Harriet Tubman : myth, memory, and history / Milton C. Sernett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sernett, Milton C., 1942-

Contributor:

Joanna Banks Collection of African American Books (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913--Influence.

Tubman, Harriet.

Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913--Public opinion.

Tubman, Harriet, 1822-1913.

African American women heroes.

Legends--United States.

Legends.

Public opinion.

United States.

Memory--Social aspects--United States.

Memory.

Memory--Social aspects.

Underground Railroad.

African American women--Biography.

African American women.

Fugitive slaves--United States--Biography.

Fugitive slaves.

Enslaved persons--United States--Biography.

Enslaved persons.

Genre:

Biographies.

Penn Provenance:

Banks, Joanna (donor) (Banks Collection copy)

Physical Description:

xi pages, 1 unnumbered page, 409 pages, 3 unnumbered pages, 8 unnumbered pages of color plates : illustrations (some color), portraits ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2007.

Summary:

Harriet Tubman: Myth, Memory, and History tells the fascinating story of Harriet Tubman's life as an American icon. The distinguished historian Milton C. Sernett compares the larger-than-life symbolic Tubman with the actual "historical" Tubman. He does so not to diminish Tubman's achievements but rather to explore the interplay of history and myth in our national consciousness. Analyzing how the Tubman icon has changed over time, Sernett shows that the various constructions of the "Black Moses" reveal as much about their creators as they do about Tubman herself.

Three biographies of Harriet Tubman were published within months of each other in 2003-04; they were the first book-length studies of the "Queen of the Underground Railroad" to appear in almost sixty years. Sernett examines the accuracy and reception of these three books as well as two earlier biographies first published in 1869 and 1943. He finds that the three recent studies come closer to capturing the "real" Tubman than did the earlier two. Arguing that the mythical Tubman is most clearly enshrined in stories told to and written for children, Sernett scrutinizes visual and textual representations of "Aunt Harriet" in children's literature. He looks at how Tubman has been portrayed in film, painting, music, and theater; in her Maryland birthplace; in Auburn, New York, where she lived out her final years; and in the naming of schools, streets, and other public venues. He also investigates how the legendary Tubman was embraced and represented by different groups during her lifetime and at her death in 1913.

Contents:

"Minty"

"Moses the Deliverer"

"General Tubman"

Sarah Bradford's Harriet Tubman

Saint, Seer, and Suffragist

The Apotheosis of "Aunt Harriet"

Earl Conrad and the Book That Almost Wasn't

"Spirits Rising"

Pride of Place

Historians Have Their Say.

Notes:

"Designed by Amy Ruth Buchanan."

"On cover: sculpture of Harriet Tubman by Frederic Jean Thalinger."

Includes bibliographical references (pages [371]-394) and index.

Local Notes:

Kislak Center Banks Collection copy presented to the Penn Libraries in 2018 by Joanna Banks.

Banks Collection copy has agenda for meeting and cut out of colored drawing of Harriet Tubman on 20 dollar bill laid in.

ISBN:

9780822340522

0822340526

9780822340737

0822340739

OCLC:

123539299