We think of Harriet Tubman as a kind of mythic figure within black history—as a leader of the underground railroad, taking slaves from slavery to freedom.

That’s what we think about when we think about Harriet Tubman.

We never think about Harriet Tubman as a woman who was married to anybody.

Take those two things: her role in black history and her identity as a woman.

Those things can both be dealt with; with the blackness of that figure representing the larger sort of mythic implication, and then the naming of herself and the seeing of her with a man who was a husband.

That becomes the kind of personal idea of Harriet Tubman.