Americans, like me, prefer to think of their country as valuing where you end up rather than where you were born. They like to think that they judge people based on the content of their character rather than the peculiarities of their parentage. If these suppositions suggest how American someone is, then Harriet Tubman is about as American as they get. This biography helps us understand why.
At 141 pages, Ramos’ work is not a best-selling critical assessment of Tubman’s impact in American history. As part of a series called “History Compacted,” it was never intended as such. It is well researched, at least in the secondary sources, as testified by comparisons between them in his assessments. I would like to have seen more direct quotations from primary sources, though.
Where Ramos is excellent, though, is in his sharing of Tubman’s story. She escaped slavery and soon became a part of the famed Underground Railroad. She fought – yes, fought – in the Civil War and also functioned as a spy. In her later years, she founded a home for sick and elderly African Americans. She campaigned for women’s and blacks’ voting rights. And hopefully, someday soon, she will take her rightful place on United States currency. Ramos shares us this story with emotion and with accuracy – without, as the series of History Compacted mandates, boring us with inessential pedantry.
Students might be interested in Tubman after hearing a lecture in college or high school but also might not have much time to invest in a longer history. This work is suitable for them. It also provides a comprehensive bibliography should they want to delve more deeply into literature so that they are able to write a research paper.
For what this book intends to do – provide short histories – this book accomplishes its main goal. It will never be a seminal work in African-American studies, but that wasn’t the intention of either the publisher or the author. It sticks “close to the bone” in historical writing as one expects in a series like this. The subject – the life Tubman lived – is also “close to the bone” in the American story. By writing about Tubman’s character and fiery power, Ramos inspires us to reach higher in our own American and human dreams.
Harriet Tubman: Explore the Legacy of the Underground Railroad Conductor From Beginning to End
by Adrian Ramos
Copyright (c) 2019
Sea Vision Publishing
Page Count: 141
Genre: American History
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