DOGE defunded our documentary. Help us finish it.

Living Harriet Tubman chronicles the remarkable story of Nancy Whittle, a Fresno woman who has spent 30 years portraying Harriet Tubman at contentious Civil War reenactments across California.

The film was awarded a California Documentary Project grant from California Humanities and we were awaiting a $15,000 grant payment which would allow us to finish post production on the film. Yesterday we received notification that, due to recent DOGE-directed budget cuts, all grant payments have been terminated. This is a devastating loss to our otherwise self-funded project and is forcing us to halt post production.

The Trump administration’s cuts to humanities and DEI funding aren’t just budgetary—they’re ideological attempts to erase cultural memory and reshape history. Living Harriet Tubman stands as a direct response to this erasure, with Nancy Whittle embodying Tubman as a living symbol of resistance and courage. The film aims to reveal the power of facing painful histories and uplifting voices long pushed to the margins.

Cinema can be a radical tool for truth-telling. In a time when American history is one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds, Living Harriet Tubman invites viewers to reflect on both the strides made in the pursuit of justice and the urgent work that still remains. Please help us finish this film!

While we would never expect to recoup our full $15,000 from supporters and friends, we are hoping to raise half of that so we can pay for the original music composition, color correction, audio mix, sound design, and festival submissions.