Notes

Do you have any doubt that a picture is worth a thousand words? How about two pictures being worth twice that? Then you need to read this story about Lovie. She's a contemporary 3-year-old girl who reached out and touched the hand of 19th-century abolitionist and American hero, Harriet Tubman.

Spoiler alert: No time travel is involved.

Lovie's grandmother brought Lovie to the Harriet Tubman Museum & Educational Center in Cambridge, Maryland. The museum is not far from where Tubman once lived. The grandmother may not have been able to fully explain slavery and abolitionism to her young granddaughter. Nonetheless, Tubman had Lovie at hello. The girl didn't even need to step foot into the museum.

What caught Lovie's eye and imagination? An outsized mural of Tubman outside the museum. The painting is striking. Tubman's right foot is planted on the base of an unfinished brick wall. Her left hand holds the side of the wall for support. And her right hand reaches out, seemingly through time and space. It's as if she's poised to help a runaway slave to a wooden rowboat moored in the Maryland marshlands.

Tubman took enormous risks as a "conductor" of the Underground Railroad in the years immediately before the Civil War. That's when she helped about 70 slaves out of the South and led them to freedom in the North. (The Underground Railroad wasn't an actual railroad. It was a network of people, secret routes, and safe houses.)

Perhaps the exhibits in the museum will one day come to mind as Lovie grows up and learns more about Tubman's history. Perhaps she'll be reminded of the quick meeting if she sees the 2019 movie of Tubman's life. And maybe she'll think back on it if she sees Tubman's image on the $20 bill. (There have been efforts to put it there.) But when little Lovie saw the mural, her reaction was automatic. She simply reached out to take Tubman's hand.

One can hardly blame Lovie. The Maryland artist who painted the mural, Michael Rosato, uses a trick known as trompe l'oeil. (It's pronounced trahmp loy.) The painting style makes things look like real objects. Clearly, Lovie thought that Tubman's hand was reaching out to her in modern-day Maryland. So she reached back.

Lovie's grandmother captured the moment with her camera. She posted it on social media. The image soon went viral. And the effect on the museum was just as immediate. In a matter of days, the museum's daily attendance tripled. The effect spilled over to other Tubman points of interest as well. Tour buses headed to the nearby Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Museum now stop at the mural. Tourists can take their own photos.

Amanda Fenstermaker, head of Dorchester County tourism, has noticed the excitement. She says interest in Tubman is drawing people to the county's visitor center. People want to learn about Tubman while they are in town.

"There's definitely a global connection when it comes to civil rights and human rights," Fenstermaker said.

At least some of that interest can be credited to Lovie: a little girl who lent Harriet Tubman a helping hand.

Voice of America contributed to this story.