cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22658298
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10288396
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist who is famous for guiding escaped slaves to the North in the Underground Railroad and helping plan the attack on Harper's Ferry.
This percussion cap pistol and 3 ft ivory handled sword belonged to her.
The Tallahassee family of Alex Brickler owns the pieces and considers them a family heirloom since he’s a 5th generation decedent of Tubman. He said Harriet found the sword and kept it with her, just in case.
“You know it’s a very threatening kind of a weapon, she was a spy so she may not have had direct recourse in order to use the saber, but you know if you’re walking around the south in the woods with a big saber like that people are gonna take notice and they’ll be out to not necessarily threaten you as much,” Brickler says.
As far as the pistol, Brickler family members aren’t sure if she ever fired it, but say she did take it with her on a slave raid.
She would pull that pistol on escaping slaves who were having second thoughts about the danger of what they'd signed up for, to make them keep going. She would drug babies to keep them quiet, because that's what's up and no one wants to get the whole group caught because of a crying baby.
Also, yeah, sure, she "found" the saber. That was a trophy, and like a real gangster, she didn't say a word. She just showed up with it one day.
Look at her face. She's not mean or unkind, she cares a lot, but she didn't fuck around. Neither should you.