An Army of Normal Folks - Harriet Tubman: She Never Lost A Passenger

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

For “An Army of Normal Dead Folks”, we celebrate Harriet Tubman, the runaway slave who rescued over 100 slaves on the Underground Railroad. And Real Heroes Larry Reed reveals fascinating stories about her that we had never heard before! Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She immediately said, I'm going to do what I can to bring to freedom as many others who are enslaved as possible. And she ended up making 13 excursions at great personal risk back into slave states to escort on the so-called Underground Railroad as many slaves to freedom as she could. She ended up rescuing about 100 slaves. Welcome to an army of normal folks. I'm Bill Courtney. I'm a normal guy.

I'm a husband, I'm a father, I'm an entrepreneur, and I've been a football coach in inner city Memphis. And the last part, well, somehow it led to an Oscar for the film about our team. It's called Undefeated. I believe our country's problems will never be solved by a bunch of fancy people in nice suits talking big words that nobody understands on CNN and Fox, but rather by an army of normal folks. Us. just you and me deciding, you know what, I can help. And that's exactly what, you ready? Harriet Tubman did. The former slave is the most well-known conductor on the underground

railroad and today, along with Larry Reed, the author of Real Heroes, we pay tribute to her as part of our special series, An Army of Normal Dead Folks. Guys, I know you've heard the name, but there's so much about her I learned from Larry. I cannot wait for you to learn more about it right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted. But turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question.

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is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped my life. I get to talk to a lot of people who form the backbone of our society but who have never been interviewed before. Season two is all about community, organizing, and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks, let's do something about it. I can't have more than $2,000 in my bank account or else I can't get disability benefits. They won't let you succeed.

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Find tools and resources at SoundItOutTogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal Ventures. brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal Ventures. One who's everybody name, everybody knows the name Harriet Dubman. Chapter 11. I was unaware of some of the stuff that happened later in her life. Yes life and her unbelievable toughness. So everybody knows Harriet Tubman ran the Underground Railroad, saved runaway and slaves from the South, but there's so much more to her story. And I love the subtitle of the chapter, which is, she never lost a passenger. That's right.

Tell us not what we know about Harriet Tubman, but what we don't know. Yeah. The basic story of Harriet Tubman may be well known, but there are fascinating things about her that have been somewhat forgotten. She was, of course, a slave well into her 20s, but she was one who decided at some point she was going to bolt for freedom. And she did, and she successfully made her way from a slave plantation in the south to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. And the thing that I most appreciate about Harriet Tubman is that she didn't stop there.

She was committed not just to her own freedom, which she cherished and risked greatly to achieve, but once she achieved it, she was interested then immediately in the freedom of others. She could have stayed in Philadelphia the rest of her life, done any number of things, and left the whole slave story behind her. But no, she immediately said, I'm going to do what I can to bring to freedom as many others who are enslaved as possible. And she ended up making 13 excursions at great personal risk back into slave states to escort on the so-called underground railroad as many slaves to freedom as she could.

Runaway slaves. Runaway slaves, yes. Some were members of her family, most she did not know. She ended up rescuing about a hundred slaves and personally escorting them under the cover of darkness. It's important when people hear that story, that sounds awesome, but I think it's important to put in context the physical demands it took to do that, the environment in which she did that. That was really outlaid well in the chapter, share that.

So, you know, it's one thing to say, well, she went down south under the cover of darkness, picked people up and got them slavery. And that is a great story. But the context about what these folks had to endure is really important. Oh yeah, I mean, it wasn't like she bought a bus ticket and went down on a freeway to some place in the deep south and everybody just boarded the bus and she escorted them back. Yeah, she wasn't a freedom rider. No, that's right.

She had to do this not only under the cover of darkness, but she had to outrun dogs who were... Who would have chewed her and her... Absolutely. Yeah. And they were having to scramble through briars and brush and through the woods and having to somehow sustain themselves for days on end. They couldn't walk into a store and buy lunch.

I mean, they would have been immediately apprehended. So they had... Often wet? Yeah, absolutely. At night? No matter what the weather... When I read that, I was thinking, how did they get hyperthermic, some of them, you know? I'm sure some came close.

I don't know all the details, but they had to endure some horrific conditions, weather as well as all the things you endure when you're on the run and can't do anything that might reveal yourself to the powers that be. They're all looking for it. She did that 13 times and saved almost 100 people. Yeah, I got to believe after the first trip, I'd have been like, wow, I helped these six, seven, eight, nine people and that was great, but that trip sucked and I ain't doing it again. She went back. Yeah, she did. Thirteen times.

She had a bounty on her head and she knew that, that if she had been captured, she would have been... They'd have hung her. Oh, absolutely. They'd have hung her publicly. They would have made an example of her. Yeah. Well, the most amazing thing I think about her involves something that happened when she was a slave and that she had to deal with for decades thereafter. I don't know the details of the incident, but somebody, probably the foreman at the slave

plantation where she was, struck her in the head with a metal object and it caused her for decades thereafter to suffer headaches, migraines, occasional dizziness and blurriness of vision. It was a problem until she was an old lady. She was brain damaged. Yeah. And yet she was doing all this rescue work, suffering that personally at the same time. In the 1890s, when she was 70, in her 70s anyway. Long after the end of the Civil War, she decided to have surgery on her head to see if the surgeons could provide some relief. And the incredible thing is that she refused anesthesia.

When I read that, I just cannot believe what you're about to tell us. Yeah, I'll tell you what a tough bird this woman was, but she didn't want any anesthesia. When I read that, I just cannot believe what you're about to tell us. Yeah, I'll tell you what a tough bird this woman was. But she didn't want any anesthesia, which back then was crude ether. But no anesthesia. She said, just give me a bullet and I'll bite down on it and go ahead and do your thing. And so they opened up the top of her head. In fact, the way she put it, she lived another 15 years with tremendous relief, thanks to that surgery, and she would often talk about it. And the line she frequently used was, yeah, they took the top of my head off and rattle it around in there, put it back on, and I've felt fine ever since. Which she did.

Yeah, she did. They cut the top of her skull off while she bit on a bullet. Yeah. Does that tell you what a tough girl... Now, that doesn't describe tough. I mean, holy smokes, when I read that, I was astounded. I had no idea of that story. She also served in the military. Yes, she did.

I think she led... She was like the first female armed combatant or something? Yeah, and she led a unit that liberated about 600 more slaves during the Civil War. But she did that as a commander of a Union unit, liberating 600 slaves. Isn't that amazing? Yes. Harry Tubman is amazing and I don't know how... I mean, we sit around and we think,

oh, we see these injustices or we see these problems in our communities, in our society, and how do we get involved in everything else? This is a former slave. Yeah, yeah. She had nothing. Yeah. She didn't even have her own liberty.

Yeah. And she saved hundreds of lives and changed the way the world looked at slavery. And if she can do that, how in the hell is it we can't cross the street and read to some kids to help with literacy or one of a thousand other things you can come up with. It surely makes the efforts of most of us look rather puny when it comes to liberating people, when you see what she did and the risks that she undertook. I think we should thank our lucky stars, thank God every day that there have been people in history like Harriet Tubman who didn't care what the odds for success might be, didn't care what the obstacles were, when they knew what the right thing was to

do, they mustered the courage and got it done. I mean, I'm not sure everybody would do that. It's these uncommon people like Harriet Tubman to whom I think the world owes such an enormous unpayable debt of gratitude. And should learn lessons and garner inspiration from. Absolutely. Thank you for joining us for this special series, An Army of Normal Dead Folks. See I said it I said it happier that time. I think Harriet Tubman would love it. Just saying. Yeah, thank you for joining us for An Army of Normal Dead Folks. If Harriet Tubman or other episodes have inspired you in general,

or better yet, by taking action, by making your own stand in our time. Buying Larry Reed's book Real Heroes, where this story came from. Or if you have stories for this series, please let me know. I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfolks.us and I promise I will respond unless I'm dead. And if you enjoy this episode, share it with friends and on social. Subscribe to the podcast, rate and review it. Join the army at NormalFolks.us. Consider becoming a premium member. Any and all of these things that will help us grow, an army of NormalFolks.

Thanks to our producer, Iron Like Labs, I'm Bill Courtney. Until next time, do what you can. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the homestretch, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out like Ezra Klein, Jen Psaki,

Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee and Charlamagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy is all about? Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey y'all, I'm Maria Fernanda Diaz. When You're Invisible is my love letter to the working class people and immigrants who shaped me. Season two, share stories about community and being underestimated. All the greatest changes have happened when a couple of people said, this sucks. Let's do something about it. We get paid to serve you, but we're made out of the same things.

It's rare to have black male teachers. Sometimes I am the testament. Listen to When You're Invisible on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Arnold Schwarzenegger is many things, but did you know that he was once a director? And that the only film he has ever directed is a 1992 made-for-TV remake of Christmas in Connecticut. Nobody calls the biggest star in the world and says hey they want to direct your TV movie. On our Revisionist History Christmas special this year, we are telling the really very funny story behind the making of the most improbable Christmas movie of all time.

The first thing out of his mouth is, so what have you guys been doing since Commando? Clearly not going to the gym. You can hear it all right now on the Revisionist History Podcast. Listen on the iisions History Podcast. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everything okay? Yes, I'm fine. Honey.

Hey, I'm here for you. Tell me about school today. When kids can't find the right words, music can help them Sound It Out. Talk to the kids in your life about their emotional well-being. Find tools and resources at SoundItOutTogether.org. Brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal Ventures. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this.

It's surprisingly easy. You're 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my god. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan.

That's escape from Z-A-Q-istan. Binge the whole season on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.