WOMAN CALLED MOSES, A (TV)

Summary

This made-for-television film, which aired over two nights, depicts the life and work of abolitionist and Underground Railroad heroine Harriet Ross Tubman. The story begins on the Broadas Plantation in Maryland in 1839 as Harriet's sister Tilly is abruptly sold off, leaving her devastated. She confides in her spiritual "voices" about the loss, and her friend and fellow slave Jim tells her that he intends to escape and join Nat Turner's rebellion. Later, Harriet receives a serious blow to the head from reckless overseer McCracken, whom Master Edward Broadas then angrily fires. Fellow slave Juba tends to Harriet, coldly accusing Broadas of possibly killing her, though Broadas refuses to accept the blame. He attempts to sell Harriet as well, though cannot find a buyer because of her perilous health, and when Harriet regains consciousness, she prays fervently for Broadas to be struck dead for his "evil ways." Broadas then comes down with a serious fever and expires before Juba can aid him with her "potions," and Harriet is consumed with guilt, sure that she caused his demise. Nine years later, Doc Thompson has been placed in charge of the household, and a number of "patrollers" regularly visit the plantation to threaten the slaves. Harriet's brother Robert spends time with Elvina, aware that they must ask Thompson's permission to marry, and Harriet tells her father Ben that she intends to hire herself out and earn enough money to buy her own freedom, though he is extremely doubtful of her chances.

Harriet tricks young Master Broadas into sending her to work for their neighbor Stewart so that she can be his "burden" instead of theirs, as she occasionally suffers blackouts from her long-ago head injury. On the way there, Harriet argues with Shadrack Davis, who feels that he has been "cast off" by the Ross family, and then meets Stewart, who declares that he is unlike the other "white trash" slavemasters and will treat her with respect. Harriet meets Molly, who urges her to work for Miss Rodham, a kindly Quaker woman, and when she offers to rejuvenate the unused land around Stewart's abandoned cabin, he praises her "incentive" and offers her tools as well as fifty percent of the money made from the crops. In town, Harriet encounters John Tubman, known for his sweet-talking ways and tailoring skills, though he is soon left heartbroken by his sister's death. He later visits Harriet at the cabin and offers to assist her with her farming and crop sales, somewhat exasperated when she speculates that she will continue working as hard as ever once she liberates herself with her hard-earned "freedom money." She confides in him about her fainting spells, and they are both excited when she finally accumulates $200, which she believes to be a reasonable price for herself, but she is stunned when the formerly kind Stewart gives her a "special job" and humiliates her by making her pull a cart in the place of a mule.

Doc Thompson refuses her $200, saying that she is worth far more, and Harriet becomes all the more desperate to be free. She and John marry in a simple but joyous ceremony, and even Mistress Broadas briefly muses that slavery is a cruel "blight" on humanity. Another year passes and John falls into "brooding moods" when his freeman's papers expire, and Harriet is frustrated when he disappears for two months and then returns home drunk, protesting that he had to dodge patrollers and take menial jobs to protect himself. When young Broadas suddenly dies, Harriet begs her family to flee north, fearing that Mistress Broadas will sell them all off, though John is resistant and she is outraged to find that he has spent her "freedom money." Juba dies and Harriet's parents are locked up, and Harriet declares to her brother Benjie that she will leave on her own and then return for them once she has found safety. She visits Miss Rodham, who aids her and explains about the non-literal "underground railway," and Harriet makes her way through the woods and across the river, fighting against her blackouts along the way. She disguises herself in men's clothes and hides her characteristic forehead scar as another railway conductor smuggles her through town in his cart, and she eventually makes it to the Delaware home of Thomas Garrett, who understands about her "voices" and her sense of divine inspiration.

Garrett sends Harriet on to Philadelphia, and a year passes as she adjusts to her new life of freedom and works alongside abolitionist William Still. When she encounters an elderly escaped slave woman whose husband died shortly after reaching freedom, she is reminded of her parents and resolves to rescue them, as promised. She returns to the Thompson Plantation and is shocked to learn from John, who believed her dead and now has a new lover, that her parents are no longer there. Crushed by the setback, she prays for guidance and vows to guide not only her family but many others to freedom, and she begins shepherding groups of slaves through the Railroad, prompting angered slavemasters to issue a large reward for her capture. She speaks at a protest meeting regarding the "un-Christian" Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, heatedly pointing out that slaves are largely responsible for the construction of the South and that owners are not entitled to "compensation" for their losses. Elsewhere, the Southern Planters Association members hire a famous detective, Andrew Coleman, to hunt Harriet down, claiming that she herself has murdered many, though he is unnerved by their request that he kill her on sight. He suggests that he can easily capture her at Thompson Plantation if her parents are returned there, while back in Philadelphia Still updates the conductors on changes made to the Railroad. He warns Harriet that Coleman is after her and that there is a $40,000 bounty on her head, though she remains determined to find her family.

At the Thompson Plantation, Coleman criticizes his associate Charley's "crude ways" but threatens to personally harm Ben's wife if he refuses to inform on their daughter. Harriet finds Robert and Elvina, who is now pregnant, and when Coleman's men follow a tip that she is nearby, they realize that they have been fooled by a decoy. Harriet reunites with her parents and begs them to accompany her north, though Ben protests that he will slow her down and endanger her life. Nevertheless, the Ross family flees through the woods and narrowly escapes Coleman, who is sure that Harriet will return. Harriet and her parents make it to Canada and acquire free papers, eventually moving to Auburn, New York, though Harriet resolves to return to the South and help yet more slaves, much to her parents' concern. On Christmas Eve, Coleman and Charley inform another slaveowner that Harriet has absconded with his "property," including the capable Josiah, for whom he offers a $50,000 reward. Shadrack joins Harriet's party as they camp overnight in the woods, and they meet up with Mrs. Jenkins, another Quaker woman, who feeds and hides them in her home. Harriet talks to Bernette, who reveals that she can read, and they discuss their mixed emotions towards their sometimes-kind former masters. Charley then barges in and sets fire to the barn, but Harriet and the others escape through a tunnel. Tempers flare as Shadrack declares that Harriet is "no Moses" and is leading them the wrong way, but she points out that Coleman will be expecting them to head north right away and that she is avoiding him by taking a circuitous route.

When they reach the home of Muller, another conductor, Harriet happily reveals that they are officially in the north. They soon meet up with Garrett, who warns Harriet that the hunt for her has intensified yet further due to rumors that she is making her final journey. Josiah panics upon learning that he too is being hunted, and he remains silent and traumatized as they travel northward in a segregated train car. Still provides Harriet with tickets as he tells her that Coleman is close on her trail, and when Bernette asks Harriet about her frequent clashes with Shadrack, she explains that Broadas prevented the Ross family from unofficially "adopting" him years ago and that Shadrack believed the master's lies about it rather than in the word of his friends. Coleman muses that he has respect for Harriet as he and Charley wait at the station, and when they chase her aboard the train, Coleman prevents Charley from shooting her and tosses him from the car. Harriet holds Charley's gun on him but opts not to shoot, and Coleman calmly disembarks and allows her to escape despite his many years of efforts to find her. Shadrack relates a slightly different tale of fighting the detectives off, and Harriet is touched when Bernette reads her a letter from Frederick Douglass himself praising her work.

As the train approaches its final destination of St. Catharines, Ontario, Josiah becomes overwhelmed and jumps from the train, declaring that they must cross the symbolic bridge to freedom on foot. The program concludes by explaining that Harriet returned to the South many times and helped hundreds of slaves to freedom without losing a single "passenger." During the Civil War, she led a raid behind enemy lines and destroyed vital ammunition stocks, and she also became involved with the women's suffrage movement before her death in 1913. Commercials deleted.

Details

NETWORK: NBC
DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
RUNNING TIME: 3:11:29
COLOR/B&W: Color
CATALOG ID: 122413
GENRE: Drama, historical
SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama, historical; Biography
SERIES RUN: NBC - TV, 1978
COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

Henry Jaffe … Executive Producer
Michael Jaffe … Producer
Ike Jones … Producer
Paul Wendkos … Director
Lonne Elder III … Writer
Marcy Heidish … Based on the book by
Coleridge Taylor Perkinson … Music by
Van McCoy … Theme Music by
Orson Welles … Narrator
Cicely Tyson … Cast, Harriet Ross Tubman
Will Geer … Cast, Thomas Garrett
Robert Hooks … Cast, William Still
James Wainwright … Cast, Andrew Coleman
Jason Bernard … Cast, Daddy Ben Ross
Clifford David … Cast, Doc Thompson
John Getz … Cast, Stewart
Judyann Elder … Cast, Bernette Wilson
Mae Mercer … Cast, Aunt Juba
Harry Rhodes … Cast, Tazwell Robinson
James Sikking … Cast, McCracken
Charles Weldon … Cast, Shadrack Davis
Dick Anthony Williams … Cast, John Tubman
Jean Foster … Cast, Young Harriet Tubman
Malik Carter … Cast, Black Man
Marilyn Coleman … Cast, Molly
Todd Davis … Cast, Jim
Cecilia Hart … Cast, Susan Broadas
Alice Hirson … Cast, Miss Rodham
Hector Maisonette … Cast, Josiah 'Joe' Bailey
John Perak … Cast, Charley
Hank Rolike … Cast, Amos
Patricia Smith … Cast, Mrs. Leah Jenkins
Ann Weldon … Cast, Mama Ritt Ross
Howard Witt … Cast, Edward Broadas
James Bridges … Cast, Young Shadrack Davis
Eugene Daniel … Cast, Patroller #1
Robert Harper … Cast, Wagon Driver
Melody Harris … Cast, Tilly
Michael Hayward … Cast, Coleman's Man #1
Peter Hellman … Cast, Karl Muller
Don Hood … Cast, Tom Hughett
B.J. Hopper … Cast, Chairman
James Jeter … Cast, Bowers
Kedren Jones … Cast, Elvina
Roy Jones … Cast, Robert Ross
Jerry Leggio … Cast, Coleman's Man #3
Minnie Lindsay … Cast, Rebecca
Dennis McCarthy … Cast, Boatman
James O'Connell … Cast, Conductor
F. William Parker … Cast, Buyer
Kenneth Rogers … Cast, Edward Broad
Ray Spruell … Cast, Planter
James Steele … Cast, Patroller #2
Emmanuel Thomas … Cast, Willie
Elliot Washington … Cast, Benjie Ross
Kenneth White … Cast, Heckler
Frances E. Williams … Cast, Old Woman In Church
Roberta Jean Williams … Cast, Addie Robinson
Sylvia (Kuumba) Williams … Cast, Mammy Portia
Jerii Woods … Cast, Martha Robinson