“There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other; for no man should take me alive.”

Born into slavery on the Eastern Shore of 1800's Maryland, Harriet Tubman endured the harsh life of a field’s hand from birth, fending for herself and her siblings while their Mother worked in their master’s “Big house”. Sometime between 1834 and 1836, an iron weight directed at another fleeing slave struck her instead, landing with such force it fractured her skull and drove fragments of her shawl into her head. Although she suffered from seizures and periods of semi-consciousness for the rest of her life, the incident was the catalyst of her self-driven revolution.

Continually hired out for odd-jobs despite her impairment, Harriet worked on the docks and in a timber gang. It is here she learned of the secret networks of communication within an exclusively male world. Combining a mariner’s knowledge of safe zones with her own skills of disguise and deception, she became uniquely equipped to flee the horrors of slavery. In 1849 she ran away, leaving her family and Husband of five years behind at the plantation. With nothing but the clothes on her back and the North Star as her compass, she evaded bounty hunters and found work as a housemaid in Philadelphia, saving her wages to return South and conduct escape missions. Despite the substantial reward placed on her head, she returned to the site thirteen times and helped seventy people find freedom via the covert Underground Railroad. Dubbed “Black Moses” on account of her unrelenting faith and conviction, she carried a loaded pistol and was unafraid to use it against captors, nor to warn fellow fugitives who showed fear or hesitation.

At the outbreak of the civil war, her talents were noticed by the Union Services, who hired her to work as as a spy. Prized for her ability to move unnoticed through rebel territory, she became the first American woman to command an armed military, leading a raid that saw the liberation of another seven hundred slaves along the Combahee River. During this time she also worked as a cook, nurse, cleaner, scout, laundress and teacher--selling pies, gingerbread and beer in order to supplement her pitiful wage.

 In her later years, she became ever more politicised and continued to campaign for women’s suffrage and black liberation before founding the Harriet Hubman Home for the Aged: a safe space for sick and indignant African Americans who had sustained injuries similar to her own. Aged ninety, she passed away safe in the knowledge of her immaculate record. She never lost a single fugitive, nor allowed one to turn back. 

Further Reading: Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman: Portrait of an American Hero by Kate Clifford Larson

Images: Library of Congress, Bettman/Corbis of The NYT Photo Archive

Homemade chocolate truffles are deceptively easy to make, yet so impressive. The perfect little treat for popping in your mouth when you’re sitting on the sofa, after dinner, or if you are planning a decadent high tea. Everyone’s heard of champagne truffles, but these use our fave fizzy Italian tipple – prosecco.

You will need
MAKES 25
For the truffle ganache:
280g good-quality dark chocolate (70%)
250ml double cream
50g unsalted butter
100ml Prosecco (drink the rest of the bottle while eating your truffles)

For coating:
60g freeze-dried strawberries
60g coated popping candy or normal ‘Fizz Wiz’ popping candy

One. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Two. Start by making the truffle ganache. Break the chocolate into squares and place in a large glass bowl. Heat the cream and butter in a saucepan over a low heat, and stir until the butter is melted. Let the cream reach a gentle simmer, then pour over the chocolate, whisking until it’s completely melted. Add the prosecco and whisk until combined. Pour the lot into a lined shallow tin and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and preferably overnight.

Three. Mix your freeze-dried strawberries and popping candy together on a large plate and set aside.

Four. To shape the truffles, dip a melon baller or teaspoon into a cup of boiling water. Scrape up balls of the ganache, reshaping them with your hands if necessary, then drop them on to the plate of freeze-dried strawberries and popping candy*, rolling them around to get an even coverage.

Five. Repeat until you’ve used all the ganache. Place the truffles on a baking tray lined with baking paper and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes before enjoying.

*Coated popping candy doesn’t absorb the moisture of the truffles, so the ‘POP’ stays until you bite into them. Uncoated ‘Fizz Wiz’ works well, but absorbs the moisture, so these are best eaten quickly. If you prefer to keep your truffles simple, just roll them in good-quality cocoa powder.

Original recipe and image from the MG’s latest book Meringue Girls: Everything Sweet out now and published by Square Peg.

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Image: Derek Abraham

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You will need
(Makes around 38 bite size balls)
250g ground almonds
125g caster sugar
125g icing sugar
2 tsp ground mixed spice
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
¼ tsp almond extract
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 tsp Honey
1 tsp Brandy

One. In a large bowl place the ground almonds, caster sugar, icing sugar and spices, then mix together.

Two. In a seperate bowl beat the whole egg, yolk, extracts, lemon juice, honey and brandy together and pour onto the almond mix and mix together well.

Three. Once the paste is made, roll out in around 15g balls nice and smooth (you should get around 38).

Four. Then using the blow torch or under a grill, singe the marzipan moments to a golden singe brown.Don’t be scare to burn them a little as it really adds to the depth of flavour which balances the sweetness and it is delicious.  

Five. Serve like petite fours or just as a cheeky moment with a glass of something nice.

Fancy an extra treat? Pop along to Borough Market on Saturday to pick up freshly baked treats.

”I know my corn plants intimately, and I find it a great pleasure to know them.”

Barbara is a scientist’s scientist: driven by curiosity, committed to exacting standards and deeply incisive. Though McClintock made many notable contributions to genetics, she is best remembered for her work on “jumping genes” or transposons. By 1902 it was known that chromosomes carried genetic information, but how they worked remained a mystery. In the late 1940s McClintock demonstrated that certain chromosomal segments could move around, resulting in kaleidoscopic colour patterns in maize.

It would take decades for the importance of this finding to be widely recognised but by the late seventies transposition was seemingly everywhere: it was the mechanism that could make bacteria resistant to antibiotics, make viruses infectious, or even cause cancer.

In 1983 McClintock received a Nobel Prize and the notion that her work had been long underappreciated came to the fore. Interviewers asked how she had managed to go on. She replied simply: “I never thought of stopping, and I just hated sleeping. I can’t imagine having a better life.”

Barbara's influential paper can be found at The origin and behavior of mutable loci in maize by Barbara McClintock-- taken from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 36 (6): 344-355. 

This short biopic of Barbara's incredible life was first published in Oh Comely Issue 29, alongside Cristina BanBan's beautiful illustrations. Inside, we also pluck pennies from pavements, watch caterpillars burst from cocoons, and talk personal turning points. Get your hands on a copy here!

Illustration: Cristina BanBan