Factropolis -- A Fun Fact Every Day!: Harriet Tubman was a lesbian.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Harriet Tubman was a lesbian.

See also:
- Harriet Tubman's Life
- NJBC Black History Profile

keywords: history, sexuality, famous people, slavery, african american, trivia, fun fact, fact of the day

25 Comments

i dont think she was lesbian.

By Anonymous, at December 18, 2006 5:49 PM
Hey History Editor:

If there is disagreement on this topic among scholars of African-American History, why would your site pass it off as fact?

It's almost time for me to quit bothering coming here. The Fred Rogers conspiracy theory was strike one. This makes two. Which magical falsehood will be the lucky winner that ends my readership? I can't wait to find out.

You should think about citing sources, like snopes.

By Ben, at February 10, 2007 10:28 PM
you can not make false accusations about harriet tubman. I'm doing a huge history project on the underground railroad. i don't think she was what are you going to say to that you have no proof. with no proof it's a theory and this site is about facts so don't tell us wrong things i agree with ben site your sources

By Anonymous, at October 09, 2007 5:23 PM
This doesn't make any sense... why are you saying this about a deaceased women?????... If this is so, prove it!!!!!

By Anonymous, at October 17, 2007 12:57 PM
Here's a link about Black Gay History Month, which celebrated Harriet Tubman as a black lesbian:

http://www.sovo.com/2007/2-16/locallife/feature/6530.cfm

By Anonymous, at October 17, 2007 2:13 PM
i do not belive she is a lebian because if she was she wouldnt have had a husband hahahaha

By Anonymous, at November 10, 2007 2:21 PM
Harriet Tubman was married twice. Although that is not a definitive indicator of someone being heterosexual, I believe that with the passage of time the point is well past debate. Ms. Tubman remains one of the most iconic people in history. There is very little justification, if any, in discussing her sexuality. I would hope that her tremendous influence and tenacity would be enough to keep people interested in reading about her well known dedication to freeing enslaved African Americans.

Besides, what difference could it possibly make whether she was or wasn't?

By Anonymous, at May 22, 2008 12:26 PM
who cares if she waz or wazn't. besides, she had 2 husbands, so she obviously isn't.

By Anonymous, at October 12, 2008 3:57 PM
The History Editor. she was married twice TO MEN. Shes NOT LESBIAN.

By Anonymous, at October 27, 2008 11:58 AM
Whether the Honorable Harriet Tubman was a lesbian is a reasonable question to ask. The answ4er cannot be found in our wishes, however, whether we wish her to be so or not. The answer would be found in scholarly research. To be called a lesbian is not an "accusation" - can you "accuse" someone of being "black"? Being married multiple time is no more an indicator of being heterosexual than it is an indicator of being homosexual (pardon the clinical terms) LGBT Black people often try very hard to fit the mold that their community pressures them to fit - often they marry - have children and only later in life decide that they are going to give to themselves what truly feels consistent with true selves. So the fact that Harriet Tubman may have formed these relationships has little or no bearing on whether she was a lesbian.
The more essential question is what if she were a lesbian? What if the "peanut-man scientist extraordinair, George Washington Carver was gay and did have all of those liaisons with mostly white young men that worked with him in his lab at tuskegee? What if most of the artists in the Harlem renaissance - Langston Hughes who actually published a gay artistic magazine,Zora Neal Hurston, what if the many of the founders of gospel music were gay - Rev. James Cleveland, Raymond Raspberry, and other who are still alive and silent; or blues legends like or Bessie Smith,Ma Rainey, Gladys Bentley; what if Duke Ellington's best friend, confidante, the musical wind beneath his wings so to speak were a gay man? Would we as African Americans have to change our minds a little about whether to be called "gay" or "lesbian" is an "accusation"? I think we know the answer. So let's stop pressuring our leaders, artists, our ministers, our musicians,our friends and family to hid who they are - let's have another "renaissance" in the Black community that is not squeezed to death by bigotry or stifled by provencialism or smothered by the low expectations of mediocracy and conventionality.
Afrilawyer@hotmail.com

By Afrilawyer, at November 06, 2008 12:10 PM
She was pretty ugly. Maybe she had trouble findiing a buck to slip her the bone.

I mean it's possible, right?

By Walter Alabee, at December 26, 2008 2:30 PM
Anonymous said: "The History Editor. she was married twice TO MEN. Shes NOT LESBIAN."

Rock Hudson was married to women and he was a screeching homo who died from AIDS.

What's your point?

By Woody Focker, at December 26, 2008 2:32 PM
why are yall fighting over this. it doesnt matter. If she was good for her if not ok. Yall are just arguing cause shes black. If you ask me the younger black people should be taught thier history cause they take advantage of everything some adults need to learn to. SOmetimes when i see black teens acting like idiots i wonder would Harret tubman or MLK be prioud of how they act?

By Sean, at December 28, 2008 8:17 PM
You guys are just mad that she save African American slaves from those dirty whites who had beat and punished them.

By Anonymous, at January 11, 2009 3:23 PM
Being married to somebody of the opposite doesn't make a person straight.
Like a bi guy marrying a girl means he would still like guys, wouldn't it?
And yes, she was lesbian.
Quotation marks make Google a lot easier. ^_^

By Reset Reality, at January 21, 2009 2:23 PM
Walter Alabee's comment was misogynistic, ignorant, and probably racist.

By Afrilawyer, at February 08, 2009 12:10 PM
This is just an absolute lie, and to the person who used sovo.com as a source, that's hardly credible...

By Anonymous, at February 09, 2009 1:55 AM
first off al yall need 2 quit leavin commtns on hear bout ha bein gay...cuz i gotta do a presentation nd i gotta ack lyke ha...Nd i ain't finna ack gay....__7-3 @ MBA

By lilmimidalibra_90, at February 18, 2009 4:50 PM
she got married to a dude, of course she wasnt a lesbian

By Anonymous, at February 23, 2009 7:57 PM
FIRST OF ALL Y YALL TALKIN BOUT HER IF SHE WAS DEN ITS NONE OF ANY OF YALL BUSINESS SECOND YALL NEEDS TO ALL GET A LIFE

By Anonymous, at March 02, 2009 1:45 PM
Black people need to stop speaking like they have mental disabilities (and typing as the do, for that matter).

Ehh you can be lesbian and have a husband.. Just because she was married to a man doesn't state her sexual orientation as heterosexual..

By Anonymous, at March 30, 2009 11:47 AM
Typing like THEY do, sorry bout that (wow, talk about bad timing with misspelling words)..

By Anonymous, at March 30, 2009 11:49 AM
Link that support the statement she was a lesbian.

http://www.nbjc.org/news/harriet-tubman-pioneering.html

One of her many honors was a ship, christened by Eleanor Roosevelt, the Liberty Ship Harriet Tubman. In 1995, she was honored by the federal government with a commemorative postage stamp. Many historians have written hints of Ms. Tubman as a same gender loving woman and in the book “Black Lesbians” the authors write that Ms. Tubman “let some of her lesbian leanings be known.”

By Anonymous, at November 07, 2009 8:05 AM
she waznt a lesbian.. + she had 2 huzbanz..

By Anonymous, at January 29, 2010 6:15 PM
u know what,We have no facts so we cant prove if she was a lesbian or not but in my OPINION, SHE WAS NOT A LESBIAN! there are more comments that say the same. You don't need to post anymore comments because like somebody else said, ITS NOT OUR BUSINESS!

By Zak, at February 28, 2010 2:58 PM