She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar

She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman by Erica Armstrong Dunbar-176 pages

I watched the film "Harriet" about Tubman recently and I wanted to know more and to know how much of the movie was based in truth and how much was artistic license.  In reading this biography, I am surprised that much of the movie is based on fact, although as per usual, there is some artistic license, especially in the details surrounding the facts. Harriet Tubman is a woman who survived and escaped slavery only to return to Maryland 13 times to retrieve other slaves (many were family members) and take them out of bondage. She risked being taken back into slavery herself, since she was a fugitive by law. She rescued some 70 slaves before the Civil War and hundreds more in the Cumbahee Raid in South Carolina during the Civil War. One thing I learned that surprised me is that Tubman supported, both in word and finances, John Brown. She wanted to see slavery end and knew that it would take bloodshed for it to happen. Additionally, she didn't receive a pension or pay for her work as a nurse for the Union during the Civil war until she was in her 70s and she never received pay for her work as a spy. Overall, I really enjoyed reading this accessible biography about an American hero and I would recommend it to anyone interested in American history or history in general.

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass

By Frederick Douglass

752 pages

At the end of his biography, Frederick Douglass contributes his life as a reformer, orator, writer and abolitionist as partly due to luck, for he was introduced to influential abolitionist a few years after his escape from slavery. He was a modest man whose influence in the antislavery movement was center stage during the height of the conflict.  

His description of this life was written in 1881. However, Douglass had written two previous autobiographies. This work was more comprehensively, for it covered his escape from slavery and his life during the Civil War. Previously he would not write about his escape for it could cause himself and his family peril.

It is an excellent read and very inspiring. I would recommend it to anyone.