Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom [Hardcover]

Catherine Clinton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004

Every schoolchild knows of Harriet Tubman's heroic escape and resistance to slavery.But few readers are aware that Tubman went on to be a scout, a spy, and a nurse for the Union Army, because there has never before been a serious biography for an adult audience of this important woman.This is that long overdue historical work, written by an acclaimed historian of the antebellum era and the Civil War. Illiterate but deeply religious, Tubman left her family in her early 20s to escape to Philadelphia, then a hotbed of abolitionism.There she became the first and only woman, fugitive slave, and black to work as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. So successful was she in spiriting away slaves that the state of Maryland put a $40,000 bounty on her head.Within a year of starting her work, fellow slaves and Northerners began referring to Tubman as 'Moses' because of how many people she had freed. With impeccable scholarship that draws on newly available sources and research into the daily lives of slaves, HARRIET TUBMAN is an enduring work on one of the most important figures in American history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clinton has an extraordinary knack of compressing complex history into an informing brief paragraph or a single sentence, making this "first full-scale biography" of Tubman (18251913) a revelation. To the task of illuminating the "difficult to document" life of the woman known as "Moses," Clinton brings her deep immersion in Southern history, women's history and African-American history. Succinctly, she sets the stage upon which Tubman moves, offering just enough biographical detail to give less well-known figures vitality (Mary Shadd Cary gets more space than Frederick Douglass; Union general David Hunter more than William Lloyd Garrison) and just enough historical detail to render Tubman's milieu meaningful (unfamiliar Canadian history gets more space than the familiar Fugitive Slave Acts). Although she often posed as an old woman, Tubman was in her 20s when she began her rescues, and in her mid-30s as the Civil War broke out. Clinton is meticulous (without being annoying) in distinguishing the speculative from the known in Tubman's private life. Of far greater consequence is Clinton's revelation of Tubman's public (though usually clandestine) work. In distinguishing between "runaways" and "fugitives," between "conductors" and "abductors... those who ventured into the South to extract slaves" ("all of them white men" before Tubman), in detailing the extent to which she "never wavered in her support" of John Brown, in chronicling her role in the Combahee River raid, Clinton turns sobriquets into meaningful descriptors of a unique person. In her hands, a familiar legend acquires human dimension with no diminution of its majesty and power.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

At long last Harriet Tubman, the subject of school myth and lore, has a full-fledged biography. Critics agree that Clinton does a remarkable job researching the life of a woman who left few traces; not only was she born into slavery, but she was also illiterate, and the Underground Railroad left no written records. Despite these obstacles, Clinton delves into university archives to paint a detailed portrait of Tubman's life--from her marriage, militant politics, and role in the Underground Railroad to her activism in the northern free black community of Philadelphia. Her significant contribution lies in placing Tubman's life smartly within 19th-century Southern history. In short, this graceful biography elevates Tubman from a minor cultural icon to a significant figure in American history.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316144924
• ISBN-13: 978-0316144926
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strong endearing biography, January 17, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (Hardcover)

THE ROAD TO FREEDOM is a superb account of the American "Black Moses", Harriet Tubman. The book actually opens with Ms. Tubman's last major public endeavor surprisingly (at least to this author) occurring in 1908 long after her famous role as an engineer of the Underground Railroad. The bio then shifts back to the early nineteenth century as Ms Tubman is born during ironically the "Era of Good Feeling" as a slave in Maryland. It follows her as she marries John Tubman, flees to Canada without him, joins John Brown, works as a Civil War nurse and spy, and of course the Underground Railroad.. Of interest is that Ms. Tubman not only advocated racial freedom, she championed women's suffrage.

Ms. Tubman's salad days lack insightful personal information due to her slave status and a 1850s fire. Therefore Ms. Clinton provides a general look at conditions for slaves in Eastern Shore, Maryland. This generalization enables the audience to infer how Harriet probably lived in her early years. Deeper insight is provided to her middle and later years this is a suburb account that biography readers will appreciate because it is well written, easy to follow, and loaded with plenty on interesting detail about a genuine American hero. Though the author too easily accepts the "legendary" Tubman as gospel, HARRIET TUBMAN: THE ROAD TO FREEDOM is an endearing educational and entertaining book that history buffs and biography aficionados will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highly readable, February 10, 2004

By 

AfroAmericanHeritage (Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (Hardcover)

This book is highly readable, and Clinton navigates smoothly through what is at times complex material. But I'm giving it 4 rather than 5 stars because it does not take advantage of the most current research in the field and at times, recycles myths which have been debunked...for example, the myth that there was a $40,000 bounty on Tubman's head.

Still, it does update much of what we learned about Tubman in our children's books, so I can recommend it to general readers. But I feel academics will be better served by Kate Clifford Larson's HARRIET TUBMAN - BOUND FOR THE PROMISED LAND.

Curator, AfroAmericanHeritage dot com

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful historical portrait!, February 20, 2004

By 

Jeremy Brett (Iowa City, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom (Hardcover)

Catherine Clinton's biography of Harriet Tubman is a major addition to the American historical corpus. She has fully and magnificently brought to life for adults a woman who before now generally resided in children's books and half-remembered stories from elementary school. Harriet Tubman was an amazing woman and a pivotal figure in antebellum American history; Clinton has produced a biography worthy of its subject. It is eminently readable, well-researched, and deserves to stand alongside her other books, including her fascinating works on Fanny Kemble.