Before She Was Harriet
1 Hardcover/1 CD (see all formats)

Starred ReviewBefore she was the aged and stately Harriet Tubman we know from her famous photograph, she was so many things. The inspirational and determined life of Tubman is distilled into evocative vignettes reaching back to her childhood. So varied were her roles that the casting of multiple narrators not only adds texture to the production but helps reinforce that each role had its own set of challenges and its own place in her life. Each of the four narrators reads with a clear, convincing voice and employs tones befitting the role she portrays. January LaVoy brings a gentleness to her lines about Tubman's time as a nurse; Johnson is bright and optimistic voicing Tubman's early years; Lisa Renee Pits employs a boldness and tension while describing Tubman as Moses; Bahni Turpin brings a note of awe to her sections. Sound effects are well used and specific—it's not just crowd noise but a crowd at a a suffragist event; it's not just the sound of water but the sound of water slapping the side of a boat in motion. Particularly evocative is the section featuring an indistinct song of enslaved men in the background, accompanied by the rhythm of shovels hitting dirt. Subtle tone-setting music provides an additional layer of richness. A page-turn track employing the gentle sound of pages turning is included. The final passages are deeply affecting and will resonate with listeners young and old.

"Listeners travel back through time to explore the life of Harriet Tubman, guided by four African–American narrators. Lisa Renee Pitts, Bahni Turpin, January LaVoy, and SiSi Aisha Johnson narrate in turn to describe Tubman's voice rising in protest as a suffragist, the heroics of General Tubman, the secrecy of her work as a Union spy, all the way back to her childhood as a slave when her father taught her to read the stars. Sounds of horse-drawn carriages, marching soldiers, spirituals, and rushing rivers pair beautifully with the watercolor illustrations to help listeners imagine the many roles that Tubman played over her lifetime. The audiobook concludes with each narrator's echoing intonation of those roles, listing the many accomplishments of her life and honoring her legacy."