If you want to learn more about Harriet Tubman, you’ll soon have your chance. A group of Western New Yorkers are coming together to organize a celebratory parade in her honor on March 7 in Buffalo.
“She is the quintessential American woman and American heroine,” said Sherry Sherrill, who’s part of the committee putting on the parade.
“Harriet Tubman to me is a very important American figure who’s obviously very underestimated in the community and across the nation,” said Scott Wilson, another committee member said.
“I think Harriet Tubman is the most the most unrecognized hero in our whole history of African heroes,” said Betty Jean Grant, the parade’s founder.
Tubman is credited with paving a path to freedom for African Americans fleeing enslavement. The upcoming parade serves as a way to tell her story, in hopes the younger generation understands her significance.
“We have a diverse group of individuals who come from all walks of life and everyone else is involved in community activism. We came together for this Harriet Tubman Parade and cultural program because it’s such a worthy cause. You can never have enough examples to bring positive role models and display them for our youth,” said Sherrill.
The redesigned $20 bill with Tubman on it was supposed to be unveiled this year. But it’s been pushed back to 2028. The committee organizing the parade wants the new bill to be circulated sooner than that. They’re also pushing for a national holiday to recognize Tubman.
They also say when they march next month, they’re also standing up against some of the same obstacles black people faced when Tubman was alive.
“The issues that were pertinent probably in the 1870s and 1880s for African Americans, they’re still here, today lack of opportunity, lack of opportunity,” said Grant.
The parade starts at noon at the NFTA’s East Utica Street Metro station, runs up Main Street, turns onto East Ferry Street, then onto Jefferson Avenue, and will end at the Frank E. Merriweather Library. It’ll be followed by an after-march program in the library at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
“Harriet is a very inspiring figure who did a very brave thing in her time and I think that it’s important that we look back to her for that,” said Wilson.
If you’d like to march in the parade, contact Betty Jean Grant at 716-602-5877. If you want to make a presentation during the after parade program, contact Sherry Sherrill at 716-430-1158.
They’re accepting sign-ups until the end of February.