Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman are focus of PBS films from acclaimed director

Stanley Nelson, the acclaimed filmmaker whose "Attica" documentary was an Oscar finalist last year, is returning to American history that again includes western New York — the lives of Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

Over two weeks, two hourlong documentaries from Nelson will premiere on PBS: "Harriett Tubman: Visions of Freedom" will air on Oct. 4 and "Becoming Frederick Douglass" will air Oct. 11. The documentaries can be seen locally on WXXI-TV.

"These are two of our nation's superheroes and the chance to delve into their lives and learn more about them and try to translate that onto film was a great opportunity," Nelson said in a telephone interview.

Douglass has his significant Rochester connections — it was his home and the site of The North Star, his abolitionist newspaper. Tubman lived much of her life 60 miles east in Auburn. Both were born in Maryland, and Maryland Public Television sought out prospective filmmakers for the documentaries. Nelson was chosen.

"We don't really think about Maryland as a slave state and enslavement in the upper South," Nelson said.

The historic figures of course have their abolitionist similarities in their push against the degradations of slavery, but, as will be evident across the two programs, they are also greatly dissimilar — Douglass known for his words and Tubman for her actions.

"They were on the opposite ends of the spectrum, both fighting for equality," Nelson said.

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Douglass was the learned orator whose words lay bare the horrors of enslavement; Tubman was illiterate and suffered a traumatic head injury from a slave overseer. She was a spy and scout for the Union Army, and her stealthy incursions into Confederate territories freed dozens of slaves.

The legacies of both have been in the public spotlight in recent years: Douglass was the subject of an expansive Pulitzer-winning biography from David Blight and Tubman the focus of a Hollywood film. Their heroism is unquestioned, yet, Nelson said, there is much still to reveal about Tubman and Douglass.

"Both Harriett Tubman and Frederick Douglass are mythologized and in some the general public does not know a lot about their lives," he said. "There's always more to learn. There's still more to learn even after our films."

Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Alfre Woodard narrates the Tubman documentary, and acclaimed actor Wendell Pierce, currently starring as Willy Loman in "Death of a Salesman" on Broadway, provides the voice of Frederick Douglass.

Nelson's 2021 documentary about the 1971 Attica prison uprising was an Oscar finalist and won best documentary from the Director Guilds of America. He heads the filmmaking company, Firelight Films.

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This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman are focus of new PBS films