Black Mystery Month Pt. 2 Harriet Tubman

Black Mystery Month 2

Once again, I have come across what is called the (52 fake out). Originating in west Philadelphia on and around 52^nd market streets. From hustlers playing 3 card monte on the tables back in the day(1980’s) on the strip. It’s all about deception sometimes with the help of others. That brings us to Black Mystery Month the deception is the story or narrative and as previously stated a narrative is defined as: a way of presenting or understanding a situation or series of events that reflects and promotes a particular point of view or set of values, representing, or telling a story.

With all slave narratives they tell a story of a superhero saving their people from the oppressor, agent, or master while providing hope for others to deal with life struggles of a mental hijack.

By now I’m sure you’ve heard of Harriet Tubman the slave who freed herself and helped others, not only that she, I tell you what let’s look at the timeline to see if this account of this person makes sense. But before I do, the city of Philadelphia is proposing a permanent Harriet Tubman statue in front of city hall and according to city officials stating: It is appropriate that this statue portraying Harriet Tubman as a strong soldier is located on the apron of City Hall where two other statues of Civil War soldiers stand,” Public Art Director of the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy Marguerite Anglin said in a news release.

“Harriet Tubman was a beacon of light at a dark time in our Nation’s history, and she helped Black people find freedom through the Underground Railroad,” Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker said in a news release. “Her recognition and this work of art in her honor, created by an artist of color, is overdue and welcomed. Hundreds of thousands will see this sculpture every year outside City Hall. As the first ever Woman Mayor of Philadelphia, and as a Black Woman, I am thrilled that the first piece of public art to be approved under this administration will be this statue of a Black Woman who fought for freedom here in Philadelphia — Harriet Tubman.”

Here we go!

Tubman’s birth is unknown, conflicting stories have her birth between 1820 and 1822 no month or day is given because it is unknown. The author Sarah Hopkins Bradford (August 20, 1818 – June 25, 1912) was an American writer and historian, best known today for her two pioneering biographical books on Harriet Tubman. Most of her work consists of children’s literature.

In 1869, four years after the end of the civil war, Bradford wrote her first of two groundbreaking books, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Tubman escaped slavery and then returned to help many others escape as well, traveling to the northern United States and Canada before the Civil War (1861-1865), using the underground railroad. Bradford wrote the book, using extensive interviews with Tubman, to raise funds for Tubman’s support. The two became friends. It was the first Tubman biography of any depth. Bradford was one of the first Caucasian writers to deal with African-American topics, and her work attracted worldwide fame, selling very well. In 1886, she followed up with Harriet Tubman, Moses of Her People, again to assist in supporting Tubman. Both works have been published in many editions, and still sell well in the early 21st century.

Back drop:

Sara left the country right before the books were published.

The publisher or publishing company (W. J. Moses, Printer) which is suspect in name receives all royalties from the sale of the many published versions of the book.

Harriet never saw a penny from the sales. Because she didn’t exist.

I’m going to hit on a few points of the story then go over the timeline.

She was one of nine children born between 1808 and 1832 to enslaved parents in Dorchester County, Maryland.

Originally named Araminta Harriet Ross, Tubman was nicknamed “Minty” by her parents. Araminta changed her name to Harriet around her marriage, possibly to honor her mother.

She was a contemporary of Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose breakthrough novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin also featured African-American themes but appeared some 20 years before Bradford’s first Tubman biography. Much of Bradford’s children’s literature is still available in modern times, either online, or through photographed copies of original volumes, reissued by modern publishers. Her Tubman books, which received some criticism based on lack of thoroughness in historical methods, remain popular, and have been issued in some twenty editions, as of 2012.

Keynote from the story.

Physical violence was a part of daily life for Tubman and her family. The violence she suffered early in life caused permanent physical injuries. Tubman later recounted a particular day when she was lashed five times before breakfast. She carried the scars for the rest of her life.

The most severe injury occurred when Tubman was an adolescent. Sent to a dry goods store for supplies, she encountered a slave who had left the fields without permission. The man’s overseer demanded that Tubman help restrain the runaway. When Tubman refused, the overseer threw a two-pound weight that struck her in the head. Tubman endured seizures, severe headaches, and narcoleptic episodes for the rest of her life. She also experienced intense dream states, which she classified as religious experiences.

Also, in the story she had a cracked skull and received no medical attention.

Tubman first encountered the Underground Railroad—an extensive system of people and passages that helped fugitive slaves flee to the northern U.S. states and into Canada—when she used it to escape slavery herself in 1849. Following a bout of illness and the death of her owner, Tubman decided to escape slavery in Maryland for Philadelphia. She feared that her family would be further severed and was concerned for her fate as a sickly slave of low economic value.

Two of her brothers, Ben and Harry, accompanied her on Sept. 17, 1849. However, after a notice was published in the Cambridge Democrat now called (the star democrat) offering a $300 reward for the return of Araminta, Harry and Ben had second thoughts and returned to the plantation. Tubman had no plans to remain in bondage. Seeing her brothers safely home, she soon set off alone for Pennsylvania.

Using the Underground Railroad, Tubman traveled nearly 90 miles to Philadelphia. She crossed into the free state of Pennsylvania with relief and awe and recalled later: “When I found I had crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in Heaven.”

She was an underground railroad conductor, and supposedly her own words:

• I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can’t say; I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger.
• I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more, if only they knew they were slaves.

In an 1868 biography, writer Sarah H. Bradford gave an exaggerated estimate of the number of slaves Tubman directly led to safety via the Underground Railroad—as many as 300 across 19 trips. But according to Tubman’s accounts—and extensive documentation of her missions—the number is closer to 70 family members and friends across 13 trips between 1850 and 1860. She did not rescue enslaved people from all across the south, as it would have been too dangerous for her to travel to places where she was not familiar with the geography.

According to the national park service, Tubman carried a small pistol with her as a means of protection against slave catchers, as well as to give encouragement to worried runaways who otherwise might turn back and jeopardize the safety of her group.

Additionally, Tubman provided helpful instruction to about 70 slaves from the Eastern Shore who eventually found freedom on their own. Because of these efforts, she earned the nickname “Moses” for her leadership.

.” She went into this gentleman’s office. ” What do you want, Harriet? ” was the first greeting. ” I want some money, sir.” ” You do? How much do you want? “ I want twenty dollars, sir.” ” Twenty dollars? Who told you to come here for twenty dollars? ” ” De Lord tole me, sir.” ” Well, I guess the Lord’s mistaken this time.” “I guess he isn’t, sir. Anyhow I’m gwine to sit here till I git it.” So, she sat down and went to sleep. All the morning and all the afternoon she sat there still, sleeping and rousing up—sometimes finding the office full of gentlemen—sometimes finding herself alone. Many fugitives were passing through New York at that time, and those who came in supposed that she was one of them, tired out and resting. Sometimes she would be roused up with the words, ” Come, Harriet, you had better go. There’s no money for you here.” ” No, sir. I’m not gwine till I git my twenty dollars.” She does riot know all that happened, for deep sleep fell upon her; but probably her story was whispered about, and she roused at last to find herself the happy possessor of sixty dollars, which had been raised among those who came into the office. (WHAT WAS THIS THE SLAVE IMMIGRATION OFFICE?). She went on her way rejoicing, to bring her old parents from the land of bondage.

So, in honor of her bravery and determination for twenty dollars they us government or whoever would like to put her face on an instrument of debt.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls from around the world let us not rejoice in the lies that have been told to us by those whose intentions are to deceive and mis-lead. With no apologies given, Harriet Tubman did not exist nor did Nat turner and Frederick Douglass. I repeat all slave narratives were written by Europeans, and all slave movies came from the minds of oppressors and pacifists then regurgitated by others to expand and develop more stories from the original lie.

Tyrone Richardson

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