Young Harriet

Sidedoor

Smithsonian Institution

Zoo, National Museum, Postal Museum, Smithsonian, Society & Culture, Art19, National Zoo, Tony Cohn, Natural History, Dc, Exhibits, Museum, American History, Exhibit, History Of The World, African American History And Culture, History, Washington, Air And Space, Pop Culture, The Smithsonian, Sidedoor, Science

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 May 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2017, a photograph of Harriet Tubman surfaced that had been lost to history for more than a century. In a feature of the National Portrait Gallery’s Portraits podcast, we hear the story behind this picture, and how its discovery changes the way we see Tubman – not just an icon of freedom and human dignity, but a courageous young woman.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX. I'm Lizzy Peabody. For most Americans,
0:24.2	Americans, Harriet Tubman is a familiar figure.
0:27.0	I first learned about her in elementary school as an icon who
0:29.8	ferried enslaved African Americans to freedom on the underground railroad.
0:34.4	At the time, I thought of her as a train conductor
0:36.5	on a literal railroad.
0:38.4	And like the underground railroad, Tubman herself
0:41.0	was hard to imagine as a real person.
0:44.0	I think that's partly because I'd only seen her pictured as an older woman.
0:48.0	In those photos, she's stiff and unsmiling.
0:51.0	Normal for the time, but difficult to relate to. The pictures didn't match her heroic story.
0:57.0	One of these famous Tubman portraits can be found at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
1:02.0	Here's what it looks like.
1:03.0	What you see in this portrait is a woman who has lived a full life.
1:12.0	She appears to be an older woman. You can tell that she is definitely
1:18.0	possibly in her 60s. I would say she's in her 70s at least and at that time in 1885 to live to that age
1:28.0	was notable not only for... She's wearing a shawl and a long dress. She has her hands folded over her stomach and she has a wrap on her head, a kerchief on her head.
1:40.0	And she has a quiet determination, you can tell that.
1:45.0	And her gaze is, I would say, somewhat stern,
1:50.0	and her mouth is uneven.
1:53.0	It's somewhat downturned.
1:55.0	That description comes from a recent episode of the Portraits Podcast.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Smithsonian Institution, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Smithsonian Institution and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.