Interviewed by: Charron Monaye, Hype Hair Contributor
Emmy Award–winning journalist, historian, and author Dr. Janus Adams, NPR’s first National Arts Correspondent, host of The Janus Adams Show, and author of eleven books including Sister Days: 365 Inspired Moments in African American Women’s History has long been a pioneer in amplifying Black voices. A northern school desegregation trailblazer at age eight, she went on to earn the nation’s first degree in Black Studies.
Now, Dr. Adams brings Tubman’s legacy into the digital age with “Harriet Tubman’s ‘A Way Out of No Way’ Day,” a seven-step, seven-week virtual experience that translates Tubman’s life strategies into a blueprint for navigating today’s challenges. “This program was born in a literal blackout,” Adams explains. “I had no lights, no Wi-Fi, just a pen, a pad of paper and a window. Sitting there, I realized Harriet’s ‘way out of no way’ wasn’t luck, it was a process. Seven steps. How she powered herself through troubling times could be the blueprint for today’s crises when more than 319,000 Black women have been disproportionately laid-off, dis-empowered, by government policies and the ripple effects in other sectors. Her way could become our way to power ourselves.”
In this exclusive interview with Hype Hair Magazine, Adams discusses the inspiration, strategy, and urgency behind this groundbreaking program, which launches October 29, 2025, and runs through December 3, 2025. In a strategic partnership with Pegasus Books, the opening event features Rita Daniels, Harriet Tubman’s great-great-great grandniece and co-author, Jean Marie Wiesen, of Harriet Tubman: Military Scout and Tenacious Visionary. Registration is now open at www.wayoutofnoway.info.
“Children, if you’re tired, keep going. If you’re scared, keep going. If you’re hungry, keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, Keep going.” ~ Harriet Tubman
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HH: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me about this amazing virtual experience translating Tubman’s life strategies into a blueprint for our own times. Why did you feel this launch was especially timely now, in 2025, given the global and cultural climate for women and communities of color?
Dr. Adams: Because we are hurting and families are in need. Not only are Black women being disproportionately purged from the government workforce, rights fought for and won during the Civil Rights era are being dismantled. Black History and culture are under siege. We’re seeing the rug of civil service jobs—the first bend in the road to fair employment and a stable Black middle class—pulled out from under us. African America life is under attack. The time is NOW to make a way out of no way; to liberate ourselves and our families.
HH: “You’ve partnered with Pegasus Books to bring Harriet Tubman’s legacy into the digital age with ‘A Way Out of No Way.’ What inspired you to feature Rita Daniels, Tubman’s great-great-great grandniece and co-author of Harriet Tubman: Military Scout and Tenacious Visionary?”
Dr. Adams: I watched Rita Daniels’ interview on “The Today Show” and thought to invite her as a guest on my radio show and podcast. After reaching out to the PR department for her book, I was delighted to get a note from Pegasus Books’ publisher, Jessica Case. A strategic partnership has emerged: Rita’s book will be shipped to all who join us at the BONUS level; with the first 100 sign-ups getting signed copies. In welcoming Rita to “Harriet Tubman’s ‘A Way Out of No Way’ Day,” Tubman’s life and legacy become poignantly contemporary, a lifeline to others in these tough times. A portion of each ticket sold also helps to sponsor someone otherwise unable to afford to attend.
HH: On your registration website, you stated, “In 7 “make a way out of no way” weeks, she goes
from impossible situation to impossible dream, from “and they said it couldn’t be done” to “I did it!” What is it about African American women that gives us the strength, tenacity, and power to achieve the impossible? Is it ancestry, survival, or something else entirely?”
Dr. Adams: It’s our humanity and respect for the Universe. We do not waste people’s lives. We’ve been given the world at its worst and for our own mental, spiritual, and intellectual well-being dared give back our best. Not everyone is thrilled by our level of excellence, but we do what we do as only we know how and why.
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HH: You describe Tubman’s journey as a ‘seven-step’ process that carried her through the most
harrowing challenges. Which one or two of these steps do you see as most transformative, and how can women today apply them to overcome modern obstacles?
Dr. Adams: The first step: BELIEVE. Believe that things are not “just the way they are.” Without a first step, nothing else is ever possible. Whether facing an “impossible situation” or called by an “impossible dream,” we don’t have to know what we’re going to do or how. We only need know that we must do something: that we will take a first step. That’s why we’ve made a guided journal an instant download for our WayMakers —“HOW WE GO OVAH: 12 Messages for Surviving and Thriving in Tough Times.” Rooted in history are actions public and private, monumental and mere ripples, messages from yesterday that can power us into the future. Our history is our proof. Yes, we can!
HH: With over 319,000 Black women disproportionately affected by layoffs and systemic
disempowerment, how does your program translate Tubman’s principles of self-definition and collective power into actionable strategies for women facing challenges they’ve often heard of, but rarely seen addressed?
Dr. Adams: We dig deep and do the work. As a historian and devotee of Harriet Tubman, I knew she’d lived during the rise segregation—a time (and I don’t say this lightly) much like our own. I decided to “ask” how she coped in her day and came upon her “answer” on a page from my own book, SISTER DAYS. Nearing 80, increasingly frail, impoverished, and battling the government for two government pensions due her and decades overdue. She “reminded me” how—despite all that—she’d raised the money to buy a 25-acre lot. And she did it in seven weeks! How?
During a power outage, unable to use my phone or computer, I sat with a pen, a pad, a hard copy book (no eBook; no internet), and Nature’s light. I didn’t come to her seeking counsel from an international icon. I came respectful of a real-life hard-working woman who’d found herself in desperate need of a miracle and given her all to make it come through. From her “answer” and other “voices” in my book, the sisterhood, I discovered her blueprint. Authentically powered, endowed by Nature; just when we need it most, she showed me the “way.” The electricity came back an hour later.
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HH: As a Black woman, I have lived the definition of A Way Out of No Way, from my grandmother to my mother, and even myself, turning an empty refrigerator into dinner with leftovers. This testimony embodies “thinking out of the box” under pressure. How can new generations, and anyone facing challenges, embrace this mantra as a source of power rather than seeing their loss as defeat or a failure?
Dr. Adams: What makes such moments possible is need, yes, but more importantly it’s our knowledge, determination, dedication, and creativity. Sometimes, I think poverty gets too much credit and the wealth within us too little. Being a Black woman in America is exhausting. We’re always called upon to be resilient when others are permitted fear and vulnerability, prejudices and self-indulgence. What I wish for all Black women—new generations and older—are self-appointed permissions: the right to be human and the self-appreciation born of what Toni Morrison termed “the source of self-regard.”
HH: Finally, if Harriet Tubman herself could participate in this seven-week journey, what message do you think she would share with today’s participants? And what impact do you hope the participants walk away with?
Dr. Adams: I think her message is: “We are the ones we are waiting for to save ourselves.” What is so extraordinary about Tubman is that long after Emancipation and the Civil War, recognizing the need, she never stopped helping the rescue others. What is less well known is that also trained those she rescued in such survival skills as how to work for oneself; how to value and charge for one’s services; basic business, marketing, and entrepreneurial skills. She taught the kind of practical knowledge we should all have in our toolkit—especially now.
What I’d like participants to walk away with is not just hope (which there absolutely is) but that there’s also a WAY—”Harriet Tubman’s ‘A Way Out of No Way’ Day.”
