Local Organization Celebrates 100th Anniversary Of Harriet Tubman
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - The Harriet Tubman Journey Committee is presenting its inaugural two mile walk, ride, run and race to recognize the 100th anniversary of the death of the most famous Underground Railroad conductor.
"Harriet Tubman is a timeless hero," says committee chair Penny Marshall.
She says Sunday's run, walk, ride event will be the culmination of a 10-day celebration of Tubman, spanning three states.
"She decided that she would help people leave slavery and travel north so they could reach freedom," says Marshall. "She was from Maryland, so she would go from Maryland to Delaware up through Pennsylvania."
And Tubman's path, referred to as the Underground Railroad, was complicated using quilts and other tools to signal safe houses for those escaping slavery in the South so they could make it safely to freedom.
"It was important what she was willing to do to fight against the wrong institution of slavery," says Marshall.
Marshall says motorcyclists will travel from Pennsylvania to Wilmington Sunday morning just as runners take a 14 mile relay from Maryland to Delaware tracing the Harriet Tubman Byway.
She says each of the events is symbolic, signaling the "passing of the baton" from one generation of civil rights leaders to the next.
"Harriet Tubman died in 1913," says Marshall. "That was the same year that Rosa Parks was born."
The inaugural walk run even includes music and a program and kicks off on the Delaware Riverfront at 8:30 a.m.
For more info, go to harriettubmanjourney.org.
