Worcester County NAACP President ushers in Harriet Tubman Day in DC

Ocean City, Maryland - In commemoration of Harriet Tubman Day on March 10, Worcester County NAACP Branch President, Mr. Ivory Smith partnered with HR 1242 Resilience Project to commemorate Harriet Tubman Day at U.S. Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C.

Without Harriet Tubman, there would not be a woman movement today. By changing the Virginia Inside Passage to Harriet Tubman Waterway, it will be an honor for the women's movement today and to the African-American Women, said Worcester County NAACP Branch President, Mr. Ivory Smith.

The room sponsor was Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA). Women in Labor were honored with the Harriet Tubman Award for Social Justice and Ms. Shemika Berry, a professional reenactor, brought Harriet Tubman's story. Members of Congress, clergy, union activists, and Maryland NAACP State Conference President William Flowers attended the historic event. Mayor of DC proclaimed Harriet Tubman Day.

A grassroots effort is underway to rename the Virginia Inside Passage to the Harriet Tubman Waterway.

Wherever there was a waterway, it was an escape route for the enslaved. The Virginia Inside Passage, along with several bays located in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware was the corridor for freedom along the Eastern Shore of Delmarva Peninsula and saw countless enslaved Africans take this route to emancipate themselves from the shackles of slavery. Harriet Tubman made 13 trips between her home in Dorchester County on the Delmarva Peninsula. The mouth of this waterway begins at the Chesapeake Bay, which was the entry point of many slave ships arriving from West Africa.

This legislation is designed to bring a wave of healing to the United States of America. In no way is this aimed to rewrite history, but to acknowledge the past, and move our country towards the future. This waterway will honor the enslaved who traverse this route, and the abolitionists and Native Americans who gave refuge to them along the way. There are no appropriations needed from Congress for the Harriet Tubman Waterway Act.

On the net: www.hr1242resilience.com