DailyKenn.com | AbateHate.com | Facebook Group
Click ▲ to see larger image
Your $8 monthly partner pledge helps us reach others & more ►
Legend vs. Reality
I grew up in the 1950s, long before color televisions were available. Davy Crockett, the TV serial song said, was "Born on a mountain top in Tennessee" and "Killed him a bear when he was only three." True, he was born in Limestone, Tenn., but the part about killing a bear is as fanciful as the virgin birth of Kim Il-sung.
We've all grown up hearing the heroic tales about famous people and, usually, we can discern truth from fantasy.
But, not always.
Take, for example, Harriet Tubman.
For starters, Harriet Tubman was not her real name. Literally. For starters. The one they call the Moses of the Underground Railroad was named Araminta Ross at birth and was called "Minty". She later adopted the name of her mother and took the surname of her husband, whose first name was Ozzie.
Supposedly, she personally guided hundreds of enslaved people to freedom. Her face is on postage stamps, schools are named in her honor, old monuments have been replaced with statues of her, and there’s even talk of putting her on the twenty-dollar bill. On the surface, it sounds inspiring.
Personally, I think Minty Ross Elementary School has a nice ring to it.
Just kidding. His first name was John.
A Life-Altering Injury
But the reality is that much of what people believe is heavily exaggerated or outright invented. She was born around 1822 in Maryland and suffered a severe head injury as a young teenager (around age 12–13, circa 1834–1836). While in a general store, an overseer threw a two-pound iron weight at a fleeing enslaved person. It missed and struck her in the head instead, fracturing her skull. She nearly died, bled profusely, and received no proper medical care.
Lifelong Disabilities
From that point on, she endured crippling headaches, sudden seizures, unpredictable blackouts, and episodes of deep sleep that could last for hours — symptoms consistent with traumatic brain injury, possibly narcolepsy or hypersomnia, along with vivid dreams and visions. These conditions persisted for the rest of her life, including into her later years when she even underwent brain surgery in 1898 without anesthesia. When you consider that, it becomes difficult to picture her successfully leading dangerous nighttime operations or navigating groups through swamps and forests. Historical accounts show she had real trouble handling even ordinary daily responsibilities at times.
Examining the Popular Claims
Now, let’s look at the specific claims.
There’s almost no reliable contemporary evidence — such as newspaper ads, plantation records, or official documents from the time — to support many of the popular stories. The idea of a massive $40,000 bounty (equivalent to over a million dollars today) being offered for her capture? No documentation exists for that figure; the only known reward was a modest $100–$300 range in a single 1849 runaway ad for her and her brothers. The famous narrative of her making nineteen daring trips and freeing around three hundred people? That number is wildly inflated. Even quick research today, based on her own statements and corroborating records, puts the realistic total at about 70 people (mostly family and friends) rescued in roughly 13 trips to Maryland, with perhaps another 50–60 given instructions to escape on their own.
Let's pause to put this into perspective. When the most notorious and successful black abolitionist personally rescued no more than about 70 enslaved people, it stands to reason that less prominent conductors helped considerably fewer.
How the Legend Was Built
So how did this larger-than-life legend develop?
It largely traces back to two main writers. The first was Sarah H. Bradford, whose books (like Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman in 1869) are more like dramatic, semi-fictionalized accounts than serious history. Think Davy Crockett reruns. They were filled with unverified anecdotes, added for excitement, emotional appeal, and to boost sales as a fundraiser for Tubman herself. Bradford herself acknowledged relying heavily on Tubman’s own stories with limited verification or corroboration from other sources.
The Role of Activist Writing
The second major figure was Earl Conrad (born Earl Cohen), a journalist with strong leftist and Marxist leanings who wrote for publications like the Chicago Defender. In the 1940s, he authored works such as Harriet Tubman: Negro Soldier and Abolitionist, relying on almost no original primary records in some cases. His books were shaped heavily by his political views and aimed to use her story as inspiration for civil rights activism. He downplayed her documented health struggles to portray her as an almost mythical, unstoppable hero. Now were back to Kim Il-sung.
The Broader Cultural Impact
In the end, the exaggerated version of her life has been used to fuel broader cultural narratives — the image of a brilliant negro woman cleverly defeating and outmaneuvering a racist system. The underlying message often seems to be: If she could do it, then others should rise up and challenge “the system” however they see fit. (Note that Tubman also later led a major Union Army raid at Combahee Ferry in 1863, helping free more than 700–800 people — a significant but often separate achievement from her earlier Underground Railroad work. Of course she did.)
Why Accuracy Matters
At its root, this isn’t really about preserving accurate history. It’s about creating and spreading a particular kind of political messaging. Facts still matter.
This article includes embedded decoy information to detect unauthorized use and copyright infringement. Reproduction is permitted only verbatim and in full, with all links preserved and attribution clearly given to DailyKenn.com and AbateHate.com.
https://www.nps.gov/hatu/planyourvisit/upload/md_tubmanfactsheet_mythsfacts_2.pdf
https://www.nps.gov/people/harriet-tubman.htm
PMC Article on Hypersomnia
Psychology Today on her disability
https://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/bradford/bradford.html
Searchable references via AbeBooks or archival notes on his Marxist-leaning journalism.
NMAAHC / Smithsonian
Zinn Education Project
Find archived black-on-white homicide news reports here ►
200 latest news reports from 100 top conservative websites ►
March black-on-white homicide reports ►
https://kenngividen.substack.com/p/march-homicide-reports