What if some people from the past returned to the present? What if one of them was Harriet Tubman? Bob the Drag Queen imagines a world in which Harriet Tubman, her brother Moses, and some of their Underground Railroad crew return to the present (as does Fredrick Douglass) and they want to tell their story in the form of a show. They hire a songwriter who once won Grammys. His career was torpedoed when he was outted on live tv. Harriet and her crew demolish Darnell’s expectations and illuminate how little he has been taught about his own history. I was warned that I should manage my expectations for Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert. I did, and I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. It’s stuck with me.
At one point Harriet tells Darnell that he isn’t free. Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is divided between Darnell’s past, leading up to his outing, and his present work with Harriet and her crew. Bob the Drag Queen is leaving the reader a lot of room to make their own connections between Tubman’s past and Darnell’s present. Did I feel like I was missing a lot? Yes, but I’m not a Black queer man, so I’m fine with not being the audience the author is in conversation with.
What I did get from it, other than a story I enjoyed, was a lot of thoughts about the active work that goes into freedom. When I think about how Harriet Tubman’s accomplishments were taught to me, it feels very passive and isolated. Because history has already happened, it can feel inevitable, but her work was incredibly dangerous and difficult. And it was part of a collective effort. I loved the way Bob the Drag Queen brought the people around Harriett to life.
This was a great use of my library card. Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is imperfect, but thoughtful.