In this episode, Will invited Dr. Fields-Black, is a specialist in the trans-national history of West African rice farmers, author of a new book called "COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War, join the show to talk about who Harriet Tubman was, and how Tubman's heroic efforts continue to generate positive impact around the world.
Dr. Fields-Black’s new book, COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during the Civil War (Oxford University Press, trade list, February 2024) offers the fullest account to date of Tubman’s Civil War service. This narrative history tells the untold story of the Combahee River Raid from the perspective of Tubman and the enslaved people she helped to free based on new sources not previously used by historians, as well as new interpretations of sources familiar to Tubman’s biographers. It is the story of Harriet Tubman’s Civil War service during which she worked as a cook and nurse in Beaufort, SC, and gathered intelligence among freed people and enslaved Blacks. It is the story of enslaved people who labored against their wills on seven rice plantations, ran for their lives, boarded the US gunboats, and sailed to freedom.
