A review by kevin_shepherd
Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson

4.0

There is so much more to Harriet Tubman than her heroic escapades as a conductor on the Underground Railroad. For instance, I had no idea that she counseled John Brown, or that she worked as a nurse in service of the Union Army (American Civil War), or that she fought for the inclusion of African-American women in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The lady was an activist before the term ‘activist’ was ever coined—and yet historical accounts of her accomplishments have been edited and re-edited and manipulated to make them more palatable for white audiences.

Outside of a plethora of children’s books, this was probably the first serious attempt to document the life of Harriet Tubman since Earl Conrad gave it his best shot in 1943. Kate Larson is a gifted writer and biographer and she captures the depth and complexity of Tubman’s remarkable story without sensationalizing it or burying it under a mountain of platitudes. Four Stars.