Harriet Tubman was a woman of many talents. She could aim a pistol, inspire her people to fight for their freedom, and had a hidden talent that she used to help us escape enslavement.
Tubman wasn’t just a fierce leader guiding folks under the glimmering light of the North Star. She was a baker, and she used her cooking skills to fund her heroic journeys.
For Tubman, cooking was an ancestral gift.
Tubman’s mother, Rit Ross, was a cook too, and from her father, she learned the practice of fasting on Fridays. One of her earliest food memories is cutting and toasting pieces of pork for her baby brother.
Harriet Tubman often went foraging in the forest for sassafras, black cherry, and paw-paw as nourishment for the enslaved she helped escape.
Food is the glue that kept Tubman’s life going through all her trials and tribulations. She ran an eating house in Beaufort, South Carolina, supplementing her income as a nurse and spy by cooking and selling gingerbread and pies. She also used herbs to treat sickly enslaved people.
We all have skills we can tap into to benefit ourselves and our communities. Like Tubman, we must be willing to get our liberation by any means necessary.