ABOVE: photos my sister took of me at the temporary Harriet Tubman “Journey” statue in Philadelphia’s City Hall in January 2022. The center photo is one i snapped of a grand sized painting/portrait of Harriet Tubman that mesmerized me at a Brooklyn cafe I’d camped out at to crank out a writing deadline back in Black History Month 2017. Wish i had note of who the artist is/was. That cafe has long since closed.
Harriet Tubman Day’s been observed on March 10th every year since it was approved by the US Congress and Senate on March 13th 1990. This year it fell on a Sunday — same date of the 96th Oscar's (…however ‘problematic’ awards shows may be, they’re an efficient source of pop culture info for part of the work i do) . More importantly it was same date as my extended fam friend Bryce's annual birthday dinner which a bunch of us had so much fun celebrating at near perfect Bklyn spot he chose this year, Saraghina's ...
As for Mrs. Tubman birthday, March 10th is NOT the day she was born as so many wrongly assume and believe. The harsh reality is that no matter how supremely important she will always be to our shared American past, present and future her birthdate is as unknown to us as it was to Harriet herself. Historians surmise the year she was born to be somewhere between 1820 and 1822 but the actual month and date are unknown. As was the case for anyone born into chattel slavery. A standardized deliberate act of slaveholders intending for the enslaved to have no understanding about themselves aside from being property at the beck and call and disposal of their captors — who celebrated their and their children's birthdays lavishly. All the while depriving the black children and people they owned the privilege of knowing this most basic yet often treasured piece of personal info — even when it was readily available via meticulously kept records in their slaveholding ledgers and detailed accountings of their 'property' holdings. Any inquiry of such by any enslaved person was deemed improper, impertinent, insubordinate and severely punishable.
By now it should be no surprise to learn that this particular March day is actually Harriet Tubman's death date. Yes, on March 10, 1913 in Auburn, New York Harriette Tubman transitioned to be with the Ancestors. After having lived one of the most heroic and selflessly accomplished lives any American of any race, hue, gender, or geographic location ever lived.
Sure it’s remotely possible March 10th might’ve happened to be both her birthday AND death date, but highly improbable. And by not raising attention to this reality we only perpetuates false beliefs that mitigate one of countless painful truths about enslavement: that they were further robbed the dignity and potential joy of knowing a primary piece of personal information most people today could never imagine not knowing. Their birthdate.
Enjoy this clip from that time on my “Savory & Sweet Food History & Culture Show” where my sister (& everybody) was surprised to learn the truth I shared on why March 10th was chosen for Harriet Tubman’s Day + her previously hidden food history…
Despite any systematized slaveholder intentions however, Harriet Tubman clearly had a strong sense of self as an individual and in the collective sense of a freedom-deprived people. While the list of her skills, talents, accomplishments and genius are so extensive and astounding there is however one set of skills that rarely if ever gets any mention. A set of skills in support of a recurring expert role she played that I regard as game-changing given my line of work: Harriet Tubman was a skilled, excellent cook and baker who self funded many of her heroic raids, abolition and philanthropic work via her professional cookery over the course of her long life time (91 yrs) at various geographic locations throughout the south during the Civil War as well as up north (New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York…).
I learned of this some years ago via an in-person conversation with a renowned Harriet Tubman biographer who sought me out at a PBS event reception to introduce herself and convey this barely known HT culinary intel to who was likely the only Black woman food historian there, yours truly. With that seed planted, I read her well-researched works and started to do original research for the purposes of generating and conducting nonfiction storytelling and culinary content for one of the most meaningful change agents in human history. Food that funds freedom is such a substantive yet oft overlooked theme throughout much of American history, Black history especially — which anyone reading this with any degree of interest knows by now is one of the most important aspects of American history at large.
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