Author Talk | COMBEE

Harriet Tubman’s legendary life is widely known: escaping enslavement, leading others to freedom via the Underground Railroad, and tirelessly fighting for change. But a crucial chapter often overlooked is her daring Civil War service as a spy for the U.S. Army, detailed in Dr. Edda L. Fields-Black‘s groundbreaking book, COMBEE: Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom, which won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize in History.

A direct descendant of a soldier who fought in the raid, Fields-Black unveils Tubman’s command of spies and pilots and the intelligence she gathered from freedom seekers, leading to a raid that liberated 756 enslaved people from bondage on seven rice plantations. It was the largest slave rebellion in US history. Through unexamined documents, she brings to life the Combahee River Raid and the untold stories of those freed, their resilience, and the lasting impact of Tubman’s heroism.

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