Kasi Lemmons on Harriet Tubman's Monumental Courage and Aaron Douglas's Transformative Art
As told to Lili Göksenin.
T he Harriet Tubman that I know is a warrior. She’s a leader of men, she’s a guerilla fighter, she’s courageous. She’s a hero.
I was, and continue to be, inspired by her—in 2019, I wrote and directed the film Harriet which tells the true story of how this enslaved woman changed history. Around the time I started writing the film, a photograph of Harriet as a young woman emerged. In it, she looks directly at the camera, firm, strong, resolved. This new old photograph contrasts with the image we have in our collective modern consciousness of a sweet old lady in a chair. (Incidentally, this is what I call the fuzzification of African American leaders—making them soft, and cuddly, like teddy bears.)
But Harriet was actually a fierce, dynamic woman. And it’s clear to me, when I look at Harriet Tubman, 1931 by Aaron Douglas, that he saw my version of her, too. He was inspired by this active, noble woman who was willing to fight for what she believed in and who famously said: “There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would h...