GREENSBORO, N.C. — Diane Faison is fully immersed in her role. Dressed head to toe as Harriet Tubman, the Burlington, North Carolina reenactor is on a mission underneath the shade of one of Guilford County's most important historical landmarks, the Underground Railroad Tree. Hundreds of years old, the towering poplar once guided escaping slaves north through the pro-abolition, Quaker forests behind Guilford College. Today, Faison senses a connection to the trail she can't explain.
"When we first entered the woods, I heard voices," Faison said, "I felt a gathering. I could feel it."
Perhaps, it's this ethereal connection to the past that spurs Faison's spirited performances. For years, Faison has performed as Tubman, retelling the story of the Underground Railroad pioneer in a carefully rehearsed performance.
She often performs at schools, where she feels her role has shifted towards 'guardian of history' as much as simply an embodiment.
"I'm Harriet's vessel," Faison said, "speaking for her, telling her story, saying 'Don't forget me, now. Don't forget me.'"
"[The students] are usually amazed that they are actually drawn into the story. They feel that I am actually Harriet talking," she said.
Faison said she's deeply concerned for the children she performs for, especially, she said, the younger African-American children. She can recount times when African-American 5th-graders have approached her after she finished performing, still curious about the history of their ancestors. Faison said some middle-schoolers have not yet been taught the history behind the performances.
"I lay it at the feet of the schools and this current generation. Some of these kids haven't been taught about our history, my history or Harriet's history." Faison said.
"Their parents have forgotten. They're so used to the privileges that they had, that they forgot to tell the younger generation, 'You know why we can go here? You know why we can ride on a Greyhound bus and not have to sit in the back?'" she continued.
The lessons Faison is teaching, she's learned from personal experience.
Faison took part in sit-ins in 1961 aimed at breaking segregation of local businesses near her home in Winston-Salem. Then, Civil Rights was a contentious idea. The former teacher believed her actions were worth the risk of ramifications of punishment.
"You only look back afterward and say, 'You know, we could have gotten killed," she said, "but the fear was overpowered by the purpose and drive within us."
There are new barriers, Faison predicts, the next generation of African-Americans will be tasked with scaling. When it is time, she wants to make sure they remember the centuries of predecessors whose purpose overpowered fear. So Faison performs, earnestly, in hope of keeping the stories of freedom alive, both Harriet's stories and her own.
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