Review: She Came To Slay
She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman
Erica Armstrong Dunbar
Synopsis: A biography on Harriet Tubman.
Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat. Harriet Tubman was SO MUCH MORE than what they taught us in history class. Harriet Tubman was a straight up BOSS, and the fact that she is known only as a conductor on the Underground Railroad is so sad to me. Don’t get me wrong, that on it’s own would earn her honor and recognition, but when put in the scope of EVERYTHING she accomplished, it’s not nearly enough! As a conductor, she herself organized the rescue of 70 people! She also served as a scout, spy, and nurse during the civil war. She planned and led a raid that rescued 750 enslaved people in ONE DAY! She was heavily involved in women’s suffrage. And that’s STILL only scrapping the surface. Absolutely incredible.
Now, onto the book itself. I greatly enjoyed listening to this book. If I’m being honest, with everything she had to work with in Tubman’s life, I think Ms. Dunbar would have had a difficult time making a book that WASN’T interesting. That being said, you can also tell in how the book is written, that Dunbar holds Tubman in high esteem and admiration.
There is one thing that I have very mixed feelings about. There are MANY places in the books where I felt Dunbar inserted her own emotion into the story and made assumptions on how Tubman felt about situations. There’s a lot of “She must have felt…”, “She must have thought…”, “She was probably thinking about…”. Now, as I said, it bothered me because it is pure assumption. But, on the flip side, assumptions is all we have to go on in many situations. So much of Tubman’s life has no record. And being somewhat of an expert on Tubman, Dunbar’s assumptions about her feelings are probably relatively safe. I can also appreciate that these inserts do further the humanization of Tubman, and make the reader identify and relate to her more. So, while I don’t totally disagree with their presence, the subjectivity of it grated me a little.
That being said, She Came to Slay is a well written, captivating story of a woman who not only overcame, but crushed the odds against her, and made a difference in the world with every breath she took. I am so glad I now have a deeper understanding of what an incredible woman Harriet Tubman was.
If you enjoy biographies or history, I highly encourage you to read She Came to Slay. I would venture to say that even people who don’t typically read biographies (such as myself!) will enjoy this one. I listened to the audio book, and it was less than 4 hours, so it’s a pretty quick read. Check it out!