00:07:53,480 --> 00:07:57,280
Speaker 1: and the line she frequently used was, Yeah, they took

127
00:07:57,320 --> 00:07:59,320
Speaker 1: the top of my head off and rattled around in

128
00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:02,400
Speaker 1: the air, put it back, and I felt fine ever since?

129
00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,600
Speaker 2: Well she did, Yeah, she did without and they cut

130
00:08:07,840 --> 00:08:10,280
Speaker 2: the top of her skull off. Yea while she bit

131
00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,800
Speaker 2: on a bullet. Yeah, is that does that tell you

132
00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:17,880
Speaker 2: what to described. I mean, yeah, holy spokes. When I

133
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,760
Speaker 2: read that, I was astounded. I had no idea that story.

134
00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,320
Speaker 2: She also served in the military, Yes she did. I

135
00:08:23,320 --> 00:08:27,840
Speaker 2: think she led. She was like the first female armed

136
00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:29,160
Speaker 2: combatant or something.

137
00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:31,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, and she led a unit that liberated about six

138
00:08:31,920 --> 00:08:35,760
Speaker 1: hundred more slaves during this during the Civil War. But

139
00:08:35,880 --> 00:08:38,880
Speaker 1: she did that as a commander of a Union unit.

140
00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,000
Speaker 1: Liberating six hundred slaves. Isn't that amazing?

141
00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:49,640
Speaker 2: Yes, Harry Tubman is amazing. And I don't know how.

142
00:08:51,440 --> 00:08:54,440
Speaker 2: I mean, we sit around and we think, oh, we

143
00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,000
Speaker 2: see these injustices, or we see these problems in our

144
00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,600
Speaker 2: communities and our society, and how do we get involved

145
00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:04,880
Speaker 2: and everything else. This is a former slave. She had nothing,

146
00:09:05,320 --> 00:09:09,120
Speaker 2: she didn't even have her own liberty, and she saved

147
00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:16,040
Speaker 2: hundreds of lives and changed the way the world looked

148
00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:20,720
Speaker 2: at slavery. And if she can do that, how in

149
00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:23,120
Speaker 2: the hell is it we can't cross the street and

150
00:09:23,240 --> 00:09:26,600
Speaker 2: read to some kids to help with literacy, or one

151
00:09:26,600 --> 00:09:28,600
Speaker 2: of a thousand other things you can come up with.

152
00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:32,160
Speaker 1: It surely makes the efforts of most of us look

153
00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,120
Speaker 1: rather puty when it comes to liberating people. When you

154
00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:38,319
Speaker 1: see what she did, and the risks that she undertook.

155
00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:42,120
Speaker 1: I think we should thank our lucky stars, thank God

156
00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,880
Speaker 1: every day that there have been people in history like

157
00:09:45,960 --> 00:09:50,080
Speaker 1: Harriet Tubman who didn't care what the odds for success

158
00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,120
Speaker 1: might be, didn't care what the obstacles were. When they

159
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:56,800
Speaker 1: knew what the right thing was to do, they mustered

160
00:09:56,840 --> 00:10:01,360
Speaker 1: the courage and got it done. I'm not sure everybody

161
00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,640
Speaker 1: would do that. It's these uncommon people like Harriet Tubman

162
00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:09,000
Speaker 1: to whom I think the world owes such an enormous,

163
00:10:09,520 --> 00:10:12,320
Speaker 1: unpayable debt of gratitude.

164
00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:22,040
Speaker 2: And should learn lessons and garner inspiration from. Absolutely Thank

165
00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:25,800
Speaker 2: you for joining us for this special series and army

166
00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:30,360
Speaker 2: of normal dead folks. See I said it happier that time.

167
00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:33,480
Speaker 2: I think Harry Toughan would love it just saying yeah,

168
00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:36,480
Speaker 2: thank you for joining us for an army of normal

169
00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:40,319
Speaker 2: dead folks. If Harriet Tubman or other episodes have inspired

170
00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,320
Speaker 2: you in general, or better yet, by taking action by

171
00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:48,400
Speaker 2: making your own stand in our time, buying Larry Reid's

172
00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,280
Speaker 2: book Real Heroes where this story came from, or if

173
00:10:52,320 --> 00:10:55,160
Speaker 2: you have stories for this series, please let me know.

174
00:10:55,480 --> 00:10:57,199
Speaker 2: I'd love to hear about it. You can write me

175
00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,520
Speaker 2: anytime at Bill at normal folks dot org, and I

176
00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:05,439
Speaker 2: promise I will respond unless I'm dead. And if you

177
00:11:05,559 --> 00:11:08,880
Speaker 2: enjoy this episode, share a friends and on social subscribe

178
00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,720
Speaker 2: to the podcast, rate and review it. Join the army

179
00:11:12,880 --> 00:11:18,280
Speaker 2: at normalfolks dot us consider becoming a Premium member any

180
00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:20,600
Speaker 2: and all of these things that will help us grow

181
00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:25,000
Speaker 2: an army of normal folks. Thanks to our producer, Ironlight Labs,

182
00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,959
Speaker 2: I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can