The ancestral magic of audiobooks (part II): Harriet Tubman

Because yeah...Harriet Tubman was a real person 🤦🏿

Hiya family! Welcome back to Black Joy Behind the Scenes 📽️, where I give y’all a glimpse beyond the journalism veil of my nationwide media brand Black Joy. For more than eight years now, I’ve been reporting on the different ways we as Black people continue the lineage of cultivating liberatory joy in our lives. I’m always excited to share these gifts of our heritage with you. Stay in touch with me by becoming a subscriber if you’re not part of our community already!

This newsletter is a continuation of my two-part love letter to audiobooks. I originally created this series for brevity’s sake because I realized my first two posts, although good and full of cultural nuggets, were lengthy. With so much going on in the world today, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. I wanted to alleviate some of the mental load by reducing my word count.

A few days after I made this decision, I learned about June being Audiobooks Appreciation Month. Audiobooks do deserve their praise because they make the joy of reading more accessible for people with visual impairments and learning disabilities. It’s also a storytelling method that animates the plot through voice, making audiobooks a perfect medium for ancestral work. Last week, I talked about “Marsha,” the first biography about LGBTQIA+ rights pioneer Marsha P. Johnson. Trans creative and author Tourmaline wrote and read the biography in a way that connected the reader/listener to Johnson’s lively and vibrant spirit.

I’ve heard some book lovers judge those who admire audiobooks because, technically, you’re not engaging in the act of reading. Not only is that ableist to say, but that mindset also overlooks the multigenerational power of voice. Oral history existed long before the written word. Multiple African cultures passed down proverbs, folktales, traditions and histories through sound, song and performance. Both our lore and livelihoods were archived through word of mouth. While audiobooks are a modern invention, they play a role in sharing our cultural experiences and expanding our imaginations. This is especially true when a book centers Black life.

“Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert” was the first audiobook I listened to in its entirety. Bob the Drag Queen imagineers a world where the revered abolitionist ventures on another mission to free her people. This time, she does it through the creation of a hip-hop album. Tubman summons the help of Grammy-winning producer Darnell for the job. The honor bestowed upon Darnell turns into his own journey of liberation, encouraging the reader/listener to do the same for themselves.

“[The book] really is about freedom and what freedom means to you,” Bob told H. Alan Scott on “The Parting Shot” podcast. “We get to define what our freedom is...and in this book, Harriet is trying to help people get free."

Bob praises Tubman through both his writing and lyricism. The novel ends with two original songs, offering us a taste of what’s to come. Bob’s original concept of this book was a play. He was recently a guest on “The View,” where he discussed how his experience as an author helped him write the musical. I can see Bob on Broadway now with a Tony Award in hand! We gonna start manifesting that today!

Bob’s music addresses an important matter. Apparently, there’s a whole situation happening on TikTok, where people — our people – are trying to discredit Tubman’s existence. I was stunned and disheartened. America already has politicians trying to erase Black history. We just had a whole discussion about how the federal government deleted her story on the National Park Service’s website. We do not need to be assisting in the obliteration of our existence in America’s story.

In the song “Queen of the Underground,” Bob honors Tubman’s legacy while also taking the time to address a common myth about the nation’s first Black superhero. Here’s a sample of some bars he threw down:

Slavery? Oh, the first mass incarceration

Abolition? Baby that's complete annihilation

Wait, did you really punch babies?... Allegations

But I will knock a baby out

I'd even put a lil' 'gnac in the baby mouth

Cause if it means that the baby get a little more free

Then it's right-left hooks when we in the south

The recent questions about Tubman’s existence are wild, but they are not anything new. I remember hearing multiple inaccuracies about Tubman when I was a kid. One being that Tubman punched babies. The “lil ‘gnac” Bob is rapping about refers to the sedative Tubman reportedly used to keep babies from crying while the enslaved were on the run. But she wasn’t out there knocking out babies for real.

When I think about all the Tubman conspiracy theories I’ve heard throughout my life, I become concerned about how critics are trying to filter her personality through the Angry Black Woman stereotype. I’ve noticed this ongoing pattern of portraying Tubman as a very violent woman. For example, the overemphasis of her gun ownership always rubbed me the wrong way because she was indeed an enslaved person guiding other Black people to freedom at a time when it was illegal to do so. Of course she carried a gun. Then there’s this other ridiculous myth about Tubman kidnapping Black men and giving them syphilis? I don’t even want to know where that bold lie originated, but I can see why someone would want to spread such disinformation. By distorting Tubman’s legacy, she then becomes an off-putting figure instead of a fierce abolitionist who inspires all of us to do what’s right to liberate our people. The goal is to detach us from our heritage so we don’t become emboldened by it. That’s just my own theory.

But Bob nips all of this in the bud through his lyrics, the book and on his own social media. He makes it clear that Tubman wasn't violent. Direct? Yes. But she needed to do whatever was necessary to free Black people.

The way Bob wields his humor and creativity to resurrect Tubman into modern times is one of the reasons why he is on my list of people I would love to interview. In the podcast above, he goes into the intentionality behind using music in the book. Negro spirituals mapped the path towards freedom during enslavement. Hip hop is a Black musical invention that became an outlet for those enduring social and economic inequities in the Bronx. It made sense for these two worlds to converge in Tubman’s honor.

But Bob’s witty nature also became its own medium in these pages. It lured me in while I listened to the tea on Darnell’s life. Can’t say why because I don’t want to spoil it, but I’m side-eying the character Doctor Slim hard right now! Bob’s humor also breathed life into a Quaker named Benjamin Lay, or DJ Quakes as Tubman calls him. In the book, Quakes has a deep love for music…and weed . It was through Quakes’ character that I learned about the Quakers’ vital role as abolitionists. This knowledge later informed the reporting in a story I did about how the enslaved in New Jersey liberated themselves through the creation of Black-led towns.

Beyond the comedy, you hear the adoration Bob has for Tubman in his voice, especially in the beginning. At a time when Black people are kept in bondage, Tubman immediately shows up in the plot as a mighty force who exudes power in the way she walks, talks, raps and chugs her piping hot coffee! The way Tubman cares for others is very direct and blunt, but her presence reminds other Black people of their own autonomy.

Now, I was educated about Tubman’s efforts in school, but this audiobook really captured the range of her activism. I had no idea of her work with the Union Army. In June 1863, she became the first woman to lead a military operation during wartime and freed more than 700 enslaved people from plantations during the Combahee Ferry Raid. I mean….I’m in awe!

History isn’t something that exists within a textbook. It lives within us. Our actions and words today influence our tomorrows in big and small ways. Tubman understood this, and Bob’s audiobook does a beautiful job of recognizing her impact on today’s generation and beyond.

If you have a favorite audiobook, leave it in the comments below! I would love to get a book club going in the future where we can all share the Black literature that inspires us! 📚