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Assistant Professor, Creative Industries, Ryerson University
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Cheryl Thompson receives funding from SSHRC Insight Development Grant.
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Ryerson University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation CA.
Ryerson University provides funding as a member of The Conversation CA-FR.
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When Harriet
Most notably, HarrietAli
I first saw HarrietDjango Unchained12 Years a SlaveThe Birth of a Nation,The Sisterhood of the Traveling PantsEve’s Bayou
I enjoyed the film. As such, the critiques, some quite harsh, surprised me. Where is the backlash coming from? Is it justified? Does the film misrepresent Harriet Tubman’s legacy?
Janelle Monáe as Marie Buchanon, a free black woman who helps Harriet Tubman transition into life after slavery. (Focus Features)
Who was Harriet Tubman?
Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross into slavery in Maryland around 1820. In 1844, she married and took the name of a free Black man, John Tubman. After escaping from Maryland in 1849, Tubman initially settled in Philadelphia.
Harriet Tubman. Library of Congress
However, with the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 she was forced to venture north into Canada, settling in St. Catharines, Ont. Between 1859 and 1860, some estimate that Tubman made 19 trips from the south to the north following what became known as “The Underground Railroad.”
In 1859, Tubman left Canada for Auburn, N.Y. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, she became a spy and recruiter for the Union Army. After the war, Tubman returned to Auburn where she lived until her death in 1913, when she was believed to be 93. For the most part, the film follows this narrative.
#NotMyHarriet
The backlash, which has been primarily from the Black community, first started in 2018 when British-Nigerian actress Cynthia Erivo announced on Twitter that she had been cast to play Tubman. Some felt the choice to cast a non-American, non-descendent of slavery was disrespectful to African Americans, and in an interview with Essence
In 2017, Samuel L. Jackson started this public debate about Black British actors “stealing” roles from African Americans when he questioned the casting of British actors Daniel Kaluuya (Get OutSelma
Kasi Lemmons (Co-Writer/Director) and Cynthia Erivo (Harriet Tubman) filming ‘Harriet.’ (Focus Features)
Using the #NotMyHarriet hashtag, Twitter users have also criticized Lemmons for some of the liberties she took with historical facts. Most notably, the antagonist in Harriet
According to USA Today’sHarriet
A trailer for ‘Harriet’/Focus Features.
Is the backlash justified?
First, slavery is not solely an American reality. The term “trans-Atlantic slavery” denotes the forced movement of people from West Africa to the “New World,” which means whether one’s citizenship is British or American, slavery has impacted every person of African descent.
Second, I can see where Harriet
In reality, Black men were just as abused as Black women during slavery. The violence experienced was not just at the hands of white men, but also white women. However, that depiction does not make Harriet
It is really important to ask why Black viewers harshly critique Black and women-produced films but turn a blind eye to white and male-produced films about Black people that feel like attacks to our mental health.
A scene from ‘Django Unchained.’ (The Weinstein Company)
Quentin Tarantino’s Django UnchainedThe Hateful Eight,Gawker
Critics need to step back and ask why actors like Jackson are so critical of Black British actors being cast in Black-produced films to play Black people in dignified and heroic narratives, but come to the defence of white filmmakers who have also taken liberties with the historical facts of slavery in their films.
A self-emancipating wonder woman
Tubman is believed to have arrived in St. Catharines in 1851. She helped to establish a Black community there, was actively involved in local organizations and was also a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Salem Chapel, located on North Street, where she resided.
When Tubman arrives in St. Catharines in the movie, she’s there for about 30 seconds of screen time, as if her time north of the border was a blip in her story when she was, and remains, a part of that city’s historical memory. For Canadians, this should be the most disappointing part of Harriet.
The film is about Harriet Tubman, a Black freedom-seeker and self-emancipating wonder woman. It is not about Black bounty hunters or white enslavers.
We need to encourage more Black women filmmakers to do the work of centring our voices, not tear them down. Harriet