Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
Black History comes to life in Warsaw
 |
| Kathyrn Harris, library services director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill., plays the part of Harriet Tubman at the Warsaw Public Library. |
Library director Harris portrays Harriet Tubman at program
by diane vance/gate city staff writer
WARSAW, Ill. - The Warsaw Public Library celebrated Black History Month Saturday hosting Kathryn Harris, library services director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill. Carl Sandburg College's literacy program sponsored the free event.
Harris re-enacts Harriet Tubman, known as the Moses of her people for leading so many to freedom. Harris delivered her tale in the first person dressed in 1870s clothing. She talked mostly about her work on the Underground Railroad, a series of safe places for runaway slaves to hide as they journeyed north of the Mason-Dixie line in the United States to escape from slavery. She stayed in character, claiming she cannot read or write and answered audience questions from an 1860-90s point of view.
“I worked on the railroad,” she began. “You may think it odd, that I, a woman, worked on the railroad. But it wasn't the regular railroad, it was the Underground Railroad. I helped slaves escape to freedom. It was risky. It was dangerous. Sometimes we were chased by slave catchers.”
She explained about abolitionists, people who believed slavery is wrong.
“Abolitionists were white people and colored people,” she said. “A lot of the white abolitionists were of the Quaker religion, called Friends. They certainly were friends to escaping slaves. The railroad was a network of people and places. Any railroad has stations, station masters and conductors. The stations could be a barn, a cellar, an attic, the back of a wagon or a place in the forest or swamps. It was a way to freedom.”
Harriet Tubman was born a slave on a plantation owned by Master Brodus in Dorchester County, Md.
“I was born in 1820, or maybe 1821, or 1822 or 1823,” she said. “Don't nobody care about slaves' birthday. I worked out in the fields and got as strong as any man. I heard about freedom, and I heard about the Underground Railroad from other slaves. Now, the underground railroad was secret because it was illegal. But I was told I could get on it and get to my freedom.
“I decided in 1849 I was gonna be free. A kindly abolitionist told me when I got to Philadelphia, I'd be free. So I went. When I got to Philadelphia, I looked at my feet, I looked at my hands; they were the same feet and hands as before - but now they was free! A glory came over me.”
Tubman met William Still in Philadelphia.
“He was a free Negro and important in the anti-slavery movement,” she said. “He was a station master on the Underground Railroad. I stayed two years in Philadelphia, working with William Still. I hired out as a cook and washer woman and gave my money to Mr. Still for the Underground Railroad. He taught me the operations. In 1851 he decided I might be a conductor. I started making trips. I went right back to Dorchester County, back to the plantation I left. I took my brothers and their families all the way up to Canada.
“In all, I made 13 trips on the Underground Railroad, taking 300 people to freedom. We traveled at night and hid by day. We followed the Northern Star or the moss growing on the northern side of trees. All roads north led to freedom.
“All who traveled with me got to freedom,” she said. “I Harriet Tubman, never run my train off its track or lost a passenger.”
That was a refrain she repeated throughout her presentation. There were “wanted posters” out on Harriet Tubman, going from $12,000 to $40,000 over the years. She was never caught.
“I took my last trip in 1859,” she said. “Master Brodus had died and I went back to that plantation and took my aged Mom and Papa to Canada and the whole family was free. Except my sisters. They had been sold when I was a girl and I never did see them again, ever. It pains me to this day to recall their names.”
Harriet Tubman stopped working on the Underground Railroad in 1861 with the rumblings of war approaching.
“Father Abraham - that's what we called Mr. Lincoln - ‘Father Abraham' - signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and there was no more need for the Underground Railroad. I worked in Mr. Lincoln's army as a scout, a spy and a nurse. I never got no fair pay for my services, but I was free.”
After the war, there was still work to do in the cause of freedom, and Harriet Tubman helped do that work, also.
“I worked for the Freed Man's Bureau set up by the government to teach former slaves how to be free, how to present themselves for work, how to get paid and keep the money, be their own masters.”
The bureau taught former slaves how to read and writer, because during the slavery days, it was against the law for slaves to learn.
Also after the war, Tubman brought her parents, brothers and families back into the United States, settling in Auburn, N.Y.
“It's where I live today, it's where I take care of my aged Mom and Papa,” she said. “I opened a home to former slaves. Folks say I operate an old folks home.”
An audience member asked how many slaves escaped to freedom at one time.
“Depended on how many showed up at one time,” she said. “I'd send word to another abolitionist, ‘You come meet at this place.' I didn't go into slave quarters and recruit. I didn't pick them. They choose themselves. On the trip with my brothers, it was eight people. On the trip with my parents, it was just those two.
“Do you know how to cipher, sir? I made 13 trips and took 300 people, I believe you could figure the average.”
Escaping slaves might have to walk most of the way. Sometimes there would be wagons to ride.
“An abolitionist might help get us across a river or lake,” she said.
Another audience member asked if quilts were used as signals and what was the significance of the drinking gourd.
“I don't know about the drinking gourd, except that's what we called the Big Dipper, with the Northern Star,” she said. “We followed the ‘drinking gourd' in the sky to the north.
“Now, slaves couldn't read or write, it would seems quilts could be used as some kind of signal for a safe house. There is research and arguments on both sides about whether quilt patterns could be interpreted for meanings on the Underground Railroad. But many of the patterns identified weren't around until after the time of the railroad. Maybe certain colors of quilts hanging outside signified something. I'll leave that for you to decide.”
Harriet Tubman is pictured wearing a head scarf, and someone asked about a head injury.
“I got that as a teen, before I fled to freedom and it wasn't from a beating,” she said.
She told a story of being sent to town for provisions with another slave, her friend, Sam.
“He decided he wanted to make a run for freedom that day,” she said. “He asked me to keep the storekeeper's attention while he ran out the back door. The storekeeper must have sensed something because he hurled a four-pound weight to keep Sam from running. It hit me in the head. It caused a scar, so I wear a scarf, and it caused me to have the ‘sleeping sickness' my mother called it. In later years, a Quaker told me I had narcolepsy. Folks asked if it caused me trouble as a railroad conductor.
“But I, Harriet Tubman never run a train off its tracks and never lost a passenger. I believe the good Lord called me. Where the good Lord leads me, he will not leave me. I believe his hand was upon me. It was his work. That slavery thing was an awful thing, especially as it separated families.”
The trip from Dorchester County to Philadelphia could take three to four months. The 600 miles to Canada took six to seven months.
Tubman traveled as far south as Georgia on the Underground Railroad.
She died March 10, 1913, close to 90 years old, in her own home. The house is now a state Historic Site and is kept as she operated it.
In the late 1880s Tubman also worked in the suffragette movement and knew Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and other women fighting for women's votes at the time.
Cassie Holtke and Jessie Kingman, both fifth grade students at Keokuk Christian Academy, were impressed by the presentation.
“I liked learning about the Underground Railroad,” said Holtke.
Kingman enjoys learning history and found the presentation interesting.
“I like attending anything about Black History,” said Donna Robbins of Warsaw.
Several books and articles were on display, along with a quilt and a drawing was held, giving books away donated by the CSC literacy program.
by diane vance/gate city staff writer
WARSAW, Ill. - The Warsaw Public Library celebrated Black History Month Saturday hosting Kathryn Harris, library services director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Ill. Carl Sandburg College's literacy program sponsored the free event.
Harris re-enacts Harriet Tubman, known as the Moses of her people for leading so many to freedom. Harris delivered her tale in the first person dressed in 1870s clothing. She talked mostly about her work on the Underground Railroad, a series of safe places for runaway slaves to hide as they journeyed north of the Mason-Dixie line in the United States to escape from slavery. She stayed in character, claiming she cannot read or write and answered audience questions from an 1860-90s point of view.
“I worked on the railroad,” she began. “You may think it odd, that I, a woman, worked on the railroad. But it wasn't the regular railroad, it was the Underground Railroad. I helped slaves escape to freedom. It was risky. It was dangerous. Sometimes we were chased by slave catchers.”
She explained about abolitionists, people who believed slavery is wrong.
ADVERTISEMENT |
Harriet Tubman was born a slave on a plantation owned by Master Brodus in Dorchester County, Md.
“I was born in 1820, or maybe 1821, or 1822 or 1823,” she said. “Don't nobody care about slaves' birthday. I worked out in the fields and got as strong as any man. I heard about freedom, and I heard about the Underground Railroad from other slaves. Now, the underground railroad was secret because it was illegal. But I was told I could get on it and get to my freedom.
“I decided in 1849 I was gonna be free. A kindly abolitionist told me when I got to Philadelphia, I'd be free. So I went. When I got to Philadelphia, I looked at my feet, I looked at my hands; they were the same feet and hands as before - but now they was free! A glory came over me.”
Tubman met William Still in Philadelphia.
“He was a free Negro and important in the anti-slavery movement,” she said. “He was a station master on the Underground Railroad. I stayed two years in Philadelphia, working with William Still. I hired out as a cook and washer woman and gave my money to Mr. Still for the Underground Railroad. He taught me the operations. In 1851 he decided I might be a conductor. I started making trips. I went right back to Dorchester County, back to the plantation I left. I took my brothers and their families all the way up to Canada.
“In all, I made 13 trips on the Underground Railroad, taking 300 people to freedom. We traveled at night and hid by day. We followed the Northern Star or the moss growing on the northern side of trees. All roads north led to freedom.
“All who traveled with me got to freedom,” she said. “I Harriet Tubman, never run my train off its track or lost a passenger.”
That was a refrain she repeated throughout her presentation. There were “wanted posters” out on Harriet Tubman, going from $12,000 to $40,000 over the years. She was never caught.
“I took my last trip in 1859,” she said. “Master Brodus had died and I went back to that plantation and took my aged Mom and Papa to Canada and the whole family was free. Except my sisters. They had been sold when I was a girl and I never did see them again, ever. It pains me to this day to recall their names.”
Harriet Tubman stopped working on the Underground Railroad in 1861 with the rumblings of war approaching.
“Father Abraham - that's what we called Mr. Lincoln - ‘Father Abraham' - signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and there was no more need for the Underground Railroad. I worked in Mr. Lincoln's army as a scout, a spy and a nurse. I never got no fair pay for my services, but I was free.”
After the war, there was still work to do in the cause of freedom, and Harriet Tubman helped do that work, also.
“I worked for the Freed Man's Bureau set up by the government to teach former slaves how to be free, how to present themselves for work, how to get paid and keep the money, be their own masters.”
The bureau taught former slaves how to read and writer, because during the slavery days, it was against the law for slaves to learn.
Also after the war, Tubman brought her parents, brothers and families back into the United States, settling in Auburn, N.Y.
“It's where I live today, it's where I take care of my aged Mom and Papa,” she said. “I opened a home to former slaves. Folks say I operate an old folks home.”
An audience member asked how many slaves escaped to freedom at one time.
“Depended on how many showed up at one time,” she said. “I'd send word to another abolitionist, ‘You come meet at this place.' I didn't go into slave quarters and recruit. I didn't pick them. They choose themselves. On the trip with my brothers, it was eight people. On the trip with my parents, it was just those two.
“Do you know how to cipher, sir? I made 13 trips and took 300 people, I believe you could figure the average.”
Escaping slaves might have to walk most of the way. Sometimes there would be wagons to ride.
“An abolitionist might help get us across a river or lake,” she said.
Another audience member asked if quilts were used as signals and what was the significance of the drinking gourd.
“I don't know about the drinking gourd, except that's what we called the Big Dipper, with the Northern Star,” she said. “We followed the ‘drinking gourd' in the sky to the north.
“Now, slaves couldn't read or write, it would seems quilts could be used as some kind of signal for a safe house. There is research and arguments on both sides about whether quilt patterns could be interpreted for meanings on the Underground Railroad. But many of the patterns identified weren't around until after the time of the railroad. Maybe certain colors of quilts hanging outside signified something. I'll leave that for you to decide.”
Harriet Tubman is pictured wearing a head scarf, and someone asked about a head injury.
“I got that as a teen, before I fled to freedom and it wasn't from a beating,” she said.
She told a story of being sent to town for provisions with another slave, her friend, Sam.
“He decided he wanted to make a run for freedom that day,” she said. “He asked me to keep the storekeeper's attention while he ran out the back door. The storekeeper must have sensed something because he hurled a four-pound weight to keep Sam from running. It hit me in the head. It caused a scar, so I wear a scarf, and it caused me to have the ‘sleeping sickness' my mother called it. In later years, a Quaker told me I had narcolepsy. Folks asked if it caused me trouble as a railroad conductor.
“But I, Harriet Tubman never run a train off its tracks and never lost a passenger. I believe the good Lord called me. Where the good Lord leads me, he will not leave me. I believe his hand was upon me. It was his work. That slavery thing was an awful thing, especially as it separated families.”
The trip from Dorchester County to Philadelphia could take three to four months. The 600 miles to Canada took six to seven months.
Tubman traveled as far south as Georgia on the Underground Railroad.
She died March 10, 1913, close to 90 years old, in her own home. The house is now a state Historic Site and is kept as she operated it.
In the late 1880s Tubman also worked in the suffragette movement and knew Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony and other women fighting for women's votes at the time.
Cassie Holtke and Jessie Kingman, both fifth grade students at Keokuk Christian Academy, were impressed by the presentation.
“I liked learning about the Underground Railroad,” said Holtke.
Kingman enjoys learning history and found the presentation interesting.
“I like attending anything about Black History,” said Donna Robbins of Warsaw.
Several books and articles were on display, along with a quilt and a drawing was held, giving books away donated by the CSC literacy program.
 |
||
| Beaver population concerns LCCB |
Reader Comments
| Please log in or create an account by filling out the form on the right. | |
