Two In The Think Tank - 320 - Harriet Tubman & The Underground Railroad

Episode Date: December 8, 2021

It's probably a name you recognise, but you'll have to listen to this story to find out why Harriet Tubman has been added to the Do Go On List of Badasses! Support the show and get rewards like bonus episodes: dogoonpod.com or patreon.com/DoGoOnPod Submit a topic idea directly to the hat: dogoonpod.com/Submit-a-Topic Stream our 300th episode with extra quiz (and 16 other episodes with bonus content): https://sospresents.com/authors/dogoon Check out our AACTA nominated web series: http://bit.ly/DGOWebSeries​ Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/ Our awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader Thomas REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Tubmanhttps://www.britannica.com/biography/Harriet-Tubmanhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroadhttps://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/harriet-tubmanhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/true-story-harriet-tubman-movie-180973413/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Just jumping in really quickly at the start of today's episode to tell you about some upcoming opportunities to see us live in the flesh. And you can see us live at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival 2024. We are doing three live podcasts on Sundays at 3.30 at Basement Comedy Club, April 7, 14 and 21. You can get tickets at dogo1pod.com. Matt, you're also doing some shows around the country. That's right. I'm doing shows with Saren Jaya Mana who's been on the show before. We're going to be in Perth in January, Adelaide in February,

Melbourne through the festival in April and then Brisbane after that. I'm also doing Who Knew It's in Perth and Adelaide. Details for all that stuff at mattstuartcomedy.com Hello and welcome to another episode of Do Go On.

My name is Dave Iwanaki and as always I'm here with Jess Perkins and Matt Stewart. Hello Dave. Hey Dave. Hey Jess. Oh my god. This feels Matt. Hey, Dave. Hey, Jess. Oh, my God. This feels so good to be here in this bedroom with you two. That's right. I've invited you to podcast in my bedroom.

Yeah, this is sort of like a sealed section episode. Yeah. Ooh, who knows what we'll see. Ooh, books. Ooh, a globe of the world. Honestly, Dave's bedroom is pretty horny. Yes, so, so horny. There's a cheater on his lamp.

You know what I mean? That's the sexiest kind of animal. Doesn't that feel like something you'd see in the Playboy Mansion? Yeah, because they're fast. Yeah. Are we going to the Playboy Grotto in the backyard after this? Yeah, of course. We're going to put the grot in grotto.

Playboy grotto in the backyard after this. Yeah, of course. We're going to put the grot in grotto. Probably should have asked Dave before we started if you wanted to talk about your bedroom. Talk about my grotto. The grotto is, that's private. It's a private grotto. But it is very nice to be in here for the first time.

What a lovely boudoir. Thank you so much for joining me in the boudoir. We've got Humphrey on the bed asleep. He doesn't know. You're not contributing that much, to be honest. Humphrey's a dog, for those who don't know. We've got Dave's butler or something.

This is a guy here. He's snoozing. We just thought, let's not bother him. We were hoping Humphrey was going to explain how the show works, but he is asleep so I'll try and do it instead. The three of us get together. One of us has gone away and researched a topic, usually that's been suggested by a listener,

often voted on by the listeners as well, and then they bring that report back to the other two and let us know all about it while we sort of interrupt and be annoying. In the name of entertainment. Yeah, it's on purpose. The report normally starts with a question. I believe, Jess, you're doing the report this week.

Yes, I am. And my question is, which historical figure has Joe Biden said will soon appear on the US $20 note? Joe Biden. What, come on. What a bold move quite early in his presidency. Yeah. Which photo would it be? With the aviators or him awkwardly sniffing someone's hair? I think it's time to update them a little bit.

I think aviators would be good. Yeah, well, you could do both. You could be sniffing hair with aviators on. That's cool. Yes. Is the answer Donald Trump? It is not Donald Trump. Okay. Thank God.

Historical figure. Think much further back. Okay. Lincoln. No, but alive in a similar time. Okay. Is it a politician? No.

Lincoln's wife. It's not Lincoln's wife. Oh, the actor who killed Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth. We have done that as a job? Yeah, we have done. Yeah, that'd be awkward. She's not even sure.

I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure we have. Entertainer or scientist? No. Oh, it's not the lady who invented penicillin. It's not the lady who invented penicillin. Is it an inventor? What's her name? Marie Curie?

It's not Marie Curie. Because we've already done her. We've done her and I'm sure about that. No, it's more of a civil rights kind of. Oh, Back of the Bus? No. No, that's later. That's later.

It is later. Civil rights. Tubman? Tubman. Harriet Tubman. Harriet Tubman. Oh, great. I've heard her story is amazing.

Good job. Yeah, it is an amazing story. And it's a name I knew but did not know a great deal about the story. And it's pretty wild. It's like a real roller coaster. Awesome. I'm so glad. Packs a lot into a life.

I've been really wanting to hear more about this story, but it's one of those ones where I'm like, we'll hear about it on the podcast eventually. So I shouldn't look into it. Yeah, that's right. And now I'm glad, we'll hear about it on the podcast eventually. So I shouldn't look into it. Yeah, that's right. And now I'm glad I didn't. Well, what I did was because we just did a massive two-month event for Blocktober, obviously we had so many topics up for the vote

and so a lot missed out, although we did some big ones. So I went through and I grabbed a few of those and I asked the patrons, I was like, which of these that missed out do you want to hear next because I was like that guarantees that these are going to be interesting topics and they chose very well this chose in a in a this one in a in a bit of a landslide it's been suggested by quite a few people it's been suggested by Hilary Hughes Emily Baysdorf uh I thought Tubman was a great name. Beysdorf.

Liren Bromberg. Adam Legg. Liren Bromberg. That's the name that I sometimes get in my head. Liren Bromberg. One of our listeners. Hello, Liren. I don't know if I've ever said this on the show before.

Just a little melody in your head. My head will just go, Liren Bromberg. Great name. That's nice. Adam Legg. Tony. Michael. James Green. Kayla. Callie Trey,

John Mortensen and Charlie Heffernan have all suggested. Each of those names, so good, especially Michael. Michael. I wonder who he stood out. Michael. What stood out to me was Heffernan. Heffernan. Heffernan. Tim Heffernan.

Heffernan. Is that someone? So this is a story of Harriet Tubman. I don't know. Born Araminta Ross, nicknamed Minty. Oh. So good. That's great.

Minties are great. Araminta. Araminta Ross. To enslaved parents Harriet Green, who's nicknamed Rit, and Ben Ross. As with many enslaved people, the exact year or location of her birth is unknown and estimates made by historians differ greatly. It's been recorded or estimated anywhere between 1815 and 1825. Wow.

That's a big range. Yeah. Most tend to settle on circa 1822. So throughout the report, at times I've sort of said she's around this age then and I've usually used 18-22 as a guess. But we don't know exactly when or where she was born. Right, and that's not even halfway between 15 and 25.

Yeah. Let's call it there. It just seems to be the most common one or like, yeah, the thing people tend to maybe agree a little bit more on. But we're not sure. Rit was owned by mary patterson brodess and later her son edward and worked as a cook for the brodess family what full on terminology that is yeah owned by yeah and the language that we use now um and that i'll use

throughout this report is a is like a slaveholder or slave owner and an enslaved person. Right. Those are the... I googled it to try and make sure I was using, you know, the right sort of terminology. So, yeah, isn't that wild? It's just such a foreign concept to us now, but it wasn't that long ago.

No, really, it wasn't that long ago. Yeah. Ridiculous. Ben was owned by Anthony Thompson, who became Mary Broadus' second husband. So their slaveholders married each other. And Anthony Thompson ran a large plantation near the Blackwater River in the Madison area

of Dorchester County in Maryland. Ben was a skilled woodworker who managed the timber work on the Thompson Plantation. And Ben and Rit married around 1808 and had nine children together. Quick question. Yep. Do they know what was causing it? Probably.

Yeah. But nine is so many. Yeah. And it was like science had a long way to go back then. Yeah, maybe you didn't. It was like, why did this happen again? This is crazy. And if you had nine, personally, Jess, would you go for one more just to complete?

Yeah, I think so. Or get rid of one. Hey, why not 11 more? There we go. Yes. Some great names here. It was Lena, Mariah, Ritty, Soph, Robert, Minty, Ben, Rachel, Henry and Moses. Oh, Moses.

Great names. It's hard to keep coming up with great names after eight. Yeah. And if you're the ninth child, do you think you've got them? They may be peaked with nine. Yeah. Minty's great though. Minty.

Oh, my God. So good. So, obviously, their family life wasn't super peaceful or easy. I mean, the family were very close, but obviously being enslaved was a horrendous time. The parents struggled to keep their family together, and Edward Brodess, Ritt's slaveholder, sold three of the daughters, Lena, Mariah, Ritty, and Soph,

and the three girls were separated from their family forever. Oh. They never saw them again. That's a bummer. I know. Rit hid their youngest son, Moses, for a month after a man approached Edward Brodess about purchasing the young boy.

And when Brodess and the man approached the Ross family home to take Moses, Rit apparently told them, you're after my son, but the first man that comes into my house, I'll split his head open. So she defended her son. That's good negotiating. Yeah. Okay. You're after my son, but the first man that comes into my house, I'll split his head open. So she defended her son. That's good negotiating. Yeah.

Okay. I take your offer. You've come here today. You've come to take my son. Counter offer. I'll split your head open. I mean, honestly, I mean, if you're in that situation, you would just send your enemy in as the first person into the house. Their heads are split.

And what are you going to do with the second man who comes in? Yeah, the second man gets a dollar. How many enemies do I need to send? You keep splitting heads. You're sending 72 guys. This is getting messy, to be honest. I have a funny feeling 73 is the right number. Gerald, in you go.

I feel good about you, Gerald. Oh, Gerald. Oh, no. Whack. Oh, i was out of enemies and that was my friend um the sale of it worked the sale of the boy was abandoned and later historians would say that this event in the family would go on to inspire young araminta as a child herself minty was hired out as a nursemaid to a woman named Miss Susan. Minty took care of Miss Susan's baby and would rock the cradle as the baby slept. If the baby woke up and cried, Minty was whipped.

Oh. She was about six years old at this time. You reckon that's going to help the baby get to sleep? No. A whipping nearby? And imagine that, a baby crying. Imagine. Well, if a six-year-old can't rock a baby to sleep, then who can?

Isn't that horrendous? I just don't think that's a good system. I mean, it's awful humanity, but... Oh, yeah, terrible system. I mean, logically, that makes no sense. Yeah, do you know a six-year-old? Would you put them in charge of a baby? Jesus.

No. And yeah, exactly, to go, the the baby's crying you've done something it's like no babies cry all the time they're communicating the baby's probably trying to tell you something maybe something like you're a bad mom you keep whipping this person who's looking after me also i'm hungry good about my future yeah and i've done a poop yeah i've done a poop and i've got a tooth coming in and it hurts. Absolutely. I've shat myself. And I don't like the way you're behaving, Mum. You're not setting a good example.

You are literally giving me the shits. Hey, I'm a little baby and I'm here to stay. Baby rap. You're a bad mum. Is it baby rap if it's done by a baby or if it's for a baby? In that case, would it be mummy rap? Oh, I think it might be mummy wrap, which could be confusing, especially if Brendan Fraser's in the vicinity.

Minty also worked for a man named James Cook. No relation. To the footballer. Yeah. And her job was to wade through marshes checking muskrat traps. Oh, that's hard to say. Muskrat trap. She came down. I marshes checking muskrat traps. Oh, that's hard to say. Muskrat trap. She came down.

I'm doing a muskrat trap, muskrat rap. New listeners are like, oh, this guy, he's a real good rapper and he does it all the time. I just want to hear about Harriet Tubman, but I'm really getting lost in these raps. I'm loving these raps. I didn't know Matt was a rapper. I'm Matt for the new listeners.

Thank you so much. So your name is Matt? I'm Matt. I'm the one with the beard in the logo. Are you here to say? I'm here to say please do go on with your report today. Yes, all my raps are like ones politicians would have done in the 80s

when they were trying to be cool. A vote for me is a vote for freedom. It's probably slightly better than what I would have counted. Mindy came down with the measles but was forced to continue working. When she became too ill to work, she was returned to Edward Bodress and nursed back to health by her mum until she was well enough to be rented out again. She carried scars from her early life through to adulthood,

scars from being whipped and also from a head injury she obtained as a teen when a two-pound or about one kilo metal weight was thrown at an enslaved person who was trying to escape, but the projectile hit Minty instead. She was taken inside, bleeding and unconscious, but she was left without medical care for two days. Oh, my God. Isn't it? I mean, again, you're like, you're obviously being awful.

I mean, you're owning humans. Yeah. But surely you want to treat them well. If you want them to do work for you, I don't understand the logic on any level. I know. It's baffling, isn't it? Because, yeah. How good is she going to be to help you rock your baby to sleep? Yeah. It's baffling, isn't it? Because, yeah.

How good is she going to be to help you rock your baby to sleep? Yeah. If you're not, you know, if you're leaving her to die, basically. Yeah. Strange. She also started, so usually after the head injury, she started having visions and vivid dreams, which she interpreted as revelations from God. She rejected the teachings of the New Testament

that urged enslaved people to be obedient and she found guidance in the Old Testament tales of deliverance. Okay, so far her life has been quite hard. Yeah. And it doesn't get heaps easier throughout her entire life. But she packs a lot in and she doesn't really give up at all so i think it's still like it's a it's a story of a real badass but it's also real sad yeah i feel like it must be motivating if you're getting visions from god yeah exactly you'd, well, there's a higher purpose here. Everything, like she completely trusted in God and, you know,

those sorts of visions and that kind of divine intervention or whatever was, she felt really guiding everything. So, yeah, I don't think she ever sort of went, oh, shit, what am I doing? It was like, okay, well, that was meant to happen because something's going to come from that i don't know pretty amazing it was an interesting time on the eastern shore of maryland because by around the mid-1840s around half of the black population was free minty's father ben was promised that he would be freed by his uh slave holder anthony thompson when ben was 45 years old anth. Anthony Thompson died, but his son did follow through on that promise

and Ben was released in 1840. Her mother, Rit, had a similar instruction made for her to be released when she was 45, but the Boddress family ignored that instruction and challenging it legally was financially impossible for the family. Isn't it amazing that you're like, they're good people, releasing their slave at 45. I know, ridiculous's isn't it amazing that you're like they're good people releasing their slave at 45 ridiculous isn't it for the time it sounds like that was relatively good yeah like they're relatively kind yeah amazing because they followed through on something where does this fit in with the lincoln and the civil war times and all that stuff. That will happen in the story. All right, so this is pre...

Yeah. Right. So around 1844, Minty married a free man named John Tubman. The union, like Minty's parents, was complicated now because of her enslaved status. These marriages weren't uncommon, but the mother's status dictated any children's status. So any children the couple had would automatically be enslaved.

Goes through the mother, which is is fun makes a lot of sense um historian kate larson who comes up a bit throughout this report um says that most african-american families at the time had both free and enslaved members and she suggests that they might have planned to buy tubman's freedom. That happened a bit. If one of them was free, they would try to buy their partner's freedom, which is, again, baffling, isn't it? Soon after marrying John, Minty changed her name to Harriet Tubman, taking her mother's first name and obviously her husband's surname.

This is from Wiki. In 1849, Tubman became ill again, which diminished her value as a slave. Edward Broadus tried to sell her but could not find a buyer. Angry at him for trying to sell her and continuing to enslave her relatives, Tubman began to pray for her owner, asking God to make him change his ways. She said later, I prayed all night long for my master till the 1st of March and all the time he was bringing people to look at me and trying to sell me.

When it appeared as though a sale was being concluded she said i changed my prayers first of march i began to pray oh lord if you ain't never going to change that man's heart kill him lord and take him out of the way i'm gonna change your strategy for like and on a dime like up until end of March, end of Feb, she's gone, hey, see if he can change his ways. First of March, kill him. Yeah, I'm going to get Old Testament on your ass. If that's what you think, God. That's just my suggestion.

Well, a week later, Brodus died. And Tubman expressed regret for her earlier sentiments. You've got to feel pretty powerful after that, though. Yeah. Isn't that amazing? One week. It took God a week. I guess there's a lot of business

to tend to. Yeah. How many business days though? Yeah, that's true. Oh, that's so true. It was a long weekend. That was a Friday. Yeah, he's not back to work.

Tuesday. Yeah, that's right. Even Wednesday, depending on the long weekend. And you've got to catch up with that backlog. Yeah. So that's actually pretty good.

What does God do on weekends? Chill. Chills. God needs self-care as well. Yeah. That makes sense. His own shit. Yeah, he does whatever he wants. Golf.

Really? Gets a mani-pedi. Whatever God wants. Sounds like a lovely weekend. Yeah, it does sound nice. So with Edward Bodress dead, his widow Eliza took over the task of selling the family's enslaved people. From Wiki again, Tubman refused to wait for the Bodress dead, his widow Eliza took over the task of selling the family's enslaved people.

From Wiki again, Tubman refused to wait for the Bodress family to decide her fate, despite her husband's effort to dissuade her. There was one of two things I had a right to, she explained later, liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other. Well, I mean, if you can't have liberty, you'd have death, but if you couldn't have death,'d have death but if you couldn't have death you'd have liberty it's a beautiful statement anyway i mean at this point do you walk into the widow's bedroom and say hey you know your husband i made that happen so if you

want the same fate watch yourself yeah i've got a direct line upstairs hang on i'm getting i'm hearing from right now what do you it's up you. What do you want me to tell? Yeah, what do you want me to say? Pass it on. Hey, God. Yeah, yeah, yeah. One second, God. I'll be with you.

What do you want me to say? What did you want me to tell God? Do you have a positive or negative sort of... Yeah. Thumbs up or thumbs down would do the job. No, too slow, too slow. Yeah. Off her. Yeah. Make it happen. No, too slow, too slow. Yeah. Off her.

Yeah. Make it happen. Yep. She's done. So Harriet and two of her brothers. God's like, I think this line might be tapped. Can you call me on my burner? Harriet and two of her brothers, Ben and Henry,

made an escape attempt in September of 1849. Once they'd left, though, Tubman's brothers had second thoughts. in September of 1849. Once they'd left though, Tubman's brothers had second thoughts. One source said that I think Ben might have just had a child and they were sort of like, because, you know, it was obviously very risky. There was people out there whose job it was to find enslaved people who had escaped.

So the two men went back and and tubman returned with what a noble profession yeah that'd feel good wouldn't that feel good oh you made it out i'm bringing you back yeah i'm a good person yeah gross i've got a family to feed i don't care soon after harriet escaped again this time on her own her exact route unknown. She wouldn't tell people because it was a route that other enslaved people took, so she didn't want to detail the way out, which makes a lot of sense. But we do know that she used a network known as the Underground Railroad. It was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century.

It was used by enslaved African-Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. Wait, so this isn't literally an underground railroad? No. I always pictured it as an underground railroad. And she's actually sort of often attributed with creating it, but she didn't create it, but she used it a lot for herself to get out,

but also to get other people out. Right. Kind of like Jeff Buckley didn't write Hallelujah. Sure, but he made it his. Yeah. It's probably the definitive version. She made Underground Railroad hers. She put it on the map, which was unfortunate.

And we thank Leonard Cohen, but take a seat. Okay. Leave it to Jeff and KD Lang. Yeah, that's right. It's also the same with Guns N' Roses and Knocking on Heaven's Door. Oh, really? That wings the band the Beatles could have been. Yeah, in my head, whenever I heard it, I'm

picturing, you know, what's that breakout movie from one of the World Wars where they, like, build out that tunnel? The Great Escape. The heard it, I'm picturing, you know, what's that breakout movie from one of the World Wars where they, like, build out that tunnel? The Great Escape. The Great Escape. I'm picturing that, you know, a rope pulley system. Yeah. I really had no idea about this story at all, obviously.

I just knew the one-sentence recap and it was wrong. Are you disappointed? I mean, that's pretty fun if it's dragging yourself along an underground but this makes way more sense hello wait what what are they escaping for every house has got a an underground tunnel doesn't make any sense so yeah this makes way more sense one estimate suggests that by 1850 over a hundred thousand enslaved people had escaped via the network so it was pretty it was pretty good. Tubman had to travel by night, guided by the North Star,

and trying to avoid slave catchers eager to collect rewards for fugitive enslaved people. She most likely took a common route for people fleeing slavery, northeast along the Choptank River. That's so good. Through Delaware. Delaware. and then north into pennsylvania beautiful delaware god's country i think of it as good old joe biden

is he a delawarean delaware all right now i know one thing about delaware i was gonna say i know one thing about joe biden yeah other than president and old, let's not forget the aviators. Yeah, aviators. Yes, he's the president. He's the president. That always forgets who the current president is. Stopping at safe houses along the way, one lady of the house told Harriet to sweep the yard so it would appear she was working for the family

and her presence wouldn't arouse suspicion. And when night fell, the family hid Harriet in a cart and took her to the next safe house. Eventually, she crossed into Pennsylvania, more than 100 miles from Dorchester County, and recalled the feeling of relief and awe. She said, when I found I'd crossed that line, I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person.

There was such a glory over everything. The sun came up like gold through the trees and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven. Oh, what a beautiful picture that paints. Just the relief. Imagine that, like you're on the run for a long time. I'm not entirely sure how long it took her. People were saying if she was going that distance on foot,

it would take anywhere from five days to three weeks. And I'm like, that's a big difference. So, you know, it's such a big journey and that whole time you're like, you know, looking behind you, you're on edge, and then she makes it. It must just be the relief would be insane. So good. So she gets to Philadelphia, and she works some odd jobs to make some money. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850,

which meant heavy punishments for abetting escape, and meant that even in states where slavery had already been abolished, law enforcement had to assist in the capture of people who had escaped. Oh, that sucks. Yeah. So fucked. So, Harriet? I'm picturing Harriet getting to Philadelphia, running up the stairs.

Yes. Yeah, that's based on her. Rocky is based on Harriet Tubman. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can't wait to get to the boxing part. Inspired by, inspired by. That took a few liberties, so to speak.

Makes sense in Philadelphia. Liberty Bell. I get it. I'm so pleased with myself. A bell. Harriet may have been free, but she knew she couldn't leave her family and other enslaved people behind she set her sights on freeing her family and doing anything she could

to assist them in their escape in december of 1850 harriet got word that her niece kasaya and her two children were set to be sold in cambridge so harriet went to baltimore which is on the other side of chesapeake bay so So Baltimore's here, Cambridge is sort of down here, but there's a big body of water in between them. But she's closer. Kasaya's husband, John, was a free man and was able to win his wife in the auction. The family were able to escape to a nearby safe house,

and at nightfall, John paddled the family on a log canoe for 60 miles, 97 Ks across Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore where they met Harriet who helped them get to Philadelphia. That is such a long way. Isn't that ridiculous? On a log canoe. Whoa.

To get his wife and kids out. Yeah. Just to be able to exist freely as a person. And he was free. And I don't really understand quite how it works. Like if he's free and he's won her, he's bought her freedom, I don't really understand why they then have to sort of flee secretly. There's got to be something that I'm missing in there,

but it happens quite a bit it's yeah really wild the lengths they go to and the dangers they put themselves through and like we were saying before like the the terror and fear that would just consume you the whole time hoping that you don't get caught awful we can wait for clean water solutions Or we can engineer access to clean water We can acknowledge indigenous cultures Or we can learn from indigenous voices We can demand more from the earth Or we can demand more from ourselves

At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future. So Harriet continues to dedicate her time to helping other family members escape. Early in 1851, she made a trip back to Maryland and rescued her brother Moses as well as two other men. Late that same year, she went back to Dorchester County for the first time since her

escape this time to find her husband john and when she told john she was planning on escaping he had refused to go with her and i suppose harriet was hoping her return would show him that it was possible and that he would leave with her but john had married another woman named caroline harriet had sent word that she was coming to get him and he was like, nah, I'm good, thanks. Right, okay. Yeah. That's awkward. A great sentence from Wiki here.

Tubman at first prepared to storm their house and make a scene, but then decided he was not worth the trouble. Oh. Yeah. So good. So instead she found a group of enslaved people who wanted to escape and helped them get to Philadelphia. So, you know, she's like, well, I'm not going to waste this trip.

Okay? If you're not coming, I'll get other people out. So it sounds like a Bob Dylan song or something. All right. Not worth the hassle. It's fine. That's kind of. You're not worth the trouble.

Did he ever write a song called You're Not Worth the Hassle? That sounds like something Bob Dylan would do. He's written hundreds of songs. Answer the question, Dave. It's all right. Has he written that one? Yes. Or have we just written a Bob Dylan song?

This could be big for us. Oh, my God. The fugitive slave law made it more dangerous for escaped people to stay in the northern United States, so many crossed the border into Canada. So in December of 1851, Harriet Tubman escorted 11 people northward into Canada. A group of 11, mostly all on foot through, like, wilderness. Pretty amazing.

Yeah, probably should have got rid of one, maybe even two. Yeah, that would be nice. No, but with her there, is that 12? It's a beautiful dozen. That's all right. I'm okay with that. Love a dozen. Love a baker's dozen even more.

But if you lose one, you've got to lose another. Yeah, agreed. But then I guess you could say if it's 11, it's me plus 10. So it's just I'm happy to be there with 10 people. Yeah. The new listeners, Jess, that's a weird thing about even numbers. Weird makes a lot of sense. Sorry, I didn't mean to say weird.

Yeah. I meant weird as in cool. Groovy. Weird as in like I'm jealous of it and you wish you were like this. It's believed the group probably stayed. It's believed that they probably stayed with famous abolitionist Frederick Douglas. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, Frederick became a national leader of the abolitionist movement Douglass. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, Frederick became a

national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts, did I say that right, Matt? Yeah, Massachusetts, yeah, that's right. And New York, and is widely considered one of the most influential people of the 19th century. He later wrote, on one occasion, I had 11 fugitives at the same time under my roof, and it was necessary for them to remain with me until I could collect sufficient money to get them on to Canada. It was the largest number I ever had at any one time, and I had some difficulty in providing so many with food and shelter. And people assume that because there was 11 people,

it was probably Harriet Tubman and her group. Right. Just a cool little, like, cute little stopover there. I don't think I've heard of Frederick Douglass. He's pretty amazing as well. And a quick look at him. He, yeah, had an amazing life. He was like the first African-American to be,

he was like nominated for vice president like way back. Yeah. While a woman was running. He was her running mate. Yeah, right. Wild. Sounds like a really interesting person. So over the running mate. Yeah, right. Wild. Sounds like a really interesting person. So over the next 11...

I still haven't got there yet. No. So the first woman who ran for president was like 150 years ago. Yeah, it was a long time ago. Yeah, wow. But any day now. Actually, I saw a video just today of Swedish parliament all giving a standing ovation

to the first female prime minister. And she's just sitting there, like, she's overcome with emotion, but just everybody applauding her and I got overcome with emotion. And I was like, oh, Sweden, you did it. I was like, oh, look, this is a big moment in history. And then she gets in a power and orders that people get killed or something. Yeah, and it's like, oh, look, there's a big moment in history. And then she gets in a power and orders that people get killed or something. Yeah, and it's like, oh, Sweden, no. That's why it turns out that's why they were crying.

They knew what was about to happen. Oh, no, she's the worst. They could have broken that glass ceiling. Yeah, exactly. And then using those shards of glass to kill. We could have gone for the best person for the job, but we went for the crazy woman. Nah, she's probably great.

I don't know. Over the next 11 years, Tubman returned repeatedly to the eastern shore of Maryland, rescuing some 70 enslaved people in about 13 expeditions, including her other brothers, Henry, Ben and Robert, their wives and some of their children. She also provided specific instructions to 50 to 60 additional fugitives who escaped to the north.

So, you know, whether she was guiding them through or telling them how to do it, she was saving a lot of people. Because of her efforts, she was nicknamed Moses as a nod to Moses leading the Hebrew people to freedom from Egypt. Confusing that her brother is Moses. No, yeah. Her brother's there going, oh, that's actually not going to work from Egypt. Confusing that her brother is Moses. No, yes. Her brother's there going, oh, that's actually not going to work.

That's my name, yeah. Can you just call her Harriet? That'd be nice, actually, because Moses is right here. And normally they start calling him Moses 2. Hey, I'm the original Moses, so. I'm the OG Moses. Well, I'm not the original one.

I'm obviously the one from the Bible. Oh, God, I am Moses too. We'll call her Moses 3. She's 3. One of her last missions into Maryland was to retrieve her aging parents. Her father, Ben, had purchased Ritz Freedom, her mother, a couple of years earlier in 1855 for $20. A lot of money back then, but it sounds insane now, doesn't it?

But even when they were both free, the area became hostile to their presence. Tubman received word that her father was at risk of arrest for harbouring a group of eight escaped people. So she travelled to the eastern shore and led them north to St. Catharines in Ontario. So let's talk for a sec about these journeys she would guide people through because it's not like she'd load them on a bus or a plane to get them out. No, it would be an underground railroad. It's underground. They're on their tummies.

Okay, guys, on your tummies. And would you say that just the underground railroad, that's the submarine of the land? Oh, no. Yes. Yes. Yeah. It's really put you off. It has a bit.

Now I'm thinking about it. I'm like, Underground Trains makes a lot of sense in terms of like flow of traffic, you know? Yeah. No level crossings. But they are like a submarine, aren't they? You much prefer those ones that are up 10 metres in the sky. Yeah, and when you're driving along

You get stopped at the lights all the time Waiting for the train to go by Yeah, you prefer that Yeah, I love a level crossing I love a level crossing There's one near my house And I'm like, oh good, I got stuck at it again Yeah, they're fun when you get a train going one way

And then a train going the other way And then a train coming back the other way Yeah, but then I get frustrated when people go through too soon. Like the barricades have come up, but the lights have not stopped flashing. Oh, that's still... And they go through. I'm like, are you insane? Would you drive through a red light?

I'm sorry. Do you want to die? Yeah. That doesn't sound good at all. Math. Sorry, mate. You were the couple of nerds over here. Look at subsection C, rule 7 in the

Vic Rhodes guidebook. You can only go through when the lights have stopped flashing. That makes sense. Because the gate might come down again. Yeah, they might just be testing you. Yeah. They might be about to come again. Might just be reversing back. Reverses back to crush you.

We got a dickhead testing the boundaries. Sorry, folks. Just got to back up over a car. It's the only way he'll learn about being crushed. Crush one to teach a hundred. Let him be a lesson. So, yeah, Harriet. Incredibly clever about how she went about her missions.

Generally, she worked during the winter months to minimize their chance of being seen someone wrote she always came in the winter when the nights are long and dark and people who have homes stay in them they'd nearly always leave town on a saturday morning to give them a head start because newspapers wouldn't print runaway notices until monday morning so that gave them a good head start. That's clever. She was ingenious in her deceptions. Once she disguised herself by wearing a bonnet and carrying two chickens. Ingenious.

What a genius. I recognise her, but Harriet Tubman I know doesn't have two chickens. Or a bonnet. No. That is so funny. But when she saw a slaveholder she'd previously worked for, she pulled the string attached to the bird's leg, causing the bird to flap its wings and be agitated, pulling focus away from Harriet's face.

That makes sense. So someone comes up, you there, Harriet Tubman? And then notices the chicken, sorry. My apologies, you look like someone I used to know. Or just flapping the chicken. Look at the chicken! Look at the chicken. Sorry. I apologize. You look like someone I used to know. Or just flapping the chicken. Look at the chicken. Look at the chicken. Look at this chicken flap.

I can't. I want to look at her, but I can't take my eyes off this chicken. I honestly thought you were going to say she'd put the string around the chicken's foot and just start swinging it. Go away. Or like begging the chickens to fly. Fly, fly. Into the air.

She's Mary Poppins. She's Mary Poppins with chickens. Yeah, she didn't realise they cannot fly. She's like, note to self, I will need more chickens. It's like helium balloons. You just need more of them. Eventually we'll go up. A deck chair tied to 85 chickens.

Harriet was deeply religious and continued to have what she believed to be divine premonitions and said she consulted with God and trusted him. She would use song as coded messages, singing versions of Go Down Moses and changing the lyrics to indicate that it was either safe or too dangerous to proceed. She added the word don't, go down Moses. Don't go down Moses now, it's not a good time.

Maybe stay put, take some carver over there. Put your camouflage on Let you know when the coast is clear Till then sit tight It's definitely not out now Cannot stress enough You shouldn't go And then they start to real Like the cops start to realise What they're doing

So it becomes the opposite of what you're singing They're winking at the same time Definitely don't go now Winky winky Actually you should go home And get back to work On plantation But it worked

It's not the best system It's the best we have right now As she led fugitives across the border but it worked. It's not the best system but... It's the best we have right now. It's the best we have. As she led fugitives across the border, she would call out, Glory to God and Jesus too. One more soul is safe. But as a juxtaposition to that,

she carried a revolver with her on her travels and was not afraid to use it. Not only was it for protection if slave catchers came for them but she was apparently known to use it as a threat for anyone who tried to turn back. Turning back would threaten the safety of the entire group and Tubman herself told the tale of a man

who insisted on turning back and returning to the plantation because morale amongst the escapees had gotten a little low on their journey. Guys, can we pick up the vibes a bit here? If you're just going to be a bunch of sad sacks, I'm going back. I'm just not feeling it anymore.

You guys are bumming me out. And Harriet apparently pointed the gun at him and said, you'll be free or die. Okay, yeah, I guess I'll be free. Two options there, mate. From then, morale was sky high. Oh, yeah. They were all like, oh, my God, yeah,

we're going to be free or die. I'm perked right up. Slaveholders in the Eastern Shore area had no idea that minty the five foot tall petite disabled formerly enslaved woman was the one who was helping people escape because she had two chickens on her i would never have no idea in fact they assumed it was a northern white abolitionist she was never caught and later said i was was conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years and I can say what most conductors can't say. I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger.

Oh, great record. Really good. I mean, how bad were trains back then? Every conductor has run one off. I mean, it happens weekly. Probably, yeah. She's talking a little more metaphorically. I've lost so many passengers.

Where? I don't want to know, actually. I want plausible deniability. I don't want to know. But she's not done. At the end of the 1850s, Harriet bought a small piece of land on the outskirts of Auburn, New York for $1,200, equivalent of about $34,000.

Now, she saw it as a good opportunity to bring her parents to new york and save them from cold canadian winter sorry yeah bring her parents to new york and save them from cold canadian winters but returning to the u.s could mean that escaped people were at a risk of being sent back to the south under that very fun fugitive slave law that i mentioned earlier and har Harriet's siblings were concerned for their parents' safety if they went to New York. But according to Wiki, her land in Auburn became... What was this in the 90s?

Pretty rough city, New York, eh? Concrete jungle. No, Matt. It wasn't in the 90s. It was the 1850s. According to Wiki, her land in Auburn became a haven for Tubman's family and friends. For years she took in relatives

and borders, offering a safe place for black Americans seeking a better life in the North. A bit of a mystery occurred around this time as well. Harriet travelled to Maryland and returned with her niece, in quotations margaret there's great confusion about the identity of margaret's parents and historians argue that it's possible margaret was harriet's daughter historian kate larson argues the two

shared an unusually strong bond argues that tubman knowing the pain of a child separated from her mother would never have intentionally caused a family to be split apart. But it's a mystery still who Margaret was. Right. So something... Bit odd, isn't it? Referred to as niece but something daughter. Yeah. I'm guessing with her husband, John?

Yeah, right. But, yeah, I don't know how she was saving a bunch of people and doing all those missions back and forth while pregnant or if it was earlier and they'd hidden her. I don't know. Because, again, the status goes through the mother. So if they'd had a child, it would automatically be enslaved. If they'd given the child to somebody else, a free couple perhaps.

Oh, that makes sense. Maybe. But is it possible that it was her niece? Yep. It's possible, yeah. Because she had eight siblings. Yeah, exactly. A bunch of them had kids. Right. Is it possible that it was mole people? possible, yeah. Because he had eight siblings. Yeah, exactly. A bunch of them had kids.

Right. Is it possible that it was mole people? Ooh, underground. The real Underground Railroad. Yes, you wouldn't want a mole in the Underground Railroad. No. No tummy time for the mole? No.

Yeah, mole. I mean, yeah, because moles, they're double agents as well, aren't they? Yeah. I don't know if the mole people are, but... I can only assume that's why moles are named moles. That makes sense. You know what I mean? Which came first?

Yeah, mole or the mole. Yeah. They used to be called underground ferrets, but they were seen to be a bit shifty, and that's how they got the name. They changed the name to Mole. Moles. Of her immediate family members still enslaved in the southern state,

Tubman ultimately rescued all but one, her sister Rachel. Harriet had returned to Dorchester County to get her sister out, only to learn that Rachel had died. Rachel had two children, but they could only be rescued if Harriet paid a bribe. She didn't have any money and couldn't pay, so the children remained enslaved. Isn't that awful? But amazing as well that she came, especially from such a large family, she got all of them out.

Amazing. Incredible. Obviously, not all, but, you know, a large number of a large family. So it's pretty amazing. Just taking a quick break from the report here to chat about express vpn using the internet without express vpn is like leaving your keys in your car while you run into the gas station for a snack most of the time you're probably fine but what if you come back and see someone driving off with your car my ferrari you're dreaming well every time you

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Tubman served as a nurse in Port Royal, preparing remedies from local plants and aiding soldiers suffering from dysentery. At first, she received government rations for her work, but newly freed black people thought she was getting special treatment. So to ease the tension, she gave up her right to these suppliers and made money selling pies and root beer, which she made in the evenings.

Oh, Dave. Imagine getting a Harriet Tubman pie and root beer. That's an absolute classic combo right there. Yeah, pie and root beer. Yes, please. Root is enough for me, but pie and root beer are even better. What is root beer? I think it's ginger beer. Is it? I think ginger is like a root. I better. What is root beer? I think it's ginger beer.

Is it? I think ginger's like a root. I don't know. I imagine it to be a similar thing. I picture it as ginger beer. Where does sarsaparilla fit on the scale? Sarsaparilla, I reckon. They would have called it back then.

Ah, sarsaparilla. I don't know, but sarsaparilla's the one that tastes like medicine. Or is that Dr Pepper? Fuck, I don't know. Might be both of them. I reckon they're all in the same world. Yeah.

It's a North American soft drink traditionally made using the root bark of the sassafras tree. Wait, is this sarsaparilla? Or is this root beer? What? Because that sounds like sarsaparilla. Sassafras. For new listeners, sometimes we do a bonus mini report in the middle of the show. Today's bonus mini is root beer, question mark.

Well, I'm on bundaberg.com. Bundaberg does a famous Australian ginger beer. Yeah. It says, when it comes to the difference between Bundaberg root beer and Bundaberg sarsaparilla, there's a simple answer. Aside from the label, there isn't one. Really? But that's Bundaberg's one, so I can't tell you.

It's an Australian one. Yeah. And they do a ginger beer as well. So ginger beer and root beer are different. Right, there you go. Oh, my God. I for some reason just always pictured root beer to be ginger beer, but man, I love ginger beer.

Oh, my God. I didn't ever try it as a kid. Love it. But now I freaking love it. I fucking love it. It's spicy. Yeah. But refreshing. Yeah. How? I don't know how they do it. But now I freaking love it. I fucking love it. It's spicy. Yeah. But refreshing.

Yeah. How? I don't know how they do it. Now, finally on this controversial topic. Sarsaparilla was, this is originally, they both come, Sarsaparilla and root beer were founded by Native Americans before arriving in Europe.

Both are named after their distinct ingredients. Sarsaparilla was made from the sarsaparilla vine, while root beer, roots of the sassafras tree. These days, root beer recipes do not include sassafras as the plant has been found to cause serious health issues. Okay. So there you go. I thought they figured that one out.

I just thought I'd add that tidbit about her being a nurse by day, baker by night. Yeah. Bit of fun there. That probably didn't go where you expected it to. No, no, no. It's just kind of interesting. Yeah, so she baked the pies.

Yeah. She'd make pies and root beer and she'd sell that. Oh, my God. Pretty tragic that she's helped out so many people in her community and then some of them are like, you're getting special treatment and she has to give it up. Yeah. Come on.

I know. In early 1863, she led a band of scouts through the land around Port Royal. You're getting special treatment and she has to give it up. Yeah. Come on. I know. In early 1863, she led a band of scouts through the land around Port Royal. The marshes and rivers... Sorry, as in Boy Scouts? Boy Scouts. The marshes and rivers in South Carolina were similar to those of the eastern shore of Maryland. Thus, her knowledge of covert travel and subterfuge... Is that how you say that word?

Yeah, I think so. Fuck, it's a good word. That's how I'd say it. Among potential enemies was put to good use. Later that year, Tubman became the first woman to lead an armed assault during the Civil War. She accompanied Colonel James Montgomery on an assault on a collection of plantations

along the Combe River. On the morning of June 2nd, 1863, Tubman guided three steamboats around Confederate mines in the water leading to the shore. Once ashore, the Union troops set fire to the plantations, destroying infrastructure and seizing thousands

of dollars worth of food and supplies. When the steamboats sounded their whistles, enslaved people throughout the area understood that they were being liberated. I haven't done a man of a thousand noises. Yeah, so it's a steamboat whistle. Steamboat whistle. Yeah, I'm just going to go back into my mind. I know.

No, no, please take your time. Hmm. Humphrey. I reckon that jogged Humphrey. I reckon that jogged Humphrey's memory there. Humphrey was like, I am being freed. Yeah. Humphrey's remembering. Was Humphrey ever a steamboat dog? Yes, he was actually rescued from a steamboat.

Rescued from a steamboat. Dogs don't belong on steamboats. Yeah, so that's. Isn't that amazing? It feels like every small paragraph is another remarkable story. Exactly, yeah. It's honestly just... It's such a rollercoaster, but it's an amazing life

and she did a lot of things. It's also amazing to me that... I had no idea the Civil War was so recent. Yeah. Within 160 years, 160 years? That seems incredible. Like, we're now up to 10 years away from the Saints football club being formed.

Isn't that wild that it was nearly, like, like an Australian football team? Like, the Melbourne football club, I think, already existed at this point. That just seems... Yeah, it seems like it should have been way longer ago. Yeah, like some big gap between those two events yeah tubman described the scene as a stampede of enslaved people rushing towards steamboats more than 750 enslaved people were saved in the combi

river raid 750 people that is amazing i just you'd love to see like the people who exist today because of one event like that it'd be tens of thousands of people. I know. I have no idea, but it'd be a lot of people. So many. Unless they're all virgins and none. And stayed virgins forever. Newspapers praised Tubman's patriotism, energy and ability.

And for two more years, she worked with the Union forces, tending to newly liberated people, scouting into Confederate territory and nursing wounded soldiers in Virginia, while also making regular trips back to Auburn to visit her family and look after them. She's looking after her parents. Doesn't sleep much, I reckon.

And she's in her 40s. You sleep. I'm just going to go across country. Yeah. I'll be there by morning. And then I'll pop back. To by morning and then i'll pop back to do something heroic i'll pop back i'll probably i might even be back before you wake up so yeah just go have a nice big sleep i'm just gonna go be a hero for a bit see you in the morning

i'm gonna go guide a steamboat around some mines good day uh the confederacy surrendered in april of 1865 and that same year the 13th amendment was passed by u.s congress abolishing slavery tubman headed home to auburn to be with her family ah the baker's dozen amendment so it's slavery's been abolished she's still not done even though she'd worked with the union for many years and had proven herself to be an incredible asset, Harriet Tubman was never paid a salary or compensation of any kind for her work. African-American soldiers were paid less than white soldiers anyway. And on top of that, she wasn't officially on the books. So she was left working odd jobs to earn money to support her elderly parents in Auburn.

She's a hero and getting no recognition and lived her entire life basically in poverty unless any small advantage she had people around to be like hey you shouldn't have that she's like all right fair enough it's like it's just wild isn't it yeah amazing she took in borders to help pay the bills and one of those borders was a farmer named nelson davis nelson also served in the war and post-war he got work as a bricklayer in Auburn. Harriet and Nelson quickly fell in love and married in March of 1869. Nice. Nice.

That feels like the original summer of love. Five years later, they adopted a baby girl, Gertie, amazing, and lived happily as a family until Nelson's death from tuberculosis in 1888 he was 22 years younger than Harriet and she outlived him and she's still not done and she's like mid to late 60s now still going financially times were tough and in 1873 two men claimed to have a stockpile of gold that had been smuggled out of south carolina they told harriet that they were a friend of her relatives and she took them into her home as they as she often did with people who needed a place to stay they said hey look we've got around

5k worth of gold we'll sell it to you for two mates rates okay you'll be set it seemed plausible actually white people in the south had buried valuables when Union forces threatened the area, and African-Americans were often given any digging duties, so it was possible these men had stumbled upon a big stash of gold. Did they let her know via an email? I'm a Nigerian prince, and I know your auntie, and will you marry me? So she was like, okay, five grand worth of gold for 2K.

She borrowed the money from a wealthy friend named Anthony Scheimer and arranged to receive the gold late one night. Once the men had lured her into the woods, however, they attacked her and knocked her out with chloroform, then stole her purse and bound and gagged her. She was found by family she dazed and injured and the money was gone what about the gold isn't that fucking ridiculous the gold was left behind oh good no there's no gold when people heard the story they were outraged some criticized her

naivete but most sympathize that's what you want right after you've been knocked out oh so naive oh honestly you were asking for that yeah you were being very silly yeah all right well what's done is done yeah obviously in hindsight yes it does seem silly but how does that help me now yeah she really believed in like the good of people and um you know there was like that bit of plausibility to it as well and she was pretty desperate she was also she'd also be like god's been guiding me exactly i've had a very good run yeah so wouldn't you think if you're if you're thinking that way yeah i've made it through decades yeah anyway they hoodwinked her so people tried to fight for her to receive uh essentially this story kind of like brought her back into people's minds and so

then people tried to a lot of people sympathized with her financial hardship and they tried to fight for her to receive compensation for her work during the civil war in fact in 1874 two representatives introduced a bill to have harriet paid the sum of two thousand dollars for services rendered by her to the Union Army as scout, nurse and spy. But the bill was unsuccessful in the Senate. Remember that Harriet's husband Nelson died in 1888 and Tubman was then eligible for a widow pension, which was introduced in 1890 because he'd also served in the Civil War.

But it took them five years to actually pay her anything. Oh, you know, bureaucracy. It took that long to approve it. In 1895, Tubman was granted a monthly widow's pension of $8 a month, equivalent of $250 today. $8 a month, plus a lump sum of $500 to cover the five-year delay in approval. Another two years later new york

congressman sereno e pain introduced a bill to grant tubman a soldier's monthly pension for her own service in the civil war which was 25 but some people objected to a woman being paid a full soldier salary i was thinking that uh when you said it As a feminist, you know, I'm with women all the way, but you've got to draw a line somewhere. Should they be getting pensions? Yeah. You know what I mean? Should they be paid for their work?

Yeah. That just feels like maybe a bridge too far. Maybe sometime in the future. I just don't know that we're there yet. I can't believe this story. It is amazing. You know, I think maybe it's just how people tend to think, I just don't know that we're there yet. I can't believe this story. It is amazing. You know, I think maybe it's just how people tend to think,

but I've been thinking about what a wild time I've lived through, all these changes with technologies, internet, and the world's changed so much. But the world she lived in from the start of her life to now, it's remarkable how much it's changed. What's this been, 60-odd years? Yeah. Incredible. Absolutely amazing.

So, yeah, people were like, she shouldn't get paid a full soldier's salary. I mean, it hasn't changed that much, but it hasn't changed enough for women to get paid pensions. Yeah, to get paid properly or be in positions of power. But, you know, they can have a job. Teachers, nurses. Yeah, the full gamut.

You can have it all, ladies. Female lawyer. Yeah, we've got a position for a female lawyer. Don't get to do a lot of lawyering. Yeah, a lot of admin. You can sit three or four down from the men lawyers. So it was another two years later in 1899, President William McKinley approved a compromise amount

of $20 per month. So that was her $8 from her widow's pension plus $12 for her service as a nurse. But there was no acknowledgement of her work as a scout and spy. It was just like, hey, you were a nurse and that's all you were. You can have $12. She was born when slavery was still super common yes and now 60 odd years later she's getting paid like a government fee yeah it's a it just seems quite remarkable yeah yeah that's a that's actually a really nice way to look at it i guess it. Like from a more modern lens, we're like,

they're not giving her enough and they're not, you know. But yeah, you're right. And a lot of people went in really fighting for her. Yeah, which is cool. Yeah. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, you can set your expectations in funny places sometimes. I'm definitely setting my expectations in a very modern lens,

but it's a very long time ago. Yeah, I mean, like I feel like I'm dropping them quite low. Yeah they're giving us some money they're giving her 12 bucks she saved so many lives yes you could also argue it's not enough yeah so she's like mid to late 70s before she's compensated for her efforts during the civil war it takes so long in her later years Harriet Tubman worked to promote women's suffrage she traveled to New York Boston and Washington DC to speak out in favor of women's voting rights she described her actions during and after the civil war and used the sacrifice of countless women throughout modern history as evidence of women's equality to men it's pretty amazing like she's she's old at this point and she's just traveling around putting her name to something that she thinks is important and it is a lot of careers i know

bloody millennial absolutely incredible this wave of activism kindled a new wave of admiration for tubman among the press in the united states a publication called The Women's Era launched a series of articles on eminent women and a profile of Tubman. And how crazy is this? An 1897 suffragist newspaper reported a series of receptions in Boston honoring Tubman and her lifetime of service to the nation. However, her endless contributions to others had left her in poverty and she had to sell a cow to buy a train ticket to attend these celebrations honouring her. Should have just ridden the cow. You got a motorcycle right there, sweetheart.

You got milk the whole way. Put a saddle on that cow, let's go. Bostard are you, we come. See you in six months. I'm so glad you're here Because I wouldn't have thought of that You've got to use your head I know, I guess it's just my little lady brain Cows

Ride it If you've got four legs, use them She sells the ticket to someone Like someone sells their ticket for the cow And then she gets there and they're also there on the cow Hey Now I'm getting home. Yeah.

What are you going to sell another cow? Good luck. Good luck. In this economy? Not getting this one back. As Tubman aged, the seizures, headaches and suffering from her childhood headache trauma continued to plague her. At some point in the late 1890s, she underwent brain surgery.

Whoa. At Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. You know when I want to get brain surgery, if I could, any time? 1890s. Late 1800s. I reckon that's the time. Sign me up for a lobotomy, baby. They give you a swig of whiskey.

Now you're anesthetized. It's worse than that. Swig of whiskey for the surgeon and there. It's worse than that. Unable to sleep because of pain and buzzing in her head, she asked a doctor if he could operate. He agreed. And in her words,

sawed open my skull and raised it up. And now it feels more comfortable. So she's walking around with an open skull? No, no, no. I think they put the skull lock on. Put a little Sally's No More Gaps fill. Put a hinge on it so it's easier for future surgeries. If you're feeling a bit of pressure, don't worry about it.

Just crack the back like a skylight. Just put in a Reebok pump push thing. Lift that up a bit. Wow. She received no anesthesia. Oh, my God. And for the procedure and reportedly chose instead to bite down on a bullet as she had seen Civil War soldiers do when their limbs were amputated. I feel like she has just stepped into the top handful of badasses

we've ever talked about. She's in her 80s when she does this. Maybe. I'm trying to think of it. Have we talked about a bigger badass than this? I don't think so. She's incredible. She bit a bullet while having brain surgery.

So now she's ruined her teeth as well. What a shame. Yeah, next to the dentist. What are you going to bite on when the dentistry work's getting done? How about this little piece of leather? You want to chew that or something? Nah, give me the bullet. And she actually bit down on it so hard, it exploded.

She killed the surgeon. Bing, bing, bing ping made that sound bounce all around killed a couple of enemies who uh until that point were underground moles they didn't know but she had a magic bullet there oh she's good yeah and i isn't that incredible i have been forgetting as well the headaches and pain she's been enduring she had all whole way through. She had a condition similar to narcolepsy in that sometimes she would just lose consciousness. She said she was still sort of like awake and could, like she was aware of her surroundings,

but she would look to be asleep and she would just fall asleep or sleep for really long periods of time. Which would have, I mean, ideally that would have happened while she was on her tummy. In the underground. Have a snooze. Some of those trips can be pretty lengthy. Yeah.

I'd say catch up on some Zs. Have a little kip. By 1911, she's still alive. 1911. Wait a minute. She was born, I think, maybe 22. 22. But maybe 1810.

Yeah, it could have been 1815. That's right. She could have just knocked up a ton. She's fairly old and frail, and like I say here, probably in the very late 80s or early 90s, she was admitted to the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged. Okay, well, that would have felt right. That would have felt right.

I mean, nepotism gone mad. Actually, she was kind of mad about it because she had donated the land For this to be made Asked the church to build it And her stipulation was that it was for anybody who Like needed a place As long as their name was Harriet Tubman For 20 years it was empty

But finally here she is Our first ever resident She was pissed off because It took a few years to build and for it to open And when it did open people had to pay $100 to get... It's like a nursing home to stay there. And she was really mad at that. And then she was like, it should be, they don't have any money.

And then they're allowed to come in. She was a bit annoyed by that. Did she have to pay? I don't know. Hopefully not. That would be ridiculous. So the test is $100 if you want to come in. Okay, here it is.

Sorry, you can't come in. Sorry, you cannot come in. $100 to come in. I can't pay. Well, come on in. Perfect. Do you have a preference of ocean view or hills? Surrounded by friends and family, she passed away on the 10th of March 1913.

Wow. And was buried with semi-military honours at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn. Isn't that incredible? What an innings. 1913. Wow. And was buried with semi-military honours at Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn. Isn't that incredible? What an innings. 1913. Amazing. Harriet Tubman left behind a legacy that has continued to be honoured to this day. National parks, gravestones, plaques dedicated to her, museums, libraries, all honour her

legacy. She's a subject of books, films, documentaries, songs, theatre productions, paintings, operas. I think most recently was a biographical film, Harriet, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2019 and received Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and Best Song. There are numerous structures, schools, and even a ship has been named after her.

It was in 1944. The United States Maritime Commission launched the SS Harriet Tubman, its first liberty ship ever named for a black woman. So that's kind of cool, I guess. She was posthumously inducted into the National... Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And, yeah, rightly so. Into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973,

the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 2019. She got into the national one before the Maryland one. Yeah. They're tough. They're tough in Maryland. More exclusive. Yeah.

Most recently too, as I alluded to in my question, discussion has been around Tubman being added to currency. In 2016, then US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew announced plans to add a portrait of Tubman to the front of the $20 bill, moving the portrait of President Andrew Jackson, himself a slave owner, to the rear of the bill. He was a slave holder.

So is someone being bumped off the rear? Is there a front and rear? Well, I think the rear... In our case, we've got a person and then an animal or something. So I don't think it's a person on each side. I'm not 100% sure. It's been so long since I've handled cash money.

Cash, I know. It's becoming less and less of an honour because now that we're living In a cashless society Yeah put me on a bloody Visa debit Don't you mind What do we got

Oh yeah we've got two people On the 50 So what would you call The front and back of that Yeah what's the front What's the back Well I guess American They might be different

What's that David Unipon And Edith Cowan Oh my god You're a freak Yes And yes. That's a 50. And what are they famous for?

That is... David Unipon is an Indigenous inventor. Yes. Held many patents. And Edith Cowan, first premier, female premier. Oh, that's cool. I'll take your word for it. That's on a...

Yeah. Did we say that's on a Aussie 50? David Unipon is... Definitely held a lot of patents. Read that recently, but yeah. Did we say that's on Aussie 50? I know David Unicorn definitely held a lot of patents. I read that recently, but yeah. Did you read that on that $50 bill? Yeah. It's actually, yeah, it's mainly just biography on those bills now.

They don't even have room for the numbers. The numbers are just... It's a nightmare for tourists. It's basically like fan tales now. Yeah, when a tourist is trying to buy something, we have to say, that'll be three yellows. Otherwise, I've got no idea. Sorry, I've upgraded it.

She's best known as the first Australian woman to serve as a member of parliament. Right. I felt, yeah, was Joan Kerner maybe just first

Victorian premier, female Victorian premier? Or internationally? Internationally. Internationally. That means nationally. Oh, my God. The world record holder for the first female Victorian Premier. Or internationally. Internationally. Internationally. That means nationally. Oh, my God. The world record holder for the first female Victorian Premier.

I like... What do you call... That's a pineapple, isn't it? Yeah. Australian 50s, sort of colloquially known as a pineapple. Yeah, it's yellow. Lobster's the 20. Yeah, it's red.

Pavarotti's the 10. Tenner. Oh, that's funny. I've never heard that. I've never heard that. I know, yeah. What would a five be? I don't know.. I've never heard that. I know, yeah. What would a five be? I don't know.

A blueberry? Potless. Yeah, rubbish. Get out of here. Wouldn't even bend over to pick it up. A hundo? Yes, please. So, yeah, that was originally pitched in 2016.

In 2017, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said... I'm getting pretty hungry. Wouldn't mind having a little Mnuch. Have a little Mnuchin. I'm getting pretty hungry. You wouldn't mind having a little Mnuch. Have a little Mnuch on this. Is it M-N? It's like pneumatic and stuff. I'm so close to finished. Are there any words that go M-N though, Bob?

I don't know many, no. Stephen Mnuchin. Yeah, I would have no idea how that's pronounced. But I like Mnuchin and I apologise. I really just want... I'm enjoying this report so much, I just want to draw it out a little longer. I know you want to bring it to a close, but I thought before we got there,

I'm going to recite this little poem I've written. I'm going to sing us a song. So, yeah, 2017, he said that he would not commit to putting Tubman on the $20 bill, saying, people have been on the bills for a long period of time. This is something we'll consider. Right now, we have a lot more important issues to focus on. Trump called Tubman fantastic,

but stated that he would oppose replacing Jackson with Tubman, calling the replacement pure political correctness, and suggested that Tubman could perhaps be put on another denomination instead. Like the $25 bill or something. What a fucking piece of shit. Well, I don't quite understand. Wouldn't you just be bumping someone else off? Exactly.

And then you'd say the same thing. Political correctness gone mad. Oh, I see. You want to put an incredibly impressive person on a note, do you? Oh, okay. Okay. A black woman. Political correctness. Yeah, it's gone mad. Who are you talking about? Andrew Gaze. Yeah, chuck. Okay. A black woman. Political correctness.

Yeah, he's gone mad. Who are you talking about? Andrew Gaze. Yeah, chuck him on. Chuck him on. A hero. In January 2021, President Joe Biden said he will accelerate the Tubman redesign. So stay tuned, but he's on board with it.

So he's doing it himself. He's doing it himself. He's like, guys, I'm a little rusty with Photoshop. Don't worry, but I'm pretty good at paint. I have to sometimes go like, if Photoshop is, I'm like,

this is a nightmare. I haven't grown up with it. I used a different program for a long time. It's now defunct. Fireworks, Adobe fireworks. And now it was paint. It was,

it was a pencil pencil It was concrete tablets And I chipped it out Because you're incredibly old But then yeah So sometimes I'll still go back to paint And I'm like I know I can at least Erase something from this

And write a word there Or something But It's so funny When a politician Or whoever will be like There's more pressing issues Than the notes

We don't need to worry about It's like yeah That would be true for everything but one thing. You know, if you're going to rank everything, you just only ever focus on one thing, president? I know. Which president was this? That was the current one.

That was Biden. I mean, a great operator. But you reckon he could do two things at once, Biden? Maybe not. Well, you'd bloody hope so if he's a great operator. But you reckon he could do two things at once, Biden? Maybe not. Well, you'd bloody hope so if he's a president. Can he walk and chew gum at the same time? Probably not. But that brings an end to my report on Harriet Tubman.

What a freaking sick report that was. What a story, huh? I knew none of that, JP. No, I didn't know either. I knew the name. I think I'd probably heard her referenced in film, TV, etc., whatever, but I did not know any of her story. I'm hoping American listeners do know quite a bit more about Harriet Tubman.

But, yeah, it's an amazing life, an incredible woman, a total badass. I would bet that Americans know her quite well. And I think I would never have heard her name if it wasn't in the Jack the Hat McVitie where people suggest topics I've come across her name and I've looked into her like briefly before and that's the only reason I know so I kind of get the feeling that she's well it sounds like she's going to be on a note and we all know everyone on our notes so yeah it's an important step and uh good to get her the recognition and compensation she deserves.

Be on a note. Yeah. There you go. You're going to go live in your own, the house named after you will pay you in money with your face on it. What a weird idea of the world you'd have. Yeah. Like Mr Burns when he's shopping for cereal

and Krusty or someone buys Krusty O's. Yeah. And he's like, where are the Burns O's? Ketchup? Ketchup. Great report, Bob. So good. And that really, I think, brings us to everyone's favourite section of the show,

the fat quote or question section, which I think has a little jingle that goes something like this. Fat quote or question., which I think has a little jingle that goes something like this. Fat quote or question. Brag or suggestion. Bing. I forgot. I forgot the word brag. I think it's okay if you forget that bit to just do it without it,

but I love it when you add it. That means you hate it when I add it. No, I think it's great to have the flexibility to forget if you need to. And Dave really shouldn't throw you under the bus like that. No, no, no. He should have dinged. No, that's because last week I dinged too early. Yeah, and I put my hand up as a, shut up, Dave.

You ding when I say you ding. So, yeah, he's right. So, in this part of the show, Everyone's favourite part of the show We thank a few of our great supporters If it wasn't for these people This show wouldn't bloody exist Keeps the lights on All those other sayings

And euphemisms for Financially supports us So you can All the sexy euphemisms as well Keeps the lights on It'd be sexy to turn the lights off Oh yeah No I like to be seen Maybe Look at me euphemisms as well. Keeps the lights on. It'd be sexy to turn the lights off. Oh, yeah.

No, I like to be seen. Maybe. Look at me. Maybe we could throw some sort of a red scarf over Dave's cheetah lamp and really get sexy in here. So, yes, you can get involved at patreon.com slash dogoonpod or dogoonpod.com. And there's a bunch of different levels depending on whether you want to spend a full Tubman a month,

which I think is a good... When it comes in, calling $20 a Tubman, that'll cost you a Tubman. That feels good. So good. I hope Americans have slang for their money like we do. They call something Benjamins. Oh, yeah.

Which might be hundreds or ones. Dave will know. Hundreds, right? Hundreds, yeah. It's making money. Yeah, I'm making Benjamins. Oh, God, are you okay? One Benjamin at a time.

Are you all right? Do you need help? Yeah, I'm stripping. Great. One Benjamin at a time. And honestly, I don't tend to get a lot of benjamins but it feels good expressing people throwing coins at you yeah that would hurt they're throwing them to her they're yelling get off are you not a very good stripper it's okay they're yelling at me to get

off and i was hoping it was gonna be the other way around anyway so um you can support us on all sorts of different levels, depending on how many Tubmans you want to part with. On the fact, quote, or question level, this is the Sydney Scheinberg level. And on this level, we get to give us a fact, a quote, or a question. I read out about four of them each week, where people ask us a question, give us a fact, give us a quote. They can also now give us a suggestion or a brag.

First up this week, we've got one from Colin Wright, and you also get to give yourself a title. And Colin Wright has given himself the title of stressed out guy applying to grad school. Grateful for the podcast to listen to while I fill out 100 million application forms. Oh, no, that's the recipe for disaster, isn't it? He's just writing down Harriet Tubman.

Hang on. No. Name. Harriet. No, that's not me. Am I Harriet Tubman? Name. Underground Railroad.

No. And Colin has offered us a fact this week. Colin writes, according to a little underground website I recently discovered called Wikipedia.org. I think that's pronounced. Exciting. Says, the Italian Luca Pacioli, recognized as the father of accounting and bookkeeping, was the first person to publish a work on double entry bookkeeping and introduced the field to Italy. Colin goes on to write,

so Jess, for new listeners, Jess hates accounts for some reasons. We can't, I don't know if we remember the origin of this. Jess has committed to it for a long time. We're ticking off all your things this week. You have obviously the number thing, you hate submarines, and you hate accountants.

I've forgotten about submarines. You'd think you'd like accounts because they like balance books and you like even numbers. Yeah, but it's not always even numbers. That's a good point. And also accountants make me pay a lot of money. I think that's not the accountants necessarily.

Well, isn't it? Matt, I think they get to decide. Don't shoot the messenger, Jess. I think they get to decide and they say, oh, Jess, you can pay a lot this year. Yeah, that's true. And they say that every year. And then they go to some people they say, oh, Jess, you can pay a lot this year. Yeah, that's true. And they say that every year. And then they go to some people, hey, I like you.

I know a few more tricks that I didn't offer to Jess. Yeah, exactly. Sneaky accountants. Anyway, Colin writes, goes on to write, so Jess, if you end up with a time machine, maybe you can talk to Luca and convince him to do stand-up instead or maybe a podcast. They had stand-up between 1447 AD

and 1517 AD, right? Then he's going to be competition for me. If he's in comedy and podcasting, no. I'll tell him to do something else. Yeah, I think you've got to go back in time and kill this man. I was going to say make him be like a painter or something. Something I have no skill in. Yeah, you're right. I'm going to have to kill him.

So, thank you for giving me the next person on my hit list. I mean, the first. The first person I'm going to kill is obviously. I've never hurt anybody. Luca Pacioli. Feels good to say something in my native tongue. Of course, I'm one quarter Swiss Italian.

All right. Thank you, Colin. The next one comes from David. A place to hang your cape. Malofsky. And David's given himself the title of Dugon Superhero Suit Storage Manager. Very important job.

Very important job. We appreciate you. Where is my codpiece? Well, it's in the codpiece locker. Thank goodness. It's a very big locker. Yeah, which seems like superfluous amount of space,

but anyway. Need a bit of room. So, David's also given us a fact, which is the JFK duology, my first topic suggestion to make it out of the hat and into the episode, sparked duology. Does that mean two reports? Love that. It's become a triology then.

That's right. For people out there that do support the show on Patreon, we have very recently released a follow-up report. I did a report on the Kennedy curse. We went through not only JFK's death, but all his family members' trials, tribulations, and tragedies. I, for one, believe in the curse. It was a lot more than you think, isn't it?

Yeah, big time. It's an amazing amount of tragedy. Yeah. It's no media beat up, this one No, that's right So that you can get that As well as 124 other bonus episodes right now So please, David So David said it

He's a long time supporter This is the first one he suggested That actually got made into an episode So he's stoked about that Goes on to say Dave mentioned the many coincidences between Lincoln and Kennedy. Oh, there's a pun fact that was left out of his list, which is my all-time favorite JFK pun fact.

I mean, I imagine you had to whittle down this list, David. I'm sure you had to whittle it down. This list of pun facts. One week, this is the pun fact. One week before he was assassinated, Lincoln was in Monroe, Maryland. Oh, Maryland again. One week before he was assassinated,

Kennedy was in Maryland, Monroe. Oh, pun fact. There is an asterisk here. Jeez, I didn't say that word right. I don't think... It says, Matt, read out the asterisk. I put in an asterisk here. Jeez, I didn't say that word right. I don't think. It says, Matt, read out the asterisk. I put in an asterisk on this because further research, namely listening to Dugo on episode 135,

has led to the discovery that Marilyn Monroe actually died in 1962, a year before Kennedy. But I never let the truth get in the way of a good story or a good pun. So that pun fact is... Absolutely not true. Not true. It's just a joke. It's called fact, quote or question,

brag or suggestion, not joke. Honestly, I'd be happy if people started sending in jokes. Yeah, actually, a joke would be sick. Oh, my God. This jingle's getting longer and longer. Yeah, I don't think... I think we need to get in a pro-single. Jokes can be in as facts, maybe.

Yeah. It's a fact that this is a joke. There's nothing funny about the truth. David finishes off by saying, but in the spirit of a bulletproof pun fact, I must refer back to my second favourite JFK conspiracy pun, which comes from the greatest intellectual of the 20th century, one Homer J. Simpson.

Quote, Marge, I figured it out. Lee Harvey Oswald wanted to steal the Jack Ruby. I don't remember that. That feels like later era Simpsons. No, I remember it. Okay. I think we can all agree that that is the only theory that explains everything about JFK's death. David couldn't agree more.

Thank you so much for that pun. False. Fact. Next one comes from lily morley first timer into the fat quota question brag or suggestion uh lily's given herself the title of junior vice ci ciso of cyber security for the triptych club uh What's a CISO? Not sure. Chief something something officer, something security officer maybe?

Intelligence. Let's go with that. Yeah. But then I guess it's got cyber security in the title as well. Anyway, Lily, too clever for us. Oh, it's our first ever brag. Yes.

With the selection of brags. So happy, Lily. Lily writes, my first ever fact, quote, or question, brag, or suggestion is a thank you slash brag. Do go on, got me through a pandemic and a very,

I'm so glad to see the pandemic's finished as well. We did it. We talk about it sometimes as well, like it's good to be through this pandemic. Definitely all over. Yeah, we lived through that. Touching. And it's done.

Knocking on wood there. Obviously, it lived through that. Touching. And it's done. And knocking on wood there. Obviously, it is still going. But Lily writes, got me through the pandemic and a very hard search for a placement at university. A shit ton of rejections came my way that I wasn't expecting for jobs that I was way, way, way more qualified for than necessary. Oh, that's a bummer. To the point where I'd even done the job before when i was 16 oh my god oh wow but then i got my placement cyber security intern for dyson i never thought i would get it i'm a psychology student that does a bit of coding on the side and now this has opened up my entire future i'm so proud of myself but i have to say

thank you hearing three familiar voices and sometimes the fourth Beatles was so comforting and the best way to fill the crappy silences. I started listening to episodes sporadically when I was 15. I think starting with the Colourbomb heist, I feel like I've grown up with the podcast and it's been like a comfort blanket for me through the years. My two all-time favourite moments have been, have to be hearing about you guys accidentally driving through the Bath Christmas markets. Dave driving along here like this is not a street.

The GPS said pull down here. Yes, that's right. I'm like, oh, there's no other cars here. Oh, my God, there's like a giant nativity scene in front of me. Took us ages to get baby Jesus out of the wheel. Because Lily went to the University of Bath, so very familiar with it there. And the other favourite moment was hearing Matt on the Julia Childs episode.

A sneaky question at the end of the massive message. Apologies for the essay. What have question at the end of the massive message. Apologies for the essay. What have been your favourite moments of the pod? Huge question. Definitely not driving down that Christmas market because it was terrifying. Yeah, but what about me parking a big car? Oh, that was a big highlight.

That's a huge highlight. It's honestly just very funny to me every time you guys talk about it because you are obsessed it was honestly you parked what is honestly a small truck i think it into a space that was slightly smaller than the car yeah it made no sense yeah it was like for a an inner city london hatchback you bent the rules of time and space yeah amazing honestly i'd say being able to travel at all with the podcast has been an unexpected privilege. Yeah.

Honestly, when we started six years ago, why would we end up in Ireland or whatever? You know what I mean? Yeah. Those times are amazing. Or on the beaches of Thailand. Yeah. Doing the podcast. So, stuff like that's been really, really cool.

Even getting around Australia. Yeah, yeah. That time we went to the Sydney one and Dave and I went out for an Italian date followed by gelato. So cute. Matt and I were just messaging this week about going on a movie date followed by a Sunday coming up soon.

We'd love to have you as well, Jess. No, it's fine. It was because I won... It's boy time. I won a movie ticket with Dave on the Stupid Old Studios telethon, but I couldn't make it so i'm like can i can we reschedule because my dad and i had an extra ticket to see the new james bond movie

if matt could drive to geelong and it was a real close call but he nearly made it back in town for a certain so then afterwards we said just so you don't feel left out we said let's do another movie another time we'll get a side of course be welcome to come along. Welcome but not wanted. Wanted. But yeah, I reckon I do love all those. And just those, yeah, it's just fun. I love being in different places.

And I mean, that's been underlined a lot by not being allowed to leave the house or the city for the majority of the last couple of years. And yeah, we would have just done our first live thing in quite a while, a couple of weeks before this. And we've got the Christmas one coming out, which I'm really looking forward to. I fucking love Christmas. Yeah, Christmas episode.

But just, yeah, I think it's a lot of those things, but also just this friendship. Hanging out, you know? It's fun. The laughter. Highlight of my week every week. So lucky to be involved.

Thank you very much for that, Lily. It was Lily's first time so we have let her get away with a brag. A brag, a fact and a question there.

Well played. And the I stands for information. Information. Jeez, it's nearly always information with those things. Damn it.

Damn it. Finally, from Drew Forsberg, he's got the title, Local Anti-Hero, bracket, the cowardly kind, not the badass one. And Drew's got a question. You're at karaoke. Oh, I love a scenario question. Love this, yes. And like we always ask, Drew has answered his own question. Fuck yes, yes. And like we always ask,

Drew has answered his own question. Fuck yes, Drew. So it's a four-parter. Yep. One. Yep. What song will you sing sober? Uh-huh.

Do we want to do them one at a time? Yeah, maybe. I'll forget otherwise. Sober. It's the same for me. Yeah? It's nine to five, Dolly Parton. Oh, yeah, great.

Fantastic. My go-to song is, and I would sing it sober, Careless Whisper, George Michael. Yes. Oh, fantastic. I've seen you sing along to that. Thank you so much. I was like, wow. to five Dolly Parton fantastic my go-to song is and I would sing it sober careless whisper George Michael fantastic I've seen you sing along to that

thank you so much wow I think I'm gonna go with turn the page by Bob Seger slash Metallica okay because it's sort of

just it's kind of just talking yeah on a long long smile oh no not now that's to do that now

no no it's more to the question I think see sober I think you know yep that's I need that now. You used to be poor. No, no, it was more to the question, I think. See, sober. I think, you know, I need a real talking one for sober. Yeah. Number two, what song would you sing tipsy? Okay, I see where this is going. Still nine to five.

Yes. Dave, does that change your answer? Oh, maybe Backstreet's Back. All right. Yeah. Backstreet Boys. Okay, maybe tipsy will go with maybe Johnny Cash. I'll walk the line.

Okay. Beautiful. You'll nail that, I reckon. Three. What song would you sing steaming drunk? Nine to five. Nine to five. Probably Spice Girls' Wannabe.

Oof. Probably Spice Girls' Wannabe. I'm going to go with Lee Kernighan's Boys from the Bush. Okay. And we're back in town. All these things have happened. So it's been lucky I've been at karaoke nights in all these different states. And finally, what beverage is getting you there?

Okay. Okay. I'm guessing beer for me. Yeah, probably a beer for you. I'm talking Dream Scenario, pina coladas all night long. Man, that does not... I'm just thinking of milky alcohol all night. That's making me feel queasy thinking about it. I will be vomiting after attempting

the Sporty Spice backflips during Wannabe. But it's going to be kind of, you know, pineapple-y and coconut-y. Oh yeah, exactly. On the way up.

It's going to be quite a show. Still good. Yeah. Still good on the way up. Mine's probably like a... Everybody come to the bar. Warnocky's fountaining. Mine would be like

a vodka lemonade probably. Oh yeah. Love that. Classic. It's one of a few things alcohol-wisewise, does not give me a migraine. Wow. That makes it an easier choice. Yeah.

What an absolute bonus. Yeah. It's pretty easy for me. I'm looking forward to hearing you sing that song three times that night. Have I told you, though, because I hate karaoke. Love to sing. Hate to sing in front of people. I terrify.

This is a private booth, I'm guessing. The three of us have hired a booth. Still, I wouldn't sing in front of people okay this is a private booth i'm guessing the three of us have hired still i wouldn't i wouldn't sing in front of you like a genuine no even after being wasted uh no i wouldn't do it i think this podcast has on record me singing some some evidence to the contrary well yeah okay but i wouldn't sing a whole song like i hate i hate it yeah i'm i love it but i hate it. So in a soundproof booth? But I've done it once and we were in, I don't know if I've told you this story,

we were in Sydney out with a bunch of friends at a shitty bar, it's a karaoke bar, and I got forced into getting up on stage and I said to my boyfriend, I was like, you are coming up on stage with me? We're doing this together, it's the only way I can do it he said of course no problem I'm with you we get up on stage Dolly Parton nine to five starts did not share the microphone once I just went for it and then he just sort of stood next to me dancing the whole time I love it and then his go-to song is

Robbie Williams angels he said that to the guy running it and the guy said, okay, but I always do that second last and if you can't hit the high notes, I'm taking the microphone. Because this guy sang, so he would do like every second song or something to break it up. It's such a weird thing because that's often the karaoke host will come in and sing a song. Yeah. Like, mate, what are you doing?

It's so weird, isn't it? It always feels weird to me. To like threaten a client, like a customer. You're like, okay, but if you can't do it, I'm kicking you off the stage. Surely you come in when no one else has signed up yet. Yeah. You fill in in between.

No, no, no. But it always feels like... This guy had like several songs tonight. Because nothing makes me feel more comfortable to sing in front of a group of people. There's someone getting up there and fucking nailing it. Yeah, that's the thing. It's like this isn't what karaoke is about.

You can sing. We're supposed to suck. So the song starts. He's like doing okay, but not very well. Gets to the chorus. He cannot hit the high note. He's tried almost on a daily basis. He cannot get it.

And the guy just takes the microphone oh no it was so funny why did you go for such an ambitious song surely backup singing is the guy yeah why you can come in behind him and just do the chorus yeah just do that note you can't get through it oh just do that yeah literally took the mic out of his hand yeah it's very funny and with the crowd or the you know the rest of the punters having no idea that this conversation has happened before. Yeah, just like,

what's going on here? That sounds weird. That's odd. I'm going to throw in Suspicious Minds as another option. Okay. Another just low talky song.

We can't go home together. Yeah, I was thinking of the right song. I was like, I had a blank. I was, I need the guy to back me up on the... Oh, yeah.

If you can't hit the suspicious minds, I will cut your mind. Drew Forsberg. I also don't. I think I'd be unlikely to do a sober character. Occasionally, I'll be late at night wandering to a place. Someone puts your name in. You go, all right. But yeah, it is.

Anyway, Drew has answered his own question. One, the sober one, back in the USSR by the Beatles. Okay. Cool. Two, Vertigo, U2. That will annoy some of our Irish listeners. And three, Madman Across the Water, Elton John. Oh, I don't know that one.

Me either, but it sounds ambitious. Yeah, it does. If it's, Elton John. Oh, I don't know that one. Me either, but it sounds ambitious. Yeah, it does. If it's an Elton. Which I love. Yeah. The beverage that will get him there, a steady supply of cold draft, 6% to 7% ABV beer.

Okay, very specific. Sorry, mate, if you could be a little more specific. You've given us a whole 1% range there. I'm not sure what you mean. I'm so sorry. So it's this 7.1. Pour that down the sink. Thank you for those fat quotes and questions. Good conversation starter there.

The other thing we'd like to do is thank a few of our other great supporters who are on the Ask Prod level or above, shout-out level. And Jess normally comes up with a little bit of a game based on the topic we just discussed. Yeah. You can do with the name. I'm not sure what to do. game based on the topic we just discussed. Yeah. You can do with the name. I'm not sure what to do with this one. She had a name change.

Yeah. Or the nickname Moses because it's part of the Cs. Or Minty was a good one. Minty was a good nickname. Yeah. We just given him a nickname? Yeah, based on a confectionery snack. Or based on a favourite biblical figure.

Oh, okay. So we've got two options. Either a snack or a biblical figure. Great. Which one I know more about. Yeah, I was going to say. Dave, the one who did not go to a Catholic school, at a real disadvantage here.

But boy, he loves sweets. But he loves snacks. Oh, this is right in your sweet spot. If I can kick us off, I'd love to thank from Glasgow in Scotland, Gareth Brsland. Gareth Brysland is, of course, nicknamed Joseph. Yeah.

Because he's a real daddy. Joseph. So he's the carpenter father. Yeah. Well done, Gareth Brysland, aka Joseph. Imagine your nickname being Joseph. Everybody introduced to people as Joseph comes to your wedding day and your wife is like, your name's Gareth? Yeah.

That's funny. I've been telling you the story of an ex-girlfriend on her Facebook. She had like a Pokemon or something name as just a fake name just to be a little less, a little more anonymous on Facebook. And then when she came to a wedding with me, that was her placeholder name. Whatever, you know, Mewtwo or whatever it was. That's really funny.

So obviously you were Mewtwo's plus one They knew her not you You couldn't check? Mew and Mewtwo That's very funny And why did Jigglypuff break up with you? So thank you very much to Gareth, Joseph Brysland I'd also love to thank from Dagenham in Essex, I think, Great Britain, Sarah Russell. Oh, Sarah Twix Russell.

Oh, that's good. Oh, yeah. I like Twix. You love it. That's your favourite, isn't it? I'd love to be betwixt Twix. That's a high honour. It's such a great...

You got chocolate. Is that why it's called Twix? Because there's two of them and Twix is a thing? I don't know. I think Dave was just being a bit funny. While trying. While attempting, absolutely. But I love...

Because it's basically a biscuit chocolate bar. Love it. Which I think I always found it very boring. I reckon I've had two in my life. Really? Yeah. But, you know, had two in my life. Really? Yeah. But, you know, maybe now in my advanced years, it's the kind of boring treat I might enjoy.

Starting to understand why Jigglypuff called it off. I'd also love to thank, finally for me, from Babinda in Queensland, Australia, Anne. Anne. No surname. Anne. I mean No surname. Anne. I mean, can you zhuzh up a name like Anne?

It's already very Hollywood. It's already perfect. What about, I'm trying to think of a, what about John the Baptist? Anne the Baptist. Anne the Baptist. Anne the Baptist. Anne the Baptist. I like that.

I like that a lot, actually. That's very cool. It sounds like a kind of mobster name, don't you reckon? Yeah. You're pretty scary. Do not mess with Ann the Baptist. Yeah. She will baptise you in blood.

Can I thank some people as well? Yeah, I would love it if you could. I would love to thank from Mount Pleasant in South Australia. That sounds like a nice spot. Jake Simpson. Jake Simpson. Jake. Jake.

The. I cannot think of another lolly. The. What about. I'm thinking of the eclair. What about the red. The renamed Redskin is now the red. What's it called?

What do they rename it? Renamed it like the Red Rooter now the Red... What's it called? What did they rename it? They renamed it like the Red Rooter or the Red Rocket. No, that's the greyhound in the castle. I forgot what they called it. Red Ripper. Red Ripper. Red Ripper. That's a great...

Oh, that's so good. That's a great nickname. Great lolly too. That's a great name. Jake, the Red Ripper Simpson. Now I want some Red Rippers. I know. Red Ripper is such a great name Jake the Red Ripper Simpson Now I want some Red Rippers I know Red Ripper is

That's such a great name For a lolly Red Ripper Such a great name for a bloke Red Ripper Jake the Red Ripper Simpson So thank you Jake I would also

Pretty sure If I'm thinking of the right guy Jake Definitely come to Yeah We know Jake Some live shows in Adelaide Came to my friend's shows

And also Making pizza I believe in Thailand as well. Yes, that's right. Remember sitting by the pool with Jake? Very cool. I would also love to thank from Bulleen in Victoria, Brydon Coverdale. Wait, Brydon Coverdale?

Well, Brydon Coverdale already has a nickname and that is the shark. I didn't know Brydon was a bloody supporter. This is Brydon from the quiz show on Channel 7, The Chase Australia. Brydon, you're an absolute legend. Thank you so much for your support. Bloody hell. Sometimes we get a tweet from Brydon, and I absolutely love it.

He's great on Twitter for some sports trivia, and he does a... It's behind a paywall, so I haven't done it yet. But they always look tantalising, his quiz in the Telegraph or something. That's fun. Thank you, Brydon. So what... Because he would know obscure things, because he's an absolute quiz head.

How about minor biblical figure Brydon Haggggai coverdale okay haggai what now what does that mean haggai was a hebrew prophet during the building of the second temple in jerusalem one of the 12 minor prophets in the hebrew bible and author of the book of haggai right so from first first testament the one that tubman... Hated. Oh, hated the... No, yes. No, she had the new. Loved the old. Yeah.

Yes, because the new was like, well, enslaved people should be obedient. She was like, fuck that. I like these old stories about people getting revenge. Eye for an eye, that's my speed. Thank you, Brydon. I am looking forward to the new series of The Chase Australia

when they introduce him as Haggai. Yeah, that would be good. Haggai. Haggai. I'd also love to thank finally for me from location unknown.

I only assume. Fortress of the moles. Already got a bit of a cool name here. Craig Merriman Foley. Lazarus. Resurrecting from the dead like a mole does. Every time it pokes its head out of its little burrow.

Rise from the dirt. I'm still alive. That's right. You try and bury a mole alive. You idiot. You moron. Merchant. Yeah, mobs is like just dusting off his hands.

That'll be the last we see of them. They poke their head up. Hello. Damn it. What? I thought I buried you alive. I would love to thank from Kerry in Ireland. Oh, that's like an ancestry from County Kerry.

Very, very cool. And perhaps you're related to Tommy Powell. Oh, another fantastic name. Tommy Powell. Tommy. Okay. Okay. Come on, Jess., another fantastic name. Tommy Powell. Tommy. Okay. Okay. Come on, Jess, you can do this.

What about, okay. Think of your favourite chocolate bar. What is it? Chocolate bar? Yeah, chocolate bar. Aero. Oh, that's a good nickname. That is a good nickname.

Tommy Aero Powell. Yeah, I like that a lot. Because he's green and full of holes. But like air bubbles, not holes. Real bubbly personality. A bubbly person from Ireland. Green. Cadbury tried to do the Cadbury bubbly.

And it's like, it's good, but it's not Aero. How does Aero get it so light? How do they do it? I'll die asking that question. Secret family recipe. Maybe it's the... Added air. Yeah, or maybe it's the destroyed orangutan habitat that Nestle apparently were involved in.

Sorry to suck the fun out of your chocolate bar. Moving on quickly, I would love to thank now from Boreham Wood in Great Britain. My favourite chocolate bar, I think, is the Cherry Ripe. Is that a good nickname? Well, does it work? Roy Phillips. Roy Cherry Ripe Phillips. Cherry Ripe is good, I think.

Even just Cherry? Yeah. Roy Cherry Phillips. Oh, that's good. Roy Cherry Phillips is good. In Hertfordshire. We love your work, Roy Cherry Phillips. I like that.

Thank you so much. Alternative was Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament. Roy Genesis Phillips. I think Cherry is the girl. Cherry is good, I like. Genesis is good, but Cherry is fun. Genesis is good, but I prefer Phil Collins' solo stuff. Thank you so much.

And finally, I'd like to thank from Dundas in the ACT here in Australia, it's Simon McDermott. Simon McDermott. Simon Smarties McDermott. That's the, I think, the second

time in three weeks we've given someone the nickname Smarties. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm pretty sure we used that on the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire episode as well. Oh, yes. It was their specialty topic or something? Yeah, that's right. That's weird. We've got two Smarties

in the club now. I hate Smarties. They just feel like you know, I mean, M&Ms. Way better. But also I feel like if your nickname is Smartie, you're probably dumb. Yeah, it does feel like an ironic nickname, doesn't it? Simon Smarty's McDonald's. In this case, it is not ironic at all. Oh, okay.

Very smart. And the ACT, they're very straight. They play it straight. We don't do irony here. Nah, that's true. Up on Capitol Hill, the bloody clown town up there. What are they like? What are they like?

Thank you so much to everyone that supports the show there. Legends, one and all. Thank you very much to Simon Roy, Tommy, Craig, Bryden, Jake, Anne, Sarah and Gareth. Last thing we'd like to do is welcome a few people into the Triptych Club. Jess, can you briefly explain what this is? Absolutely. So the Triptych Club is an all-access club for people who have supported the podcast for three consecutive years on the, what level? I think it's the AskPod level or above, the shout-out level.

So what we do is we welcome you into an exclusive, but not in a dickish way, club where we have a bar, food, little pods you can have a nap in. We've got pool tables. We've got a pool. We've got anything you could dream of. Bowls of Smarties. We've got it for you. And M&Ms if you're not a psycho. Hey, Smarties are still cool. No, they're not.

But, yeah, so what we do is Matt is at the door. He's lifting the velvet rope. He's ticking your name off the list. I'm at the bar. I've got you sorted for food and drinks. And Dave, Dave books the bands and he does an incredible job at doing so. You are never going to believe who I booked. What?

Like, honestly. Dave, what have you done? I book these, honestly, I think it's like six to eight months is my usual lead in time. Of course, these are big acts. These are big acts. And I've actually booked in Harriet Tubman, the band. You haven't. The jazz band on Facebook that I found with a thousand likes.

We've been trying to get them for years. Yes, finally they said yes. Tubman is a great nickname for a drummer as well. He's a tub man. He's a tub man. Yeah, it is good. I believe they are a jazz trio. So looking forward to Harriet Tubman, the band.

Awesome. I will be serving everything in a tub, food and drink wise. Yeah, I'd love a tub of cocktail, please. And a minty cocktail is on. That sounds full on. Yeah. But in a nice way. You know how you do like Skittle vodka?

Yeah. It's just like a mint infused. It's going to be refreshing. More of an homage. It's an homage. Yeah. It's subtle. It is subtle, but it's refreshing.

Probably using a little creme de menthe. Exactly. You feel like you've got clean teeth afterwards. It's beautiful. Hello. So I think we've got about, what, nine inductees or something like that today, Dave. So the way this normally works is I'll read them out. I'm standing at the door.

I'll read out your names. Dave, just picture yourself running into the room, into the club. Dave's there with the mic up on the stage. He's hyping you up as you enter. Everyone's applauding you. Jess is standing nearby Dave. Whispering. Whispering to him.

Because he, honestly, he just wouldn't be able to do it without a little bit of sort of backup and support. Yeah. Thank you. He needs my validation and he cannot go and will not go on without me. I am gesturing karaoke with our partner, not going up without you. But once I'm up there, I'm like, shut up. Let me take this.

So Dave's there to hype you up. He normally does some version. I think they're puns I can never quite tell based on the place or the name. So if you're ready, Dave, I'm going to lift this velvet rope and welcome in from Blackheath in London, Great Britain, David Hayden. Oh, this night I feel like I'm getting paid in. Oh, to hang out. Because it's nice to get paid.

It's such a treat. From Bellbird Park in Queensland, Australia, it's Cassie C. Oh, Cassie C. Sassy C. Oh, it's Cassie C. Oh, Cassie C. Sassy C. Oh, okay. I was going to say, Cassie C, you're there. Cassie C, you're there. Sassy C.

Something else I should explain to listeners is Jess is normally better at these and that. No, I'm not. The next one's from Mannington in West Virginia, I reckon, in the United States. Chelsea Russell in West Virginia. Born and raised. Let me rustle up a Chelsea Russell. In West Virginia, born and raised. Let me rustle up a good time with Chelsea. Yes, that's good. From North Hobart in Tasmania, Australia.

It's Lucy Harrison. Hurry, son. Hurry in, son, and have a good old time. More like lucky us that Lucy Harrison is here. Lucy Lucky. Oh, right, right, right. All I could think of was Marison. These are all good options. All good options.

Lucy stumped us. Lucy's been waiting three years. Hold on. I'm happy. We've been stumped by such a simple name. A beautiful name. I feel happier than on my wedding day. Marison, more like Harrison.

What? No, I love it. Lucy Harrison, give us a juicy hug and... No, all right. So, from York in Yorkshire, Great Britain, you should have seen Jess's face then. It's Mike Hollis. Mike Hollis. Mike Ollis.

We've gone off the rails here. Is there something in like Mike? Mike? Hand me the Mike Ollis. Fuck yes. Like the Mike. So I can welcome and sing a song for Mike Ollis. Someone from the crowd goes, you're holding the mic.

You suck. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. From Palmyra in Western Australia, it's Luke Wood. Luke would be here because we only have legends. From Sutton in Surrey, Great Britain, it's Elizabeth Joyce. You bring Joyce to my heart. From Milton Keynes in Great Britain, it's Jay Munn.

More like Jay Fun. Yes. Now we're cooking. And finally, from San Antonio in Texas in the United States, Frank John Villarreal. You make this night feel Villarreal. Villarreal. Yes, Villarreal.

Woo! That brings us to the end of the episode. We really hit the finish line strong there, I think. Nailed it. With no regrets at all from my point of view. So thanks, everyone, for listening to this episode. Anything else we need to tell them before we go, Jess? Just that if you want to get in touch with us,

you can do so at dogoonpod at gmail.com. Check out our website, dogoonpod.com. And dogoonpod across all social media where you can make uh suggestions and give us more topics about like we have a a lack i think in the hat of like topics about badass women and badass women of color so send us those suggestions because most of our reports come from your suggestions so we need some good stories in there so we can bloody tell them. Absolutely. And anyone can suggest a topic.

You don't have to be a Patreon supporter. Anyone can do that at any time. Yeah, there's a link in the show notes or you can go to dugongpod.com and you can click on there, I believe. If you want to, you can then write slash submit dash a dash topic if you want

I'll just click the link just click on the link whatever's easier for you but it feels like clicking the link's probably easier but if you like to type things yeah that's fine

maybe you've got a certain amount of letters you've got to type a day yeah then maybe do the typing that's an odd thing that you have if that's the case

but we don't mind yeah we don't judge whatever you want to do to feel fulfilled fine by us. You know what I mean? I do. Yeah.

Dave, put this baby home. Please. Hey, thank you so much for listening. We'll be back next week with another topic. But until then, I'll say thank you so much and goodbye. Bye. Bye. Juicy Garrison.

Is that something? I tried that and it just looked at me gross. Juicy felt weird. Juicy. Juicy felt weird. Juicy. Juicy felt positive. Juicy. Juicy fruit will get you going. Maybe we just go with juicy. It doesn't have to be a part of both, does it?

Oh, this night's going to be juicy. Yeah, there it is. Goodbye. Bye. Later. We can wait for clean water solutions. Or we can engineer access to clean water. We can acknowledge indigenous cultures. Or we can learn from indigenous voices.

We can demand more from the earth. Or we can demand more from ourselves. At York University, we work together to create positive change for a better tomorrow. Join us at yorku.ca slash write the future.