Why a new film about Harriet Tubman focuses on freedom

Amna Nawaz:

Finally tonight: A film out today shows abolitionist Harriet Tubman in a new light.

As I found in a recent conversation with the director and star of "Harriet," there is so much more to her personal story and historical role than is usually told.

It's part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.

Born around 1820 to enslaved parents, Araminta Ross, known as Minty, braved a 100-mile journey north to freedom as a young woman in 1849. She began her new life with a new name, Harriet Tubman, then returned to the South dozens of times to free more than 300 enslaved people throughout her lifetime, including her own family, along the network of abolitionists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.

She continued to lead in the fight against slavery as a spy in the Civil War. And she went on to become one of the only American women to lead an armed expedition.

After the war, Tubman returned to her home in Auburn, New York, where she died in 1913 at the estimated age of 91.

The story of the Underground Railroad's most famous conductor is now being told in "Harriet," which is also the first to tell Tubman's story on the big screen.

I'm joined now by the director, Kasi Lemmons, and the star, Cynthia Erivo.

Welcome to you both.

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