'Harriet' is in theaters. Here's where you can learn about Harriet Tubman in real life

#CynthiaErivo #HarrietTubman #UndergroundRailroad #Slavery #CivilWar

One can learn a great deal about Tubman, as portrayed by Cynthia Erivo, by watching the film. Historian Kate Clifford Larson, who worked on the film, told USA TODAY that she thinks the movie is accurate, though there are some discrepancies.

"It is true to Tubman: Who she was, her character, her deep faith, her love for her family," Larson says. Tubman escaped slavery and helped roughly 70 others who were enslaved reach freedom through a network of safe houses dubbed the Underground Railroad in the 1800s. And during the Civil War, she liberated more than 750 enslaved people, when she led a battalion of over 150 black soldiers during the Combahee River Raid.

The film is informative about Tubman and her heroic feats, but there is plenty more to learn by visiting museums and destinations in the Maryland and Washington, D.C. areas.

Maryland
Tubman was born into slavery and lived for the first part of her life in Dorchester County, Maryland, before escaping to freedom. She returned to the area later, time and time again, to rescue family members and friends. There are museums and memorials to Tubman throughout the state.

"You can go to Maryland and see the places where all of this took place in real life," Larson says.

One way to walk in Tubman's footsteps while learning about her heroism and her life is by taking a driving tour along the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway.

The Tubman Byway is a self-guided, 125-mile route from Maryland into Delaware and Philadelphia, which was Tubman's destination on the journey to freedom. There are 36 suggested stops on the Byway in Maryland.

Audio guides and downloadable PDFs are available to guide interested visitors on the Byway website. Guided tours can also be arranged.

Also be sure to check out the mural of Tubman reaching out her hand Shortly after it was completed this year, a photo of a little girl reaching out to touch Tubman's hand went viral.

The mural is painted on the side of the Harriet Tubman Museum and Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland, which is a stop on the Tubman Byway.

New York
Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in Auburn, New York, includes the home where Tubman, along with her parents, settled in 1859 when then-U.S. Senator William H. Seward offered her a house and small slice of property for $1,200, to be paid overtime. This is where the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church — which accepted Tubman's donation of her property in 1903 — opened the Harriet Tubman Home for the Elderly in 1908.

This is also where Tubman died in penury of pneumonia on March 10, 1913, at an age somewhere between 88 and 98 years old (records are unclear). She is buried at the Fort Hill Cemetery, just a mile and a half away.

The site was established as a national park in 2017.

A low-slung visitor center holds a displayed timeline of Tubman's life and a few artifacts exhumed by Syracuse University students from grounds near the demolished infirmary, John Brown Hall. Tubman's former brick residence, on the north edge of the property, is gutted, undergoing renovations.

A little more than a mile away, the Thompson AME Zion Church where Tubman worshiped and where her funeral services were held, and the parsonage beside it on Parker Street, are both undergoing renovations by the National Park Service.

More:Harriet Tubman's final home a work in progress after congregation keeps flame alight

Washington, D.C.
While Larson says that Tubman didn't spend much time in Washington, D.C., during her life, apart from a stint helping out at an orphanage in Georgetown, the nation's capital is rich in resources for learning about Tubman.

The Library of Congress houses multiple portraits of Tubman in their collection, along with books, manuscripts and a research guide.

"Harriet Tubman’s life was so complex that it is helpful to have multiple images, made at different times, to help visualize her as a living, active person," Beverly Brannan, Library of Congress curator of photography told USA TODAY.

In the Library's earliest portrait of Tubman, created in the 1860s, she is in her mid-40s and dressed fashionably in a dark blouse and light skirt.

"One can imagine her being courageous and vigorously leading people through dangerous situations at night," Brannan adds. "That is close to how she looked in the most physically challenging time of her life."

By Morgan Hines - usatoday.com

Five Simple Ways to Start Communicating More Mindfully

#Communication #HealthyRelationship #Mindfulness If you've ever practiced mindfulness, you're probably already aware of the many benefits it offers for the willing and dedicated practitioner. When we open ourselves to this practice, we create the potential for our lives to be transformed in ways that might seem subtle but are truly life-altering. Though many of the benefits of mindfulness are personal and internal—improved concentration, expanded sense of awareness, increased patience, and enduring states of tranquility, to name a few—some important aspects of the practice can positively affect our external experience as well. Take communication, for example. Using mindfulness in our communication with others can improve our relationships and help us navigate even the most difficult conversations. If you already have a practice of cultivating mindfulness, a little intention is all you’ll need to start applying it to your communication. If you haven’t yet developed a pra...

New fascinating insights on the psychological effects of Hugging

#Hug #Hugging #Emotions #Stress #Mood #BlackMaleTherapist #Psychotherapy #MentalHealth During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns and restrictions, one of the things many people missed most was getting hugged by their loved ones. This led to an increased interest in the positive effects of hugging in the psychology research community and several studies published over the last year have yielded new insights on what it means to us to be hugged. Here are four of the most interesting new insights into the science of hugging. 1. Getting hugged by others, but also hugging yourself, reduces stress hormones A recent study by researcher Aljoscha Dreisoerner from the Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany, and his team focused on the positive effects of hugging on stress (Dreisoerner et al., 2021). Interestingly, the scientists not only investigated how getting hugged by other people could reduce stress, but also whether hugging yourself (e.g., when other people are not ...

The Unique Benefits of Teletherapy.

#BlackTherapist #Teletherapy #Triple5LightTherapy.com #AfricanAmerican #Therapist b y Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. Teletherapy is seen as an inferior alternative to in-person therapy. But while it has some drawbacks, online therapy has plenty of pluses, too. First the drawbacks: Some clients miss their therapist’s office, which they associate with safety and healing, said Jodi Aman , LCSW, a psychotherapist in Rochester, N.Y. Technical difficulties—from poor internet connections to visibility issues–can interrupt sessions. Finding a private, quiet space at home can be challenging. Still, many people prefer teletherapy. As psychologist Regine Galanti , Ph.D, pointed out, the biggest myth about teletherapy is that it’s “a plan B approach.” Many of Galanti’s clients have been doing online sessions for years. Her teen clients, in particular, like attending therapy in their own space. Teletherapy is also convenient. “[I]t removes time barriers for people to ...

5 Communication Tweaks That Increase Intimacy

#Communication #trust #Empathy #Attachment #mirroring #reciprocating #apology #defensive #Psychology “Working on our communication” is one of the most commonly cited reasons couples seek relationship counseling. This is not surprising. Often, over time, even the best of relationships can fall victim to negative communication patterns. This is especially true for couples who find themselves under a lot of stress because, naturally, when our coping mechanisms are overtaxed, we default to older—more primitive and less mature—ways of coping (cf. Weinberger & Stoycheva, 2019). A colleague used to say that when we are distressed, we become caricatures of ourselves—i.e., our worst qualities become exaggerated. It gets harder to employ our most thought-out and balanced ways of interacting with the world. However, several tweaks only require a little time or effort, just repetition, and attention to our automatic behaviors that we can make to improve our connection with our partners. ...

Triple5Light Therapy

Search This Blog