November 13, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. Harriett.

Harriett is a powerful movie. Kashina and I saw it this afternoon at a theater in Madison. The story was well known to me but it is worth repeating. Harriett Tubman, who lived in Dorchester County in Maryland, was a slave along with her parents and siblings. She escaped in the early 1830's, using the Underground Railroad, ending up in Philadelphia. Then she returned time and again, eventually leading 70 slaves to freedom. That is the story. I also knew that during the Civil War she worked as a spy for the Union Army. After the Civil War she worked hard to try to get the women a vote, although those two parts of her life were only read about after the movie was over. She died at age 93 in 1913. The movie is worth seeing. It is a story worth telling. And it is well done and dramatic. My question is why now is the movie hitting the big screen? I have known of the work os Harriett Tubman my life but it is only now that we see the saga in the theater. Is it perhaps that a strong successful woman would not be accepted by the buying customers? I tried to find out from Kashina whether or not the black population would want to see the movie. But she had no idea. Certainly it is not a pretty picture but it is a true story. Kashina wondered if the young people knew anything about the Underground Railroad. One aside; when the Dred Scott case was passed by the Supreme Court, the community of freed slaves who lived in Philadelphia were put into a panic and as soon as possible left for Canada. Kashina and I both agreed that the movie was powerful. And we were pleased we went this cold afternoon. "Harriett" is worth watching.