Live Free or Die

Four 21st Century Black women, a Doctor, a Lawyer, a CFO, and a Media Executive, discuss Harriet, the controversial movie about the slave who walked, swam,ran and bore arms to free herself and her people.

(WARNING: Contains spoilers!)

Black women were introduced to Harriet as children. When we first learned about the horrors of slavery, and later about its Black heroes like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman== our own Black Moses!We learned that Harriet used her courage, brilliance, and determination to free herself and hundreds of other slaves.

Today our Shero Harriet has a movie! Cynthia Erivo, a beautiful Nigerian British national, plays Harriet. Erivo turned Harriet Tubman into a real person, who experiences both unspeakablele tragedy and great triumph. We understand that Harriets heroism stems entirely from her faith in herself and God almighty. (What else could a Black person in 19th century America rely on?).

4 Black women friends of mine and I watched Harriet this weekend and took in her, now Hollywood story. We had a lot of thoughts.

Marie shows Harriet how to protect herself.

The Lawyer, Angela D: Together We Win

Theres a lot to say about this movie, but Ill focus on one relationship that reminded me of modern times: Harriets relationship with the bourgeois black woman, Marie, played by Janelle Monae. While I admire and want to be as fearless as Harriet Tubman, I identified with Marie, a free and independent Black woman who risked her economic and physical security to help other black people.

In Harriet and Maries first encounter, Marie tells Harriet that she wanted her to clean up because she smelled like a pack animal.Harriet took offense and rightfully threw shade. Responding with something akin to: Pardon my stench mademoiselle; we ordinary Blacks get a little funky running for our lives.This episode reminded me of the tension and the disconnect that sometimes exists,in the U.S., between Black people who are struggling and those who are seemingly better off.

Despite their differences, the ladies had a real relationship. Marie gives Harriet lessons on taking ones place in society, and she becomes Harriets close confidant and champion. They and we re-learn that when it comes to being a Black woman in America, both the formerly enslaved Harriet (the lowest of the low) and the freeborn, bourgeois Marie arent that different from each other. They are sisters in the struggle. Neither woman is safe in 19th century U.S. Society, and they need each other to win This is a good lesson for Black women even today.

The Doctor:Sarah W. :I Saw My Path In Her

Immediately after seeing Harriet, I sat down to write about my experience. Even though I already had a cursory knowledge about Harriet Tubman, I was still drawn into the story. I loved learning about the story of an enslaved woman who could no longer stand to have her freedom withheld.She not only made a great escape to the North, but she returned countless times to bring hundreds of other slaves to freedom. I dont think anyone else did that in U.S. history!

Music is a central part of the movies story.This movie soundtrack has lyrics that resonate; it will become a part of my daily playlist.

STAND UP

I do what I can when I can while I can for my people

While the clouds roll back and the stars fill the night

That's when I'm gonna stand up

Take my people with me

Together we are going

To a brand new home

Far across the river

Can you hear freedom calling?

Calling me to answer

Gonna keep on keepin' on

I can feel it in my bones

Stand Up is Harriets theme song, and it suits her. Harriet stood up and fought against the status quo. She was about freeing slaves in the now. She refused to sit and wait for war to make Blacks free. I do what I can when I can while I can for my people.

I was impressed by Harriets patience and perseverance. There were no shortcuts or easy passages in the Underground Railroad. She had to have the patience and tenacity to see things through.

In my own way, I understand her experience. There were no shortcuts for me through medical school or residency. They were a means to an end, freedom and self-sufficiency. My end is not nearly as iconic as Harriets, but I am (like her) still a unicorn among the 2% of physicians who are African American and female. I stand on the shoulders of Harriet and other extraordinary women. The prominent role that music serves in Harriet reminds me that because of these powerful women, I can.

Freeborn Marie meets Harriet for the first time.

The Financial Executive: Andrea M.:Code Switching, Then and Now

I first heard of Harriet Tubman as a second grader in the Bronx. I had an African-American teacher who taught Black History. Harriet was described as a woman of fortitude who would take on anyone who threatened the success of her mission. She seemed fearless to me.

While Harriet resonated with me, after her speech on how free Blacks had forgotten the hardships of slavery, I recognized my similarities to Marie. Marie was proud to have benefited from the efforts of her ancestors, and of having been born free. She recognized that respecting customs and class-based mannerisms was necessary to maneuver smoothly in the world. She employed the fashion, mannerisms, and diction of her oppressor to facilitate moving through his world with fluidity, and she thrived from doing so.

What Marie could do was, in modern parlance, code switch. Most professional women of color have done this. Whether were choosing earrings, dining with colleagues or drafting an email, we are cognizant of the nuances of these things to expedite our progress...or not.

Instead of portraying Marie and Harriet as potential rivals each with her unique assets used toward the end of her cause, the movie makes them sisters in the struggle. After an initial introduction and a comment about Harriets aroma upon arriving in Philadelphia, each woman recognizes that she has met a woman who will, on her worst day, look out for herself and be her own advocate. Indeed, the strength they recognized in each other would be tested and, Harriets sister in spirit does not disappoint when given a choice to spill secrets or keep them at her own peril. When tested, a sister of spirit could look her oppressor in the face and would sooner spit in his eye than betray her sister-no matter the cost.

Harriet also stands as an exemplar of courage that trait common to many heroes and heroines - not being free of fears, but of taking daring, often dangerous, actions in spite of them. She feared most what would happen to those she left behind in slavery, but she felt compelled to do what she could to free her family and others caught in slaverys terrible web. She confronted her fears through action. This was so powerful for me as Ive learned that there is no better balm for anxiety over what gives me worry than taking some action toward it. Harriet left her family and new husband, lost her sisters, and endured abuse to embark on a dangerous journey that no one thought shed complete. Many Black and brown folks operating in the modern world have also left home to create a personal and professional life for themselves. We may have experienced slights and subtle (or not-so-subtle) racism. We have also felt the distance between ourselves, family and/or close friends created by our different experiences. It was not absence of fear that allowed us to move forward but the knowledge that we could maintain our connection while adding another way of traveling in the world. Having both would not weaken us. We can recognize the fire in the eye of a sister in spirit.

Harriet, alone in her struggle for freedom.

The Media Executive: Michelle W.: The Commitments That Freedom Requires

I made a point of going to see Harriet opening weekend to help bolster the box office numbers of films featuring black artistsas I am personally invested in keeping the funding of these types of films going. So many of my black female friends had planned to go see the film since the first trailer aired over a year ago. Some saw advance screenings starting on Thursday. Some were inspired, others were disappointed, but most intended to see it again because their first session had been so clouded by their own emotional reactions that they didnt really remember what actually happened in the film.

Cynthia Erivos controversial retweets about Ghetto American accents also hovered over my mind as I watched.Was she the right choice? Could she carry an entire film authentically and make me forget?Though she was not helped by a weak script and uninspired directing more often than not Erivo delivered.

The film also too often revisits the stereotypes of the strong, black woman who emasculates her black male thus contributing to her perpetual singleness. Indeed, Harriets husband justifies marrying another free woman in her absence by saying he would have died for her had she let him.Ill simply say here I am sick of hearing this sh//t, but understand why its an easy go to theme.

But watching the Harriet movie as a free black woman in America in 2019, I couldnt help but wonder whether I was doing enough as a free person. I am very accomplished. Ive gone to all the right schools (Harvard College, Columbia Business School), had major accomplishments as a professional producer for major news networks. and now I am a media executive for a Fortune 15 companybut as I watched the films depictions of Harriet challenging the white and black Abolitionist Society in Auburn, NY, and indeed the entire slavocracy, I had to ask myself was I becoming complacent?

Despite its shortcomings, one leaves the film challenged by the concept of what is still required of individuals in defense of humanity. In todays society where we have a President facing impeachment. but still focused on building walls and othering people of different hues, what is the responsibility of we free people?

Overall, the film challenged me as a black woman and as a human being to keep going, to stumble, to fall, to get up, to be alone, to be lonely, to be unreasonable, to be unrelenting, to be accountable in this land of the freeto be free.

Harriet scored $12.6 million at the box office opening weekend. Ranking #4.

See the rest here:
4 Black Women Talk About Harriet And Her Lessons For Today - Forbes