Ella Oberstein
Poem:
“Give me liberty, or give me death” – Patrick Henry, March 23rd, 1775
Tonight is the night that everything changes
The stars are shining brighter than ever, cheering us on through the night
As you push us out further into the water we are on our way to freedom
Don’t be scared, change is exciting and so is adventure
The water welcomes us and provides a pathway and the power to conceal our scent so no one comes looking
We are exactly where we need to be and it is only a matter of time before you boys see that too
Let your mind wander with visions of liberation and agency as we travel along these routes I have discovered for us
Although I cannot ensure our safety, it is crucial that we try.
Another day without freedom is another day of our lives gone to waste
Explanation:
In my poem originally I was just thinking about it from the point of view of Harriet Tubman leading enslaved people to freedom. This piece of art immediately caught my attention when I walked into the Picturing Freedom: Harriet Tubman and the Combahee River Raid exhibit. There were many different artistic choices using this fabric however this one I felt told a very strong story. About halfway through the poem when I was writing it I decided I wanted to use the poet Edwin Makrham’s creative decision to put a quote at the beginning of the poem like he did in his poem “The Man With the Hoe.” I felt that gave the rest of the poem a basis to start from. I believe the quote I used captured exactly what I wanted the poem to feel like as Harriet Tubman was known for being extremely brave and although there was great uncertainty about if she would survive each time she went on one of these expeditions in saving enslaved people, she continued to be fearless throughout her entire life which is not something many people can say they have done. I focused more on the art, however I did also take into consideration the words presented in the informational paragraph next to the art piece explaining the background on why it was made. Also, for keyword choices I brought up liberty, freedom, and agency; which are all more or less synonyms of each other to show how much of a value this was during this time period. Overall, I used a mix of my original thought along with inspiration from Edwin Markham and background from why this piece was made in the first place to create my own poem.
I went to the Gibbes Museum and I did not use generative AI on this assignment.