“No one nominated Harriet Tubman to her purpose, to her courage, to her mission. She did not say ‘I am not a congressperson or the president, so how could I possibly participate in the fight to abolish a system as big as slavery?’ She instead spent ten years making nineteen trips freeing 300 people. One person at a time.” ― Cleo Wade
“Once upon a time, there was a wise man […] who used to go to the ocean […]. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down, he saw […] a young man […] reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean. He called out, ‘[…] What are you doing?’ The young man paused, looked up and replied, ‘Throwing starfish into the ocean. […] The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.’ The old man replied, ‘But young man, don’t you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can’t possibly make a difference!’ The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it into the sea. […] ‘It made a difference for that one!’”
The twenty-first century has ushered in an era of technology where many of the world’s problems now fit in the palm of a hand. With a single swipe, society is inundated with news, politics, war, misinformation, and the struggles of people across the globe. New York Times bestselling author and poet Cleo Wade has chosen to use her social media platform to share messages of hope, resilience, and the power of simple acts of love and kindness. As a powerful activist, she combines art, poetry, and advocacy to address pervasive modern day social justice issues such as criminal justice reform and gender and racial equality.
In her book Where to Begin: A Small Book About Your Power to Create Big Change in Our Crazy World, Wade writes, “No one nominated Harriet Tubman to her purpose, to her courage, to her mission. She did not say ‘I am not a congressperson or the president, so how could I possibly participate in the fight to abolish a system as big as slavery?’ She instead spent ten years making nineteen trips freeing 300 people. One person at a time.” When confronted with the gravity and scale of modern-day slavery, Wade points us to history as a reminder of where advocacy begins: one step at a time.
Harriet Tubman is a pillar of the American abolitionist movement and a renowned conductor of the Underground Railroad. After escaping from slavery in 1849, she returned to the South where she had been enslaved—not once, not twice, but nineteen times—to lead others to freedom. Modern abolitionists have the privilege of viewing the bigger picture of history and its lasting, large-scale impacts. However, at one point, Harriet Tubman had only just escaped herself. She had freed only one person—her brother—and then returned to the South to lead others to freedom once, twice, and so on.
Wade’s art invites us to imagine a world where Harriet Tubman saw the injustice of slavery but was instead debilitated by the enormity of the problem. What might the world look like if Harriet Tubman had waited for someone more qualified, more official, more knowledgeable, or more equipped to act? Instead, her willingness to act and her passion to stand up for others were enough. That same willingness is enough for abolitionists in the twenty-first century as well. The art of Cleo Wade and the life of Harriet Tubman serve as reminders that every act of advocacy matters, every dollar donated matters, every individual effort matters. When preparing to take a stand against modern-day slavery, “never let your inability to do everything get in the way of your ability to do something.”
