Harriet Tubman: She Came To Slay
A Radical Women Book Club Discussion
One of the sequences in Harriet Tubman’s story was moving her extended family to Canada—which was the only way for former slaves to be truly safe, even for those who had been legally freed.
“I wouldn’t trust Uncle Sam with my people no longer, but I brought ’em [clar] off to Canada.” Harriet Tubman
Leaving a life of slavery with nothing but the clothes on your back was hard enough. But in St. Catherines, new challenges awaited the escapees: lack of proper food or clothing to survive the cold winters; finding housing; toiling in “blinding snowstorms and freezing temperatures”; and building physical and financial security.
How would you have reacted—would you rolled the dice and stayed put in the U.S., risking your hard-won freedom or gone off to a new country with all its joys and challenges? Would homesickness have lured you back?
Yep, I know, many who have the means are asking the same questions right now. Is it better to leave or to stay and fight? What are you willing to risk? What price is worth paying? Of course, we aren’t likely to be sold into slavery, so it should be far easier for us to stay and battle on.
Would love to hear your thoughts on this…
Cheers,
Rochelle
p.s. Paid subscribers can join us this Friday, June 27th for a live zoom conversation on this and more. You can register here.