“Before She Was Harriet” by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illustrated by James E. Ransome.
Holiday House, New York, 2017, 32 pages, Grades 1-3.
Biographies introduce readers to the lives of important people. Readers can learn about historical events and facts that make up events. Biographers can be great teachers as the historical material in the subjects’ lives help define the period in which they lived.
Additionally, biographies are interesting to read. Lesa Cline Ransome has written such a biography. She has taken one of the great figures in American history, Harriet Tubman, and told the painful and courageous aspects of this great woman’s life.
Ransome’s talented husband, James E. Ransome, has beautifully illustrated the book. Through the text and the evocative pictures, readers will come to know and admire this American hero. The name of this compelling picture book is “Before She Was Harriet.”
As the curse of slavery lay on the USA, a young girl named Araminta is born on a Maryland farm. She is born into slavery. Her childhood is one of unending, brutal work. But through this pain, she nourishes a hope to break away from the chains binding her. Araminta’s father teaches her how to read the stars and woods by night. This helps her to develop a sense of direction and geography.
Though she was a young girl, Araminta was whipped by the woman owning her. This brutality causes Araminta to yearn for justice and she decides to escape to freedom.
She then changes her name to Harriet and marries a man named Tubman. But the pressures of life for free blacks and ex-slaves causes the marriage to collapse. With this, Harriet begins her life as a conductor on the “Underground Railroad.” This incredibly dangerous job involved returning to the South and assisting slaves escape from their plantations. Harriet would eventually lead numerous slave escapes from the clutches of tyranny.
She becomes so renowned for this that the famous slave abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison, gave her the name of “Moses.” Just as the great Hebrew prophet had led the Israelites to freedom, so Harriet Tubman freed dozens of enslaved people. As the years passed, Tubman became involved in many parts of American history. During the Civil War, she nursed wounded soldiers back to health and also served as a northern spy. In any of the dangerous events, capture could have resulted in her death or severe punishment. But Harriet kept reaching for freedom and helping others do the same. What continues to drive her?
How does a slightly built, illiterate woman challenge and help change the system of slavery in the USA? How does her belief in God become the foundation of her actions? What exceptional acts of courage become part of her daily life? How do you develop courage and perseverance? How does Harriet Tubman?
To find out the answers to these and other questions, go to the library and check out this beautifully written and illustrated picture book, “Before She Was Harriet” by Lesa Cline-Ransome.
The story of Harriet Tubman is inspiring. She underwent some brutal sufferings and turned them into the desire for freedom. Having achieved freedom, she risks everything to help free others. Her courage is simply remarkable.
James E. Ransome’s pictures of Tubman are moving and beautiful. They are a fitting tribute to the greatness of Harriet Tubman.
I hope you get a chance to read this well written, superbly illustrated picture book. We should all know about and learn from this heroic woman’s life.
