Profiles in Africana Religion - Part 25: Harriet Tubman - The Deification of a Woman

            For those who have fought for freedom in the Americas there seems to be common spiritual charge – to liberate God’s chosen people.  That is to say, in the effort of African people seeking liberation the Gods are often called to aid oppressed Africans.  Whether they be Gods from the continent of Africa or the Gods of the colonizers, one does not push for freedom until they received a divine blessing.  However, there is a caveat to this issue, those asking for this blessing must put in the necessary effort, one cannot simply request and recline assuming the desire will be fulfilled without effort.  It is all about the effort - the action taken to bring a prayer to reality.  In American history there is one individual who put in maximum effort towards her own freedom, the liberation her people and the abolition of a nefarious system of oppression, that individual is Harriet Tubman.
            For many African Americans, Tubman herself is a religious icon.  She is the one who delivered scores of souls to the promised land.  In many respects she has been deified as Moses - the one who led the children of Israel out of bondage and out of Pharoah’s land.[1]  Such a messianic presence forces a mythos.  Myths, such as her freeing over three hundred enslaved Africans from bondage.[2]  Evidence suggest she only freed about 70 individuals, but the point I think is clear: She was made into this messianic figure because of the deep yearning for freedom within the hearts of the enslaved and oppressed. Enslaved Africans were never docile nor completely accepting of their plight.  Continuously and constantly, we are presented with evidence to this fact, in the names of individuals, like Nat Turner, Richard Allen and the Queens of FireBurn, who have been raised to Godly status because they fought for freedom.  Tubman is their Queen Mother, the most shining example of rebellion in the African American experience and herself an icon of freedom.    
            Essentially, Tubman, within African American historical imagery, is a deity.[3]  It is a well-earned reputation.  Though she did not free 300 individuals, the numbers she did free including herself is not to be taken lightly.  Moreover, she fought in the Union Army both on the front lines and as a spy and lived to tell her tales well into old age.  She is deserving of all that makes her larger than life, her memory and her name will remain sacred for centuries.  Such an effort to deify forces concerns about what humans value morally, or maybe just what African American value: courage, strength and freedom. Despite her divine efforts, Tubman was a religious person herself, and as a person of deep religious convictions, she clung to her beliefs on what she knew was a very dangerous road.  For her, her trust and belief in God (or “de Lord” as she often refers) functions a guide for her personal moral ethos.  “De Lord” for her is a protector, and one for whom freedom is also important.[4]  Moreover, “de Lord” calls for her to be active in the liberation of others whom are in bondage.  Furthermore, Tubman’s deity is not a passive observer of the torment of the enslaved, but this deity does demand action.  Tubman freed herself, she did not wait for de Lord to open any doors that she was not already kicking down.  This is a critically important quality of her belief, like King decades later, she was not a passive Christian and did not believe in passive God.  Her belief was reciprocal in nature, as it shaped her, she shaped it through her actions, efforts and words.  Her struggle for freedom is essentially her gospel to the world. 
           She found others just like her as well.  That is to say, one of the things that made the Underground Railroad the success it was, were the white allies.  This is not to take anything away from African people seeking and gaining their own autonomy, however white allies must be acknowledged.  Particularly in Tubman’s experience, the Quakers were one religious community that could be counted on in the fight for freedom.[5]  She is quoted as saying: “Quakers almost as good as colored. They call themselves friends and you can trust them every time.”[6]  Though she was only echoing the already well known anti-slavery position of the Quakers, her remarks make it clear that she believed in the righteousness of the efforts of colored people fighting for freedom and the righteousness of their white allies.
           Coupled with the deification of Tubman, freedom in general carries with it powerful religious overtones.  For instance, the enslavers during this period were described as Pharoah, a clear connection to the story of the captivity of the Biblical Israelites.  As well, freedom or “the North” was seen as the promised land, again connect the plight of enslaved Africans to the stories of the Israelites in Egypt. An example:
I’ll meet you in the morning
when you reach the promised land
on the other side of the Jordan
for I’m bound for the promised land.[7]
 
Of course, the institution of slavery itself also carried religious weight, for the enslavers.  Not only were Bible verses used to reinforce the philosophy of the enslavers, but the ships used to carry human cargo sometimes had Biblical names.[8]  As well, enslavers were also supported and sponsored by churches, both Catholic and Protestant.[9]  So, on both sides of the figurative isle the name of God was being invoked for extremely contradictory reasons.  
            As a Christian, Tubman stayed focus on God’s work – freeing her people from bondage.  Also, as a Christian she believed that the enslavers could be converted.  To her, the enslavers were clearly living outside of the mandate and promise of God that she understood, so she would pray for her captors to have a change of heart, she recounts: “As I lay so sick on my bed, from Christmas till March, I was always praying for poor ole master. 'Pears like I didn't do nothing but pray for ole master. 'Oh, Lord, convert ole master;' 'Oh, dear Lord, change dat man's heart, and make him a Christian.'[10]  For Tubman, enslavers were not living right with God and needed a revival of the heart.  Moreover, in Tubman’s view, a righteous Christian did not enslave their brothers and sisters, regardless of color.  This seemingly odd contradictory dynamic was and is quite common for African Americans and European Americans, that is, enslaved (oppressed) Africans often seemed more Christian that the enslavers, wanting only be free as God intended while enslavers used the Bible to reinforce oppression.
              Tubman was not a deity, despite her deification, she was simply a woman who fought for what she knew was right.  But, perhaps therein lies the issue – when freedom is or becomes something sacred, champions of freedom will be raised to the level of Gods and Goddesses.   Tubman charged into battle believing herself divinely driven and inspired, but that did not mean she did not have to do the hard work.  Tubman knew the road towards freedom would be arduous, yet she walked it fearlessly.  Her walk, she believed, followed a divine track that demanded freedom.  For her, it was God himself, whom wanted the enslaved set free, Tubman was just the best tool for the job.  Therefore, as a tool of the divine, she was the Sword of Michael, cutting paths towards freedom that no man was able to stop.


[1] Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People -http://www.harriet-tubman.org/moses-underground-railroad/.  Accessed July 2019.  She was even given the nickname “Moses” by William Lloyd Garrison.

[2] Washington Post - https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-harriet-tubman/2016/04/22/b9f3a270-07f0-11e6-b283-e79d81c63c1b_story.html?utm_term=.c7ccca284525.  Accessed July 2019. 

[3] Carole Boston Weatherford, and Kadir Nelson. Moses: When Harriet Tubman led her people to freedom. Hyperion Books for Children, 2006. 

[4] Harriet Tubman - https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/harriet_tubman.  Accessed July 2019.  “I said to de Lord, 'I'm goin' to hold steady on to you, an' I know you'll see me through.'”

[5] The word “community” could be italicized to emphasize the fact that the Quakers were known as allies, where as other Christian communities were hit-and-miss based on individual moral persuasion.  

[6] Harriet Tubman - https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/harriet_tubman.  Accessed July 2019. 

[7] The River Jordan in Early African American Spirituals by Daniel L. Smith-Christopher - https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/places/related-articles/river-jordan-in-early-african-american-spirituals.  Accessed July 2019.

[8] Karl Reinhardt (1949). "Die Karacke Jesus von Lübeck". Zeitschrift für Lübeckische Geschichte und Altertumskunde (in German).  (1959), 79–110.

[9] The Bible was Used to Justify Slavery.  Then Africans Made it Their Path Towards Freedom - https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/the-bible-was-used-to-justify-slavery-then-africans-made-it-their-path-to-freedom/2019/04/29/34699e8e-6512-11e9-82ba-fcfeff232e8f_story.html?utm_term=.630c48473f97.  Accessed July 2019.

[10] Ibid.