Harriet Tubman: Toward Freedom

by Whit Taylor, Kazimir Lee (Artist), Carole Boston Weatherford (Introduction)

Overview

This illuminating graphic novel biography about Harriet Tubman sheds new light on one of American history's bravest heroes.

​Harriet Tubman did something exceptionally courageous: She escaped slavery. Then she did something impossible: She went back. She underwent some thirteen missions to rescue around seventy enslaved people, using and expanding a network of abolitionists that became known as the Underground Railroad. She spent her life as an activist, speaking out for Black people and women's suffrage. 

This modern account of her trip to save her brothers is detailed and authentic. Illustrated with care for the historical record, it offers insight into the life and mind of Tubman, displaying her as a woman with an unshakable desire to break the chains of an unjust society. It is a perfect anti-racist narrative for our times and deepens an understanding of just what freedom means to those who must fight for it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759555518
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Series:	The Center for Cartoon Studies Presents
Pages:	112
Sales rank:	411,246
Product dimensions:	6.85(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.45(d)
Age Range:	10 - 14 Years

About the Author

Whit Taylor is an Ignatz Award-winning cartoonist, editor, and writer from New Jersey. She has authored many comics, including the graphic novel Ghost Stories, and is a regular contributor to the Nib.

Kazimir Lee is an animator, cartoonist, and illustrator, who has lived for almost equal amounts of time in Malaysia, the UK, and the US, now residing in Brooklyn, New York.

The Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS), America's premier cartooning school, was founded in 2005 and is located in downtown White River Junction, Vermont. Visit www.cartoonstudies.org.

Editorial Reviews

"In addition to some of the more familiar aspects of Tubman’s story, this volume shines a light on both the dramatic aspects of freeing enslaved people and the emotional healing required of those who were successful in their quest for freedom."—Kirkus

"Lee’s artwork, in dusky shades of blue gray illuminated by contrasting mauves and peaches, establishes visual tension and midnight moodiness that befit Tubman’s tenebrous ventures."—BCCB

"This solid biography is a natural choice for classrooms, but it should find a ready audience among more casual readers, too."—Booklist

From the Publisher

2021-05-05
Words and images depict Harriet Tubman’s dangerous work of leading enslaved people to freedom.

This graphic-novel treatment of a part of Harriet Tubman’s life focuses on the aftermath of her own flight to freedom and her early efforts to liberate others from slavery. The first few months were disorienting and scary for a woman who had lived her life in bondage. In flashbacks, readers can experience its harshness. When she receives word that her brothers are about to be sold further south, Harriet begins to prepare to bring them to freedom. The journey is a harrowing one, but Harriet’s commanding leadership successfully guides them to Philadelphia, then to upstate New York and finally Canada. In addition to some of the more familiar aspects of Tubman’s story, this volume shines a light on both the dramatic aspects of freeing enslaved people and the emotional healing required of those who were successful in their quest for freedom. The strong family ties are a significant focus and demonstrate the motivations of many who worked in the Underground Railroad movement. The graphic format works exceptionally well in telling this story, Lee’s paneled images heightening the tension and carrying a significant weight in the storytelling. An essay by Carole Boston Weatherford opens the story; notes on specific panels that follow it are a distinctive feature that provides context and supporting information.

An insightful and fresh addition to the story of an iconic figure. (notes, bibliography) (Graphic nonfiction. 10-14)

Kirkus Reviews

07/01/2021

Gr 6 Up—Taylor and Lee tell the story of Harriet Tubman, a girl who was once afraid of everything but who eventually led a multitude of people to freedom through the most harrowing of circumstances. In the introduction, Carole Boston Weatherford (Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom) discusses this remarkable woman whose faith shaped her into the dynamic historical figure we know today. Taylor and Lee cover William Still, the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee, and the city of St. Catherine's in Canada, the last stop on the Underground Railroad—in the "Panel Discussions" section at the end of the book, they expand on these and other topics. They also include story notes about the artistic liberties they took. Highlighting locations such as the suspension bridge over the Niagara River grounds Tubman, a figure often shrouded in legend, in reality. The pink and blue hues of the artwork have a vintagelike quality, like aged photographs. The text could have benefited from a glossary of Underground Railroad terms and signs. However, what sets the work apart is the inclusion of the role the Philadelphia Vigilance Committee played in recording fugitive oral history, which the Works Progress Administration would later use to explain how formerly enslaved people would take the names of the planters who stole everything from them, and how vigilant Tubman was about adhering to the rules of the Underground Railroad, keeping her entire group safe. VERDICT This moving graphic novel brings Tubman to vivid life. A strong addition to graphic biography sections.—Laura Dooley-Taylor, Lake Zurich Middle School North, IL

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