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baylaurels's review
informative
medium-paced
Sarah Bradford wrote two biographies of Tubman, with this being the latter. Because Tubman could not read or write, she tasked Bradford with sharing her story, and is quoted in the text, which was published within her lifetime. This is the closest we have to Tubman's actual words, HOWEVER it has inaccuracies and is responsible for misinformation that was repeated in future works.
Bradford's texts popularized a number of misconceptions about Tubman and the Underground Railroad such as the inaccurate number of a supposed 19 trips rescuing 300 people (in fact it was likely closer to 13 trips and 70 people), Tubman's birth year, and the fabrication of a $40k reward for her capture. It also contains uncensored usage of the N-word, depending on the edition you read. Do not take it as strictly fact, but it is an important part of the literary heritage of Tubman, and source of some information in later works.
I do recommend reading if you are trying to have a comprehensive understanding of Tubman, if you enjoy reading primary sources, or if you're writing an essay, but for the casual reader there are modern biographies that are much better. No star rating, as I recognize it's historical value, but take issue with enough aspects to not really want to give a blanket rating sans caveats.
Bradford's texts popularized a number of misconceptions about Tubman and the Underground Railroad such as the inaccurate number of a supposed 19 trips rescuing 300 people (in fact it was likely closer to 13 trips and 70 people), Tubman's birth year, and the fabrication of a $40k reward for her capture. It also contains uncensored usage of the N-word, depending on the edition you read. Do not take it as strictly fact, but it is an important part of the literary heritage of Tubman, and source of some information in later works.
I do recommend reading if you are trying to have a comprehensive understanding of Tubman, if you enjoy reading primary sources, or if you're writing an essay, but for the casual reader there are modern biographies that are much better. No star rating, as I recognize it's historical value, but take issue with enough aspects to not really want to give a blanket rating sans caveats.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Slavery
Moderate: Ableism, Racial slurs, and Violence
Minor: Death
Uncensored use of the N-word (depending on edition). As this is a (basically) first hand account of Harriet Tubman's experience living in slavery, and includes related content such as violence and racism. She also describes the racism endured outside of her time in enslavement. Harriet also suffered from a severe head injury and lifelong epilepsy-like experiences afterwords, and some related ablesim is depicted.
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