“What can we do to better ourselves and our communities? Who can we learn from and turn to for inspiration when all hope feels lost?” These are the questions filmmakers Metra Lundy and Selina Mara Garcia pose in their debut documentary film, “A Walk In her Shoes.” The film centers around one woman’s quest to travel the same 695 mile route that her hero, Harriet Tubman, walked in the 1800s to free herself and countless others from enslavement. However, the physical act of the journey may be the simple part for Metra and Selina. The emotional journey that they both face may end up being the most daunting aspect of their walk. Metra, a professional coach, speaker, and author, has helped people transform their lives. She finds that looking to inspirational women, particularly Harriet Tubman, is what she must do to transform herself. Her story is intertwined with Selina’s, who is the director of the film, and whose tale of pursuing citizenship in the U.S. for herself and her family echoes the path that Harriet Tubman and other freedom seekers walked. Both women aspire to do something big. And what they learn about themselves, un-whitewashed history, and who they meet along the way, is nothing short of that. Another question this documentary poses: “What can’t women do?”
12TH STREET: Metra, you’re the creator and producer of the documentary film “A Walk in Her Shoes,” and Selina, you’re the director. For those who don’t know, can you discuss what your film is about?
METRA LUNDY: “A Walk in Her Shoes,” is about the journey of a woman following in her heroine’s footsteps. I follow in Harriet Tubman’s shoes, using Harriet’s story as inspiration to bring myself out of a dark place in my life, by literally and physically walking one of the routes that Harriet took in the underground railroad. And for those who don’t know, Harriet Tubman was a conductor of the underground railroad, meaning she herself escaped from enslavement, and also helped others to escape enslavement in the South [of the United States].
STREET: What inspired you to go on this walk Metra, how did you come to this decision?
LUNDY: In 2017, I experienced a major identity shift. My options were to either sink or swim. So, going on this walk was my way of trying to swim. I had a bit of a health scare, and my personal life was also changing. And Harriet Tubman is someone that I always sought comfort from—by understanding her story and appreciating her as a person of power and strength—and in trying to heal and bring myself out of a very low place, I looked to Harriet Tubman, her example, and her story. I had a dream about her and woke up having made the decision to take the journey.
STREET: And Selina, how did you become involved in this project with Metra?
SELINA MARA GARCIA: I met Metra because I was looking to take classes at her studio. I was not employed, and as I was taking classes, I saw that she was hiring some administrative people, and so I applied. It had nothing to do with film, but I thought that it would be good to at least apply. Then we got to talking. She asked about my background, and I mentioned that I have a film certificate from Rutgers. It sparked her interest because she’d been looking for someone to make promotional and marketing videos for her studio. When she got the idea for the walk, she already knew my skills, and I got involved. I think it wasn’t even planned out in her head, she just knew that she was going to do the walk, and at first, I was like, “What are you talking about?” But she was so adamant that it was going to happen, that I went along too!
STREET: What role did Harriet Tubman and her legacy play in both of your lives before you set out on this journey and created this film?
LUNDY: I grew up in a family where African American role models were made readily available, but Harriet Tubman is one figure whose story has always resonated with me the most. At some points louder than others. I’m a mother of two girls, and when my youngest daughter was 11, I took her to see the Tubman home. Historically, Tubman is spoken about in schools and was spoken about in my house, but she’s also somebody whose story has kept coming back to me at so many points in my life. When I am at my lowest, she’s there through her stories, and she’s the one that I gravitated towards the most because I imagine that she had many, many low points that she made it out of. So, if Harriet could do it, surely I can figure out how to come out better too.
STREET: What were some of the biggest challenges that you faced on this walk and while creating this film?
LUNDY: I didn’t realize that there would be such an emotional undertaking. I prepared myself physically and was ready to walk 245 miles (the total distance we traveled was 695 miles, of which 245 were on foot) but there was also a lot of grieving that happened during the walk. A lot happens when you’re spending time by yourself. I didn’t expect to sit with that grief. I also didn’t expect to come out appreciating how beautiful the actual walk was. You appreciate the landscape much more when you’re traveling by foot. When you’re walking through the wildlife preservation and through the various cities, you just think, “Wow, what a gift from God that we have all of this beauty!” I wondered how Tubman and the other freedom seekers interacted and what it must have been like to be on foot, and thinking about how they must’ve been feeling. Were they only really scared, how did they cope, how did they deal with those emotions? Wondering how it was for them was something that I didn’t expect. It was an emotional grieving period.
GARCIA: My challenges started up very differently. I was in charge of the logistics of the walk: making sure that we were on track, that the routes that we were taking made sense for pedestrians, figuring out how to bring camera equipment, how to film when it was just us two. That was challenging. Then, while editing and putting the film together, it was difficult because there was so much footage. I had to figure out how to put it together in a way that not only made sense and told the story, but also told a story that would touch other people in a way that will inspire them to do something powerful too.
STREET: Absolutely, I was incredibly inspired after I watched the film and I thought, “I would love to do something that’s so active and involved.” But Metra, what were some of the physical walls that you encountered when you were walking 40 something miles a day? Because by the end, you had walked hundreds of miles!
LUNDY: I took for granted what it would be like to walk or run during the day with the heat. I purposely planned for the journey to take place during the summer, because I didn’t want to be cold. Tubman traveled during the colder months, she traveled in the fall and winter mostly, and that was because it was darker for longer, so it was safer to travel. And she traveled at night and slept during the day. We didn’t do that. I didn’t want to be in the cold and I also was not going to be traveling in the middle of the night. I had that luxury. But I didn’t expect for the heat and sun to hit me so hard, and even [after the journey] I pretty much slept for three or four days when we returned. I don’t know what the technical or scientific term is for it, but the sun had gotten to me, and I was really exhausted. I had some sun burns, and I was extremely dehydrated. I was really thirsty all the time. At some point, Selina was being very kind and recommending that I put on sunblock. And I [snapped back] saying, “Why do I have to put on sunblock?” and I refused, but that was the sun and heat exhaustion talking, that wasn’t really me.
STREET: You’ve touched on this Metra, but you discuss how this journey was more of an emotional and mental journey than a simply physical one, and that it was more emotionally taxing than anything else. Can you speak more on that, why do you think that was the case?
LUNDY: The beauty of what Selina and I were able to put together—as well as with the editor whose name is Kathleen and who has been much more behind the scenes—is that the story is very layered. There’s my story and the journey that I chose to take, but there’s also Selina’s story, as somebody who has not experienced what its like to be Black in America and have to deal with the history of slavery, but what it’s like to be an immigrant and have to encounter some of the same emotions that the freedom seekers had to encounter back then. There was also the historical aspect, getting a chance to hear from the historians, the people who are doing this work and studying, and getting to hear their perspectives on how history has not been told truthfully. Understanding what it was really like more closely was very impactful. In comparison, in the books we read, we might encounter a short paragraph about Harriet Tubman and how she was the conductor of the underground railroad, but maybe we don’t appreciate the fact that she was 27 years old when she got her freedom, and it was the second time she left the plantation. The first time she left was with her brothers, but they became afraid and turned back. And she was left alone. What did it mean for a woman at the age of 27 to leave everything that she knew and [the people that she] loved [behind] to set out to do something different? This was not happening back in the 1840s for any women. We weren’t given the same rights, we didn’t own land, we didn’t vote, and so she was able to experience life, such that she freed herself and freed many people. She established herself in New York City by working with other abolitionists. She managed to interact with political figures by purchasing land for herself and her family. What she was able to accomplish as a woman during that time is phenomenal.
Interacting with that story so closely was a very emotional experience. I got to know and appreciate her in such a different way. This country has made a lot of progress, but we still have so much more work to do. And so it made me think, “Okay, where does the work begin? The work begins with me, but how do I do it? How do I start to work on these things without it feeling overwhelming?” I started with the basics. With myself. Am I developing myself, am I taking care of myself? Am I fighting for the causes that matter to me like Harriet Tubman did until the day she died when she was 91 years old? She knew what she wanted her life’s work to be. When we think about ourselves, and we think about the legacy that we individually want to leave, it helps to look at our heroes. Then you can decide how you can positively affect your family, your community, anyone. I really hope that when people watch the film, they really take the words and the journey in and apply it to their own lives. No matter how big or small.
STREET: And Selina, I think a very moving and unexpected part of the film is when you discuss you and your family’s immigration status in the U.S. which prevents you from finishing the trek with Metra in Canada. You also mentioned how unexpectedly emotional this film and journey was for you. So, can you speak to that, what were some of the things that you experienced and learned while accompanying Metra on this journey?
GARCIA: At that time, it just so happened that my family was still going through the immigration process—just an update we’re all good now, it’s all settled—and it was interesting to see the similarities between what freedom seekers had to experience and how the immigration system puts you through a similar thing. There are lots of hoops that you have to jump through just to be considered a part of this country, as someone who can participate in this government. It was emotional. As someone who isn’t white or Black, I think you get left out of the equation, and so you have to find ways to empathize. Because it’s not so obvious sometimes. When I was going through this journey and sitting with it, this experience made it a little more clear and showed me ways I can relate.
STREET: And Metra, a highlight of this film was seeing you meet and connect with an actual descendant of Harriet Tubman! What was that experience like?
LUNDY: I can honestly say that was one of the best days of my life. I’ve been married, I have children, I’ve purchased a car, purchased a home, all the check marks checked for “the best days of your life,” and I’ve had some really great ones, but that day was perfect because it was as if the universe had placed me in the right place for what I needed emotionally. Everything had lined itself up in a way that told me I was doing the right thing and that everything that I was going through was for a reason. Meeting Pauline and her family and being able to understand her story, remembering my walk, remembering my conversations with Kate Clifford Larson who wrote the book “Bound For The Promised Land,” and actually did the family tree for the Tubmans, and being able to point back to Pauline’s family, knowing that Pauline is a descendant of that family, of Harriet, and then hearing Pauline tell me the story in person, it made it feel so much more real and relevant. It was honestly, to this day, one of the best days of my life.
STREET: Another standout moment of this film was when Metra sat down with a historian and discussed how all of our history is interconnected, from Asian American history, to African American, to Jewish American. And that it’s vital that we all learn about Harriet Tubman and other heroes like her. So, what do you think we can do on both a societal level and an individual level to ensure that this history and stories aren’t forgotten?
GARCIA: I immediately think, “Well, we need to rewrite some textbooks!” That’s the first thing. Because whoever writes textbooks, even though it may seem unbiased, it’s always going to be biased. As an individual, I think being open to hearing stories from other people is one of the best ways. I think that’s the main thing. Sometimes, certain people grow up in very homogenous communities, so they don’t get other perspectives. I think it’s good practice, even for me, to talk to people. Find someone who’s completely different from you and talk to them and see what you can learn.
LUNDY: I agree with Selina 1,000%. I think something that white people have over non-white people is that the history of white America is a part of everyday life. So, if I were white and I lived in a white community and I only interacted with white history—meaning no other people of color are introduced, no other stories—and all I tried to do is stay in this homogenous environment, then, unless I made a concerted effort to look for something else, I’d just be in that environment and I wouldn’t grow in any other way, learning about other people, and other cultures. For non-white people, I think it’s a lot easier, we’re forced to learn about other people’s history, we’re forced to learn white history and it’s a part of our everyday life to learn about other people, and so we do it. But it’s harder on the other side. I think on both ends, going out of your way to learn each other’s history and culture becomes really important, because usually there’s not a lot of opportunity or reason to unless you go seek it out. I also am clear about the role that film and books play in educating the masses. The work that you’re doing, Sophia, and the work that Selina and I have done, we’re now responsible for somebody else’s learning, so it would be wrong if we never spoke about this again. If we never talked about the journey, and we never shared how it opened us up and what we learned wouldn’t be right. The work that The Socially Relevant Film Festival is doing and the work that other organizations and people are doing is necessary. Any medium for sharing stories, films, books, etc. becomes vital, and so I’d say go out and share, share, share your stories!
STREET: Where can readers watch “A Walk In Her Shoes?”
LUNDY: Since we got the offer from IndiePix for distribution, the plan is for the film to be available in two ways: we will live on their Amazon Prime platform under IndiePix, and the film will be made into a DVD and distributed to places such as libraries, schools, and other partners of IndiePix. So, Amazon Prime is going to be the first place that I’d tell someone to go!
STREET: That’s great! Congrats! And what’s next for both of you, do you have any upcoming projects?
LUNDY: Selina and I, along with Kathleen who’s again the editor that we used in the last project, are collecting stories about women. We’re trying to amplify these stories and show them to the world in a way that has a layered approach, like what we did with Tubman. And I ultimately aspire to motivate individuals to learn and reflect more. Who the story is and what the story is, I’m not quite sure yet. But the plan is to have a documentary short of people telling stories about phenomenal women who have changed their family and affected their community. Our goal is to complete that short by the end of 2021.
GARCIA: Yeah, I’m excited to collect stories of extraordinary women, because the women in all of our lives are more extraordinary than you may think.
You can find Metra Lundy on Instagram and Facebook. And you can find Selina Mara Garcia on Instagram and LinkedIn.
This interview has been edited for clarity.