{"id":39645,"date":"2021-11-01T06:30:07","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T17:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=39645"},"modified":"2021-10-31T18:27:52","modified_gmt":"2021-10-31T05:27:52","slug":"heroines-harriet-formative-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2021\/11\/01\/heroines-harriet-formative-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Heroines, “Harriet”, & Formative Reads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, I refeatured a post on Writing Epic Heroines<\/em><\/a>, from the blog backlist — and promised a spinoff post for today.<\/p>\n

\"\"I chose Writing Epic Heroines<\/em><\/strong> because I had recently viewed the film Harriet<\/em><\/strong> on Netflix, which tells the story of Harriet Tubman.<\/p>\n

Harriet was born a slave in the American South, but escaped to freedom in the north, and went on to become one of the most famous “conductors” on the Underground Railroad: i.e. she led (or ‘conducted’) other slaves to freedom by means of a system of secret routes and safe houses.<\/p>\n

She operated as a Union spy during the Civil War, including leading a military operation to free slaves working in critical industries, and was a leader in both the civil rights and women’s suffrage movements for the rest of her long life.<\/p>\n

To find out more, check out:<\/p>\n

Smithsonian Magazine: The True Story Behind The Harriet Tubman Movie<\/a><\/p>\n

History.com: Harriet Tubman<\/a><\/p>\n

The film was not my first encounter with Harriet Tubman, however. On starting primary school, many years ago, the very first book I chose for myself from the Scholastic Book Club was Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman<\/em> (1965), written by Ann McGovern.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I am not sure, now, why I selected it, but once read, I know it made a profound impression. I was shocked by the existence of slavery and how enslaved people were treated, and I admired Harriet immensely: her courage and resolution in the face of adversity, and her commitment to freedom and service to others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In terms of writing epic heroines, my ideas of what constitutes a heroine have been shaped by real figures in history. Harriet Tubman was the first such heroine that I encountered and I still consider her an exemplar. In terms of the life she lived and the example set, she has unquestionably influenced my notions of what makes a heroine, and therefore my fictional writing and characters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Thursday, I refeatured a post on Writing Epic Heroines, from the blog backlist — and promised a spinoff post for today. I chose Writing Epic Heroines because I had recently viewed the film Harriet on Netflix, which tells the story of Harriet Tubman. Harriet was born a slave in the American South, but escaped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-influences-on-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39645"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39653,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39645\/revisions\/39653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}