Harriet Tubman Study Guide
prepared by Cathy Kaemmerlen
MAT4CN,1 SS4h4A ELAGSE411 ELAGSE4R12 ELAGSE4SL1 ELAGSE4SL1
ARTISTS BACKGROUND:
Cathy Kaemmerlen is a playwright, author, and performer of one-woman historical shows. During her career she has written, performed, developed over 50 in-school programs. She has toured schools extensively during her 40 plus year career.
Deborah Strahorn plays Harriet Tubman. She is a storyteller and actress who is the founder and director of Word of Mouth Stories. Deborah served as Storyteller-in-Residence at the APEX Museum, Member of Kuumba Storytellers of Georgia,was a featured teller in Atlanta Public Libraries; a Story Rambler at the Wren’s Nest; and author of a children’s book, “The Always Busy, Sometimes quiet, Often Noisy room.”
PROGRAM SUMMARY:
Meet Harriet Tubman, also known as the Moses of her people, and The General for her work during the Civil War. Born into slavery in Maryland, she escaped to Philadelphia in 1845 by travelling at night to “safe houses” on the Underground Railroad and hiding in potato holes by day. After securing her own freedom, she became a conductor on the Underground Railroad and made some 19 trips, bringing 300 slaves to freedom. She never lost a “passenger.” She is buried in Auburn, NY where she was given full military honors for her work for the Union Army in the Civil War.
OVERVIEW OF ART FORM:
Storytelling is one of the first art forms known to mankind. Before man learned to read or write, he told stories, in the oral tradition. Passed on by word of mouth, stories changed and developed depending on the teller and the culture. Eventually the stories were written down in their various adaptations.
OBJECTIVES:
–To learn about Harriet’s life as a slave
–To learn about her treacherous escape to freedom in Philadelphia
–To learn about her 19 trips as a conductor on the Underground Railroad
–To learn about her life as a nurse and “general” of black troops during the Civil
War
–To hear some of her most famous quotes
–To learn of the symbols on the freedom quilts
BEFORE THE PROGRAM:
–Read aloud some of the books about Harriet (see bibliography)
–Have discussions about what was slavery and what a slave’s life was like
–Discuss what freedom means.
AFTER THE PROGRAM:
–Watch a video of Harriet (the most recent one stars Cynthia Eribo)
–Discuss how a dramatic interpretation might differ from the facts or exaggerate for effect.
–Read the book Follow the Drinking Gourd and Freedom Quilts
–Discuss symbols in the book/song and in the freedom quilts
–For reflection: discuss what risks the slaves had to take to become free and what your role might have been in this time period 1845-1865
WORDS TO FOLLOW THE DRINKING GOURD and GO DOWN MOSES:
“Go down, Moses,
Way down in Egypt land.
Tell ol’ Pharaoh
To let my people go.”
“Follow the drinking gourd.
Follow the drinking gourd.
For the ol’man is a waitin’
Taking me to freedom.
Follow the drinking gourd.”
SYMBOLS OF THE FREEDOM QUILT:
QUOTES OF HARRIET:
“Dead negroes tell no tales; you go on or you die.”
“Lord it you ain’t never going to change dat man’s heart, kill him, Lord, and take him out of the way so he won’t do no more harm.”
“I had reasoned dis out in my mind. There was one of 2 things I had a right to—liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other for no man should take me alive. I should fight for my liberty as long as my strength lasted.”
“I will never call any man Master again.”
“Dere was no one to welcome me into the land of freedom. I was alone—a stranger in a strange land. I vowed I would bring my brudders and sisters and ole folks to the N and make a home for them.:
VOCABULARY WORDS:
Underground Railroad: neither underground or a railway—the secret route slaves could take to escape to freedom
Safe House: also known as stations where escaped slaves could hide until it was safe for them to continue
Passenger/Parcel: a slave escaping to freedom by using the Underground Railroad
Conductor: someone who led the slaves to freedom
Quaker: Religion started by Edward Fox and believing that all men are equal in the eyes of god.
Mason/Dixon Line: line that divided the free states from the slave ones; also called the Magic Line
Abolitionists: People who did not believe in slavery and fought to have it abolished
The Weeping Time: phrase coined to describe the separation of slave families at auction
Cradle Name: Another name for birth name
Slavery: the practice of one person forcing another to work for no compensation; also called the Peculiar Institution
Fugitive slave act of 1850: passed by Congress to set a punishment, fine, imprisonment for each fugitive aided and missing; it was a law to return slaves to their masters if found
13th Amendment: freed the slaves
14th Amendment: All citizens equal under the law
15th Amendment: Former MALE slaves got the right to vote
Jumping over a broomstick: getting married
Chain gang:
Overseer: the one in charge of watching or overseeing the slaves working in the fields
Big Dipper and Little Dipper: two constellations in the night sky that point or lead to the North Star; slaves needed to go north to get to freedom
Slave Hunter: a bounty hunter paid by a slave owner to find escaped slaves
Gourds: in edible vegetable grown on a vine that hardens over time to be used for cooking utensils, cups, etc.
BIBLIOGRAPHY/RESOURCES
Video: A Woman Called Moses with Cicely Tyson
Video: Harriet with Cynthia Erivo
Video: Harriet Tubman’s Escape to Freedom: Scholastic on You Tube
Video: Harriet Tubman: They called her Moses by Dr. Eric Lewis WIlliams
Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
Minty: a story of young Harriet Tubman by Alan Schroeder
Who Was Harriet Tubman? By Yonar Zeldis McDonough
Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome
The way People Live: Life on the Underground Railroad by Stuart A Kallen
Harriet: the Moses of her People by Sarah Hopkins Bradford
Go Free or Die: A Story about Harriet Tubman by Jeri Chase Ferris
Young Harriet Tubman: Freedom Fighter by Anne Benjamin
Harriet Tubman by Judith Bentley
Harriet Tubman: They Call Me Moses by Linda d. Meyer
Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Dorothy sterling
Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom by Rae Bains
The Story of Harriet Tubman: Conductor of the Underground Railroad by Kate McMullan
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
Ellen Craft’s Escape from Slavery by Cathy Moore