I am excited for what stands to be a most poignant biopic of Harriet Tubman but I hold reservation. The last Harriet Tubman movie I saw, A Woman Called Moses, I felt emasculated the Black men who followed her. The film portrayed them cowering and having to be convinced to embrace freedom.

I love Black men. I do. I think they are the most beautiful and the most courageous creatures on earth. I have/had beautiful beautiful Black men in my family and community to prove it, beginning with Ulysses William Dreher, my father, right on down to the wine-o drinking from the paper bag crouched somewhere over there in the cut.

The portrayal of Black men in A Woman Called Moses broke my heart. Not one historical marker in my ancestral heritage mirrored their onscreen representation. Not one Black male in my community embodied their characterization.

I get it. Freedom-making was an ambitious endeavor; one misstep meant dire consequences. Freedom-making, in addition, challenged inhumane beliefs held by plantation owners and passed down to generations of enslaved people: you and your offspring are nothing but chattel–beasts, wenches, and brutes. 

History tell us, however, that the fervor for freedom took over, and those enslaved who heard the clarion call had no alternative but answer it no matter the consequences. The first step an enslaved person made toward freedom antagonized the plantocracy’s hateful notions circulated about them. That first step initiated psychic healing. 

I hope I see the Black men who dared to believe in Harriet Tubman and join her on the underground railroad portrayed in this manner in Harriet. They haven’t to deserve. It’s theirs!

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