ACT ONE: BORN INTO CHAINS
[A plantation in Dorchester County, Maryland. A child, MINTY, plays near a wooden fence. HARRIET'S PARENTS watch nearby.]
NARRATOR 1: Harriet Tubman was born around 1822 on a plantation in Maryland. Her birth name was Araminta Ross — her family called her Minty. From her very first days, she was enslaved. NARRATOR 2: Enslaved people had no freedom, no wages, and no legal rights. Families could be separated and sold at any time. Children were put to work when they were very young. NARRATOR 3: But Minty was not an ordinary child. She was brave, determined, and she had an extraordinary faith that God would lead her to freedom. MINTY: (looking up at the sky) Papa, why can we not go where we want to go? BEN ROSS: (kneeling beside her, gently) We live under an unjust law, Minty. But unjust laws can be changed. And God's law — God's law says every person is free. OLD RIT: (softly) Hush, Benjamin. Not so loud. BEN ROSS: (quietly but firmly) She needs to know the truth, Rit. She needs to know who she really is. MINTY: Who am I really, Papa? BEN ROSS: You are free in your heart, child. And one day — I believe it — you will be free everywhere. [Years pass. MINTY has grown into HARRIET TUBMAN. She works in the fields. The PLANTATION OVERSEER watches.] NARRATOR 1: When Harriet was a teenager, a terrible thing happened. An overseer threw a heavy iron weight at another enslaved person — and it struck Harriet instead, hitting her in the head.
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