Harriet (film)

In 1840s Maryland, a slave state, Araminta "Minty" Ross is newly married to a freedman, John Tubman, but still a slave herself on the Brodess farm, along with her mother and sister, while two other sisters had been sold to another slave owner in the South. Her father, also a freedman, approaches Mr. Brodess about her freedom, as Brodess's own great-grandfather had agreed to free Minty's mother, Harriet "Rit" Ross, and her family when she turned 45. Even though Rit is now 57, Mr. Brodess insists they will always be slaves, and tears up the letter from a lawyer John had hired. Brodess's adult son Gideon mocks Minty for praying for God to take Mr. Brodess, saying God does not care about the prayers of slaves. Mr. Brodess dies shortly afterward, alarming Gideon, who decides to sell Minty as punishment. Minty, who suffers "spells" since being struck in the head as a girl, has a vision of herself escaping to freedom, and she decides to run.

Minty tells John to stay behind, as he would lose his own freedom if caught escaping with her, but plans to meet up with him later. Gideon pursues her to a bridge over a river, where he promises not to sell her, but she jumps anyway, saying she will live free or die. Minty is presumed drowned but successfully makes it to Philadelphia via the Underground Railroad, assisted by Quakers and other abolitionists. In Philadelphia, she meets Marie Buchanon, the fashionable daughter of a freed slave who was born free and is now a boarding-house proprietor, and William Still, an abolitionist and writer. William encourages her to take a new free name, and she calls herself Harriet after her mother. After a few months in Philadelphia, against the advice of Marie and William, Harriet decides to go back for John. She successfully makes it to John's homestead only to find he has remarried, believing she was dead, and is expecting a baby with his new wife.

Devastated, Harriet decides to free her family, but her sister refuses to leave her two children. Harriet continues to return, guiding dozens of slaves to freedom as a conductor on the Underground Railroad, and a myth begins to grow about the person responsible, who is dubbed Moses. However, when the Fugitive Slave Act passes, the escaped slaves are in jeopardy of being brought back even from free states. Gideon is livid when he discovers that she is "Moses," especially as his fellow slave owners demand he compensate them for Harriet freeing their own slaves. Gideon pursues her to Philadelphia along with the slave hunter Bigger Long, who kills Marie. Harriet flees to Canada.

In Canada, Harriet insists that the Underground Railroad must continue. She continues to help runaway slaves flee all the way to Canada, though her sister dies before she can save her. Over time, the Brodess farm falls into financial ruin. Mrs. Brodess vows to catch Harriet, using her sister's children as bait, but Harriet's team overwhelms Gideon's siblings and retrieves the last remaining Brodess slaves. In a final confrontation, Bigger Long winds up shot to death, but Harriet lets Gideon live, telling him of her vision of Gideon's cause defeated by American Civil War.

An epilogue states she personally freed more than 70 slaves on the Underground Railroad and returned as a Union spy during the Civil War, leading 150 black soldiers, who freed over 750 slaves. She died at the approximate age of 91 and her last words were "I go to prepare a place for you".

In 2015, Viola Davis was set to star in and produce a Harriet Tubman biopic; however, it never came to fruition.[5] Development on a new film began in May 2016.[6] In February 2017, Cynthia Erivo was cast as Tubman, with Seith Mann then set to direct, from a screenplay by Gregory Allen Howard.[7]

Further development on the film was announced in September 2018, with Focus Features set as the new distributor, Kasi Lemmons attached as director, and Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, Jennifer Nettles, and Clarke Peters, and others, added to the cast.[8][9] Lemmons received co-writer credit with Allen on the final script, and Allen also had the film's "story by" credit. In October, Janelle Monáe was announced as one of several actors newly added to the film, with filming beginning on October 8, 2018 and lasting through December.[10][11][12]

Harriet was filmed entirely in Virginia, in Richmond, Powhatan, Cumberland, Petersburg, and Mathews. Berkeley Plantation in Charles City County was used for Auburn, New York.[13]

Harriet had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10.[14] It was theatrically released in the United States on November 1, 2019.[3]

• List of black films of the 2010s

• Harriet on IMDb