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Just the other day, the Secretary of the Treasury announced that Harriet Tubman
would be the first woman to grace the $20 bill. In a sure twist of coincidental fate,
at the same time, I was reading an appropriate graphic novel for my selection
of this week's Family Comic Friday. The series was the fantastic Nathan Hale's
Hazardous Tales. The subject- an abolitionist named Harriet Tubman.
Nathan Hale's captors have enjoyed his history lessons. However, the British
General is tired of the United States coming off smelling like roses. So he
challenges Hale to tell a story of America's greatest shame. In response,
the patriot prisoner speaks of slavery in the antebellum South.
The subject of Hale's latest tale is a young slave named Minty. Life has been
hard for her, forced to work in dank swamps, is beaten by her superiors, and
constantly in fear of being sold and moved away from her family. To make
matters worse, Minty is struck with severe narcolepsy after a head injury.
But Minty's injury turns out to be a blessing in disguise as she gets visions
during her sleeping spells. One such vision encouraged Minty to flee to the North.
The trek is fraught with danger as the girl must avoid bounty hunters seeking to
recapture the runaway slave.
In a symbolic gesture, young Minty changes her name to Harriet as she crosses
over into the North. But this will not be Harriet's last trip to the South. Over the
next few years, Harriet Tubman would venture back and forth over the
Mason- Dixon line to rescue the family she left behind. But the abolitionist will
lead more than just her loved ones to freedom along the Underground Railroad.
Harriet becomes a legend unto herself, with the reputation of never losing an
escaped slave to sickness or bounty hunters on her numerous trips to freedom.
Harriet is eventually given another nickname, Moses. Like the great Hebrew
leader who lead the Jewish people to freedom from Egyptian enslavement,
Harriet helps to lead her enslaved people on an exodus to the free North and
eventually Canada.
Today is a special time as it is the main night of the Passover Seder. I didn't
plan to read this because of that connection of Tubman to Moses. This all was
coincidence, even with the Treasury announcement, choosing this book. I
managed to get my hands on 3 new NHHTs at my local library the other day.
Plus, I am sad to say that much of what I read in this book was first time
knowledge despite years of Black History Month activities commenced in
my schooling. (That's private schools in the South for ya folks!)
But I learned something new about the NHHTs that I had overlooked. I
noticed that the art in this book was all shades of purple and that just didn't
make sense to me. That's until I realized that the book's cover was chosen
to represent the dark of night in which most of the action of this book takes
place. I double checked Alamo All-Stars (the last NHHT I had read and
reviewed) and I was right. That book's cover is yellow and the art in that
volume is tinted all shades of canary to reflect the desert landscape and
terracotta scenery. This little bit of art knowledge just makes me love this
book series even more
I usually don't luck out in reading something so topical unless I plan ahead
weeks in advance. With Mrs. Tubman going to be the newest Star of purses
and wallets nationwide, now it the best time to read The Underground
Abductor. In my opinion, by doing so, it would so make the history come that
much more alive. So if you have a little one interested in learning just who is
that lady is taking Andrew Jackson's place on the 20, you must use this book
as a great resource. It's a fantastic read that shouldn't be overlooked.
Worth Consuming
Rating: 10 out of 10 stars.
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