The Post Office has issued not one but two Harriet Tubman stamps; the National Standards for United States History have named Tubman as a figure who should be familiar to students by the fifth grade; Google lists more than 90,000 entries under her name; Amazon.com offers more than 1,200 results in its book category, including one entitled "Girls Who Rocked the World ... From Harriet Tubman to Mia Hamm."
Tubman is far better known in American popular culture and among schoolchildren than she is in the serious historical literature. There has been no adult biography since 1943. Now three scholars have published studies almost simultaneously. Who is Harriet Tubman and why should we care about her? What can we know of her life, how can we know it and how should it shape our understanding of American history?
| Continue Drew Gilpin Faust's New York Times article "General Tubman"
posted in reviews on February 15, 2004 7:56 AM | t (0)
« Previous phile: 'Black people in Peru? It's a revelation.'
» Next phile: Reorganized to be the home base that extends to all of Cleveland.
Return to top of page