It's small, lesser known details like this that the actor hopes will help humanize Tubman for audiences who might not know a lot about her beyond the myth. But “Minty” (the episode’s actual title, which comes from Ms. Tubman’s childhood nickname) isn’t just a departure from the show’s standard format; it’s also a unique hour of television. To that end, Hinds prepared for the role by reading many books, including two written by author and historian Sarah Bradford. A few days into shooting the season, I asked the silly question, “So, when you say, ‘TED Talk,’ what does that actually mean?” They’re like, “Oh, the entire episode.”. I didn’t have an agent, I wasn’t going on auditions, and I certainly wasn’t anywhere near Broadway,” she shared. From Tubman’s’s claim that she had a direct connection with God, to her controversial endorsement of the militant abolitionist John Brown, who aimed to end slavery through armed insurrection, “Minty” is full of thought-provoking moments. Critics everywhere were calling for her to walk red carpets and stages after the Tubman portrayal. “And at the time my dad had gotten sick, so I started to take care of him.”, Perspective came into play. Throughout my audition and casting, and then going from writing to production, I had heard the language “Harriet Tubman,” “TED Talk.” I thought there would be a sort of TED Talk in the middle of the show somewhere — maybe an eight-minute monologue. In certain programming, you have your token black people or you have the one strong, black female. "All of those things were helpful in flushing out this human version of Harriet Tubman, so that we could feel that we had a flushed-out encounter with her," she says, noting that the trick was to humanize Tubman, not idolize her. You were a new addition to the “Underground” cast this season. And how did you go about preparing for it? “And all of my Brooklyn came out of me. When did you find out that there would be a whole episode devoted to telling Harriet Tubman’s story in her own words? Aisha Jamila Hinds (born November 13, 1975) is an American television, stage and film … A veteran of the theater who also currently appears in the Fox mini-series “Shots Fired,” Ms. Hinds essentially performs a one-woman show, endowing a figure who is often celebrated, but rarely humanized, with a warm, tenacious personality.

Ditto for Hinds — she, too, won. I think I speak for all Underground fans when I say, we'd love that too.
If there are a few that see themselves in me, then I feel accomplished.”, How Andre Dawson continued Curt Flood’s legacy of protecting players’ rights Read now Cookie Policy. The latest and best from The Undefeated — straight to your inbox, “Who puts two strong black women on the same show, at the same time, on network television and makes them best friends? But she embraced this thing that was supposed to be a disadvantage, and she saw it as an advantage, because she said God guided her during her spells and would warn her of any danger. And that turned out to be the toughest day for me. I started working at the Waldorf Astoria in the overnight shift, and all of the plans that I’d made didn’t come true. Huge fight. I was like, “Is it possible for me to actually memorize this?” They were like, “No, it’s not possible.” But, much like Harriet was able to guide people to freedom in an impossible time, through impossible terrain, her spirit inhabited me, and it guided us from impossible to possible. I don't know if you've heard, but Harriet Tubman is one of the most badass American heroes to ever walk the Earth. Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman in Underground. She’s not only a stone-cold actor who can easily swing-shift from important historical figures to a social justice, needle-moving minister, as she did in last year’s Shots Fired. Played by Aisha Hinds, Harriet Tubman made her Underground debut in Second 2, currently airing on the network. The actress Aisha Hinds dominates almost every frame of Wednesday night’s episode of “Underground,” the WGN America drama about the Underground Railroad.

“I just want to do interesting things. She can act out every episode of the U.S version of "The Office," she can and will sing the Michigan State University fight song on command and she is very much immune to Hollywood hotness. Post was not sent - check your email addresses!

"It often felt like such a privilege to be uttering the words of Harriet Tubman," says the actor. She also inspires with her very presence. Maybe you’re disappointed. I thought it was incredibly bold.”, “I felt like I just wasn’t living in the fullness of my passion and my calling. That sadly didn’t happen. "One of the things that was astounding to me was that she suffered with these sleeping spells that made her extremely drowsy, or that she would fall asleep at the drop of a dime," Hinds says, noting how this significantly elevated the risk to Tubman's life every time she stepped into Southern territory. After 15 years of working in the TV and film industry, Hinds has finally broken out. We were actually in a deficit with time. The guy was ejected from the game. Neither would her own never-walk-away-from-a-battle spirit. Though we were creating theater for television, we were still working within the confines of a television schedule.

A brawl, not so surprisingly, broke out. I was in crisis. “Who puts two strong black women on the same show, at the same time, on network television and makes them best friends? In a recent telephone interview, Ms. Hinds discussed how she prepared for her remarkable performance and what she hoped viewers would take away from “Minty.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation. But, I tell you: There were breakdowns, there was blood, sweat and tears. Hinds tried to give up on her dream. The first day, we shot 17 pages; the second day was probably 14; and the third day, which was our final act, was eight pages.

About Nielsen Measurement. “That’s what we’re supposed to do! The trailblazing abolitionist helped free hundreds of slaves during the 1850s, and now she's finally getting some Hollywood recognition in WGN's Underground.

© 2020 ESPN Internet Ventures. That was one of those qualities that made me think, “This woman is not human.”. That fight in her has served the actor quite well in navigating the current moment. I was like, ‘Sir, I get that you’re excited. But with 9-1-1, surely, she’ll get another chance to impress the masses. Did you at least get to take your time during production, since the setup for the episode was so simple, with just one location? The theme of this entire season is “citizen versus soldier.” So, while Harriet is talking to this intimate group of abolitionists, she’s also talking to the broader audience outside the television screen. Taking on the role of one of the best known abolitionists in history required quite a bit of research for Hinds, who, like many of us, only knew the basics of Tubman's place in history from what she learned in school. Without question. 2020 Bustle Digital Group. Ryan Murphy!’ He’s not going to do paint-by-numbers. The actress Aisha Hinds dominates almost every frame of Wednesday night’s episode of “Underground,” the WGN America drama about the Underground Railroad. “When I got back into doing it, the thing that helped me to power through rejection was knowing that it was my purpose. The University of Miami alum and Instagram star has been fighting for years along her Hollywood journey. As bold as taking on an archrival at a college football game fight? Before it was even scripted, the episode was known on the show’s set as “Harriet Tubman’s TED Talk.”. And beyond that, she’s talking to our entire nation, to this entire world, and challenging people to consider what their position is: Are you just going to be a citizen and observe the injustices that are rampant in our world, or are you going to be a soldier and engage in a way that is necessary for us to break down the systems that are trying to oppress us as a people? It’s incredibly bold and courageous of them to make this choice and absolutely not be afraid to do it.”.
"We're ordinary human beings, but we all have the power to do an extraordinary thing if we try to put our mind to it.". That wasn’t the case here. Right now, though, Hinds should be in the midst of award season deliciousness. And as Hinds tells Bustle in a recent phone interview, making Harriet Tubman historically accurate on Underground was no easy undertaking. Noose comment by Penn State basketball coach points to larger NCAA problem Read now I had this grand, master plan: Find a job where I could work overnight so that when I was going on 10,000 auditions during the day, I wouldn’t be interrupted by … asking for time off. Something was still calling at my heart.”. “Shortly after I’d quit, I just felt physically ill. Like I just wasn’t living in the fullness of my passion and my calling.” Her circle of friends wouldn’t let her quit. For example, in Underground, Tubman suffers from uncontrollable sleeping spells, something Tubman herself dealt with while on the run. But never did I wrap my mind around the fact that there would be one character, and it would be Harriet Tubman, and she would be speaking for 55 minutes. She was taking on this dangerous, daunting task of leading people for hundreds of miles — and she was doing so with this condition where, at any moment, she could fall asleep and put herself and others in danger. The trailblazing abolitionist helped free hundreds of slaves during the 1850s, and now she's finally getting some Hollywood recognition in WGN's Underground.

And I just stood there like, ‘Yep!’ ” No. A quick look at her Instagram images and you’ll see the response to her fashionable and risk-taking posts — let’s call it stunting — are being received. By reading Tubman's first person accounts, Hinds says she was able to find the woman behind the icon.

And when they told me that Angela Bassett was headlining the show? I had to learn 45 pages of dialogue as quickly as I could.

The actor also hopes that by taking Tubman off her historic pedestal, Underground can inspire modern audiences to embrace their own rebellion as she did. Aisha Hinds as Harriet Tubman in Underground. Now in its second season, “Underground” typically moves at a hectic pace, following characters scattered across the United States in action-packed scenes set to a pointedly anachronistic pop soundtrack. Interest-Based Ads. 13 University of Miami won the game that day, 34-20. “I left the University of Miami, came back up to New York.

I realized we’re going to take theater and turn it into television.