Milicent Sparks shown here giving her Harriet Tubman Living History Portrayle at Upper Dublin Highschool's Black History Event and in an area school clasroom bringing the message to a group of middle school students.
“Millicent’s beautifully wrought portrayal of Harriet Tubman during the Tubman – Still Walk provided her audiences, irrespective of venue (e.g., churches, schools, community centers, New Jersey Statehouse), with an excellent example of how the public can be educated about the past through a depiction of a historical figure’s life and times. Informed by a careful examination of the scholarly literature on Tubman, Millicent’s portrayal of Tubman was indeed a model of authenticity, blending accounts of special events in Tubman’s life with an acute sense of Tubman’s personal qualities—her emotional depth, profound spirituality, immense intelligence, extraordinary dignity, and astounding courage. Millicent’s faithful rendering of Tubman, for example, included her ability to approximate the rhythmic southern speech style (vernacular) identified with American slaves. Also enhancing the appeal of her portrayal of Tubman was Millicent’s use of her beautiful singing voice to offer a number of Freedom Songs (Negro spirituals) that were sung by Tubman, often as coded messages designed to facilitate the guiding of her fugitive charges northward. And Millicent’s ability, at the conclusion of her portrayal of Harriet Tubman, to respond in character to questions about Tubman and the UGRR, added immeasurably to her role to teach her audiences about both.”