TRAILER: Harriet is a powerful story of freedom

By: Ruth Ferguson, NDG Editor

“I’m gonna be free or die,” are the words Harriet Tubman defiantly declared to a slave hunter before she jumped off a bridge.

This is one of the pivotal scenes spotlighted in the trailer for the film Harriet from Focus Films. Not scheduled to be released until Nov. 1 the trailer makes it clear, expect to see Harriet on the Academy nomination worthy fall films.

Directed by Kasi Lemmons, who seems to only make one movie per decade, previously helmed Eve’s Bayou and Talk to Me. Lemmons also co-wrote the script with Gregory Allen Howard.

British actress Cynthia Erivo, last seen in Bad Times at the El Royale last year, plays the title role. Other familiar faces include the lovely Janelle Monae, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Leslie Odom, Jr., and others.

The Making of an Icon

Tubman was actually born Araminta Ross, but according to the trailer, she selected her new name after traveling over 100 miles alone to gain her freedom. Over the years she reportedly made 13 rescue trips and helped more dozens of slaves gain a new life using the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, Tubman worked as a nurse, cook and eventually an armed spy.

Following the end of slavery, Tubman turned her focus on the women’s suffrage movement to help empower all women until her death in 1913. She was reportedly 90 or 91 years old at her death.

Tubman was slated to be the first African American to appear on U.S. currency, replacing slave owner President Andrew Jackson, in 2020. However, the current administration recently delayed this honor. She was the first African American woman to grace a U.S. postage stamp in 1978 and then again in 1995.

Trailer

Harriet opens in theaters on Nov. 1. The first official trailer was released this week.