RAP BATTLE
Harriet Tubman great-niece says Kanye West would be on a plantation if not for abolitionist after rapper’s bizarre rant
THE great-niece of abolitionist Harriet Tubman has said that Kanye West would be on a plantation if not for the work of her ancestor.
The comments came after a bizarre speech by at his inaugural president rally during which he claimed that Tubman "never actually freed the slaves".
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Tubman was a in the campaign to abolish slavery in the US in the middle of the 19th century.
Born into slavery in Maryland in 1822, she escaped in 1849 and later made around 13 missions to rescue roughly 70 other people using the network of activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
West, who has frequently mooted a presidential run in the past, was speaking at a "" in Charleston, South Carolina on Sunday.
At one point during an erratic speech, he said: "Harriet Tubman never actually freed the slaves.
"She just had them work for other white people."
The comment provoked murmurs and boos from and later sparked wider criticism, including from Tubman's great-niece, Tina Wyatt.
"If we were left alone, we would be in an entirely different place," she told .
"She was selfless, she was already free. She didn't have to come back, she didn't have to risk her life, but she did it countless times.
"And if it hadn't been for people like her, he would still be on that plantation.
WHO WAS HARRIET TUBMAN?
Harriet Tubman was a political activist and central figure in the effort to abolish slavery during the 19th century.
Born into slavery in Maryland in 1822, she escaped in 1849 and later made around 13 missions to rescue roughly 70 other enslaved people.
The missions were carried out using the Underground Railroad, a network of activists and safe houses estimated to have enabled the escape of as many as 100,000 slaves.
Tubman's own campaign last around eight years, and she is thought to have become the subject of a number of bounties put out in the region.
Despite the efforts of slaveholders, neither Tubman nor any of the escapees she guided were ever captured.
Speaking to an audience years later, she said: "I never lost a passenger."
During the American Civil War, which began in 1861, chiefly as a result of efforts by some to abolish slavery, Tubman served first as a cook and nurse and later as an armed scout.
She later became an advocate for women's suffrage and, following her death in 1913, an icon of the battle for civil rights.
"He would not be able to be out there saying the things he says, and he wouldn't have the money he has.
"Because they would have it all. So when he says that she didn't free slaves..."
Discussing what West could do to be more constructive, she added: "She would tell him: uplift. I don't know where he's putting his money.
";Put your money into something that will uplift other people.
"Him trying to run to be president is not one of them."
West jumped between a variety of topics during his speech, at one point while discussing abortion.
The rally is not the first time West has provoked controversy with comments about the history of slavery and race relations in the US.
Speaking during an interview in 2018, he seemed to imply that the longevity of slavery had in part been a result of the mindset of the people enslaved.
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“When you hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sounds like a choice," he said.
";You was there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally in prison."
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