LIBERATION Films:
Poet Mia X invokes the epic courage of Harriet Tubman in a pulsating testament to the freedom fighter’s rebellious rescues, which shaped generations of Americans.
LIBERATION: Poetry Films Inspired by Harriet Tubman is a powerful series of short films inspired by the legacy of Harriet Tubman, in celebration of the new Harriet Tubman Monument in Newark.
Poem Written & Performed by Margie Mia X Johnson
Directed by Yuri Alves
Produced: Igor Alves
Director of Photography: Gabriel Kurzlop
Sound Recording: Victor Buitrago, Andre Marques
Edited by: Yuri Alves, Victor Buitrago
Colorist: Gabriel Kurzlop
Assistant Editor: Andre Marques
Sound Design: Alexandre Ajuda
Post-Production Assistant: Gissel Romero
Production Company: DreamPlay Media
LIBERATION: Poetry Films Inspired by Harriet Tubman
Special Thanks: The City of Newark – Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Express Newark – Community Media Center, Shine Portrait Studio, Rutgers University-Newark, The Newark Museum of Art, Newark Public Library, Newark Arts and the Greater Newark Conventions and Visitors Bureau.
Made Possible By: The Harriet Tubman Monument Project, funded by The City of Newark, New Jersey, Audible, Mellon Foundation, and supported by local residents in partnership with Newark Arts, The Newark City Parks Foundation, The Newark Museum of Art, Newark Public Library and DreamPlay Media.
For more: visitharriettubmansquare.com
#LIBERATIONFILMS #HARRIETTUBMANMONUMENT
About Mia X
Margie “Mia X” Johnson, mom, writer, poet, teaching artist, BA in African American Studies, Temple University. Specializing in youth development, community outreach, empowerment and culture creation. She’s an advocate for youth, community and art. Influenced by jazz and hip hop, she conjures everyone from Sojourner Truth to Lady Gaga. She uses creativity and word power to passionately touch hearts while writing herself into existence; primary host and producer of The People’s Open Mic, longest running open mic in the city of Newark. The creator and producer of Hug the Block, a public art experience of poetry, visual art, live music and hip hop ciphers that bring love and light to Newark neighborhoods.
Follow Mia X at instagram.com/bestthingcreated
TRANSCRIPT
She made up her Mind
to get free to get free to get free
to be free to be free
she made up her mind
to get free to get free
to get away
to get away
from the dark forces
pushing and pulling
Whipping through the trees
she she said forget
them brown bodies blowing in the breeze
she couldn’t take it
she couldn’t take
it she had to break it she had to break
it she had to break free she had to spark it
insist on its reality
She sparked herself into a railroad
still in our hearts
while we explode above the ground
through a field when we make up our
mind when you make up your mind
when she made up her mind
Harriet
she made up her mind
Started planning her escape her escape her escape through a field
she was a song
when the Sun Goes Down
she was all Liberty or death
riding on the truth treble clef
of what’s left
what’s left inside you when nothing
is left pulling you driving you what’s
what lives inside you forever what lives
inside you forever what wants to escape
to freedom 19 trips to freedom
– freedom – freedom!
stop being a slave
to chips stop being slaves to beliefs
let them fall where they may
let go of the ones that don’t matter – today today today
19 trips begin a journey take a step don’t turn back
don’t forget don’t be scared
go go go go go go go go on
come on come on
come on you go on or you die
under the blue sky
she pointing a gun at him
do you want to be free
do you want to be free
do you want to be free to dream free to be free
to be new to escape
escape escape yourself escape the dark black
color of night break break
like day like Sun
the Sun the past is the master
No sir no sir no sir
and before I be a slave
I’ll be buried in my grave and
go home to my Lord and be
the master of my fate
DREAMPLAY FILMS
Original, award-winning narrative and documentary films.
