Medical historian, writer shares wisdom of Harriet Tubman

When medical historian, writer-lecturer and advocate Deirdre Cooper Owens, Ph.D., was invited to speak at the third Waring Historical Library’s Black History Month lecture on Feb. 6, she was both pleased and excited – pleased that she would be returning to her maternal family’s ancestral beginnings around the Charleston Lowcountry and excited to speak about a topic she’s passionate about: American abolitionist, women’s rights activist and philanthropist Harriet Tubman.

Cooper Owens’ lecture, “Healing, Mobility and Fugitive Logic: Revisiting Harriet Tubman as Both a Healer and Intellectual,” was a chance to talk about her current research and writing project, which has transformed into a passion project writing about dedicated women-healers. 

 

Brian Fors, Ph.D., curator of the Waring Library, welcomed a hybrid audience to the Library’s first in-person event since the COVID pandemic began in Spring of 2020. Introductions were made by Waring Historical Society’s President Jacob Steer-Williams, Ph.D., of the College of Charleston. 

In a touching moment, Cooper Owens opened her talk, dedicating it to her own family’s strong matriarchs and healers – her grandmothers: Ella Bell Cooper, a pastor, and Mary Jane Elizabeth Cooper, a nurse.

Already a popular figure in 19th century American and African American history, Cooper Owens challenged the event’s in-person and virtual audiences to consider looking at Harriet Tubman in a different light – as a Black woman who was formerly enslaved and living with a disability as well as an intellectual, aware of her surroundings. She emphasized how Tubman’s thinking and freedom work affected American democracy, touched by multiple pathways.

“For me, it was an opportunity to tell Harriet Tubman’s story in a different way,” she said. “Learning about her got me interested, and I hope others will see her in a different light as well.”

Cooper Owens became fascinated with Tubman’s life – from her early life as a girl born into slavery and later as a leader and advocate for others, helping dozens of enslaved people to escape to freedom and new lives, from 1850 to 1860. She emphasized Tubman’s ability to be successful in her freedom work, using fugitive logic – a form of thinking rooted in observation, methodology, awareness of her environment and reacting to that, as well as spiritual cartography – the ability to collaborate with others and make important connections to create a roadmap to freedom for others. 

Even in her advanced age, Tubman continued to work hard to create sustainable communities and healing spaces for the underserved and oppressed. She remained active in her communal freedom work and was a founder of the first Black women’s movement, the National Association of Colored Women’s Club. She also opened the Harriet Tubman Home for Aged & Indigent Negroes in Auburn, New York, her home until 1913, when she died at the age of 91.

Cooper Owens shared her own theory, questioning if 19^th Century leaders had followed the guidance of a leader like Harriet Tubman, what would America be like today?

“We should be using Tubman’s model for institution building and philanthropy. In today’s 21^st century, we could’ve benefited from Tubman’s model on how to heal people. She may not have had a formal education, but in today’s health care focus on patient-centered care and the patient experience, it’s important that we focus on quality of care and integrate individualized care, respect, compassion in addition to science. There’s valuable lessons to be learned by a person like Harriet Tubman. Her compassion for helping people, her healing work and dedication to equality and the personal freedom of others should be a guide for all of us to follow,” she said.