Living Harriet Tubman

Tauszik, B. & Schear, T. (Directors). Barnes, M. ( Producer). (2026). Living Harriet Tubman. Video Project. 27 mins. Nancy Whittle, a Black Fresno-based social worker and Civil War reenactor educator, whose grandparents were born enslaved, has been vividly performing the role of Harriet Tubman, the iconic “conductor” of the Underground Railroad, for more than twenty years. Whittle, outfitted in a sackcloth, headscarf and a walking stick, makes Tubman come alive for thrilled and adoring audiences. At a time when the discussion of slavery is discouraged, it is more vital than ever to show from a Black perspective the resistance work of heroic abolitionists like Tubman. Whittle highlights how the enslaved fought to be free and that “women can be as courageous as men.” Additional skits showing the oppressor/oppressed dynamic are portrayed, and Whittle sings a couple of spirituals, including “Steal Away,” composed before 1862 by an enslaved man, Wallace Willis and his wife Minerva. The documentary is excellently edited by Brandy Troxler, and it has an evocative and melodic original score by Cameron Moody. Whittle is filmed on location at the Bucktown General Store in Cambridge, Maryland, the actual place where Tubman when she was thirteen was hit in the head by an overseer throwing a two-pound weight at an enslaved person trying to escape. Tubman protected her comrade and withstood the blow after which she had “prophetic visions” as well as seizures. Whittle was also hit in the head, enduring migraines. Living Harriet Tubman is a wonderful introduction to the woman known as the “Moses of her people” and the passionate storyteller and scholar who honors Tubman’s legacy.