Q&A
Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom
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By Carole Boston Weatherford Illustrated by Kadir Nelson Jump at the Sun/Hyperion, 2006 48 pp., $15.95 ISBN: 0786851759
Harriet Tubman was the Moses of her people, an American hero who led enslaved African-Americans to freedom on the Underground Railroad. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom imagines Tubman’s first trip—when she fled alone from Bucktown, Maryland, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Through her conversations with God, readers witness the strong faith that guided Tubman on that perilous journey and inspired her to risk returning South nineteen more times to free others.
Starred review from Publisher’s Weekly: In this gorgeous, poetic picture book, Weatherford ...depicts Harriet Tubman's initial escape from slavery and her mission to lead others to freedom as divinely inspired, and achieved by steadfast faith and prayer. |
Q: What drew you to Harriet Tubman?
Since my childhood, she’s been one of my heroes. Harriet Tubman is the most legendary of all Underground Railroad conductors. I identify with her because I have roots in Dorchester County, Maryland, where Harriet was born a slave and from which she eventually fled.
Q: Why did you choose to focus on Tubman’s spirituality?
I am the wife and daughter of ministers and wanted to touch on spirituality in my writing. Harriet Tubman's treks on the Underground Railroad have been recounted before, but Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom explores her faith journey and proclaims her story's Biblical proportions. Harriet Tubman was a devout woman who spoke to God as a friend and believed that He spoke to her. Yet, she faced fears and doubts. Her trust in God helped her go on. Her strong faith empowered her to escape and to lead others to freedom.
Q: How did you approach the telling of Tubman’s story?
I focused on her first and most dramatic escape. Risking her life and relying on God’s guidance, Tubman fled alone across unknown and hostile territory. The story continues as Tubman’s moral compass leads her to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. These events unfold through a dialogue between Harriet and God. Their conversations—based on Tubman's accounts in her narrative—are a key element of the book.
Q: How did you research this project?
I read her narrative and several biographies of her. I have also spent a lot of time on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, the region where she grew up.
Q: Was the poetic text a conscious decision?
I deliberately chose verse because I wanted Tubman’s story to read like an African-American Exodus. I read the poetic books of the Bible to study the cadence of the language. In Moses, the interplay of three voices—the narrator's, Harriet's and God's—mimics the call-and-response tradition of the black church.
Q: What effect is created with your words and Kadir Nelson’s illustrations?
His powerful paintings evoke a range of emotions. The dark palette evokes the danger she faced and the warmer palette her triumph of courage over her adversity. In addition, the design decision to run God’s words in all-caps in a larger font was a stroke of genius. That typographic treatment lets readers see God from Harriet's perspective--invisible yet steadfast; caring yet mighty. The design and illustrations are the perfect complement to the text. Perhaps this project was ordained.
Q: What message does Moses impart?
Three values lessons can be gleaned from the book. Freedom is a God-given right. God is always with us. And we should always be free to dream.
Harriet Tubman’s role in the freedom struggle can give readers a sense of their own potential and power. "Every great dream begins with a dreamer," said Tubman. "Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."