The Day of Resilience 2020 will celebrate Harriet Tubman’s legacy and more beginning at 12pm on Saturday, September 12, in Cambridge, Maryland, where the road trip known as the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway begins. Space is limited for most of the events, but the courthouse program will be streamed live for home viewing on the Day of Resilience Facebook page.
Tubman statue
The highlight of the event is the unveiling of a 9-foot, 2,400-pound bronze sculpture, “Harriet Tubman: Journey to Freedom,” by internationally recognized artist Wesley Wofford. The statue depicts Tubman confidently leading a slave girl on the Underground Railroad to freedom. This sculpture, to be unveiled during a program at the Dorchester County courthouse green (206 High Street, Cambridge, MD) from 12 to 1:30pm as part of the Day of Resilience, will be a temporary outdoor exhibit at the courthouse and will remain on exhibit until October 9.
Wofford, the creator of the statue, said, “There is a lot of embedded symbolism within the narrative of the piece. The contours of the base represent the Maryland/Delaware Peninsula, where Harriet was enslaved, eventually escaped, and continued to return for her freedom raids. The dramatic step up/cut is the Pennsylvania state line, and they are stepping out of the slave states to an elevated freedom. The dress is enveloping the young girl, billowing protectively like a flag, and is meant to represent all the legal protections afforded every United States citizen-a symbol of the future equality to come. Each hand on the sculpture signifies an attribute: Determination, Protection, Fear, and Trust. The slave girl is leaning out to get a better look at where Harriet is taking her with a look of trepidation on her face. She is gripping Harriet’s right arm tightly but her delicate finger grasp is cautiously hopeful. The girl is off balance and tentatively taking a step forward-her left foot precariously hanging off a cliff, illustrating the danger and peril of the journey. The shackles are broken and the atrocities of slavery are left forever behind.” The finale of the unveiling ceremony includes a performance by the award-winning Universal African Dance and Drum Ensemble from Camden, NJ.
Town Hall on Africa
After the programming at the courthouse, the Constituency for Africa (CFA) Town Hall on Africa runs from 3 to 5pm. The event will close with a fundraising jazz concert from 6 to 8pm at the Harriet Tubman Mural in Cannery Way (near 432 Race St., Cambridge), featuring Washington, DC jazz artist Linda Harris. Concert is open only to those with advance, paid tickets. See ticket info.
Related art exhibits
Between programming, visitors are invited to view two exhibitions at the Dorchester Center for the Arts: “Portraits of Black Lives Lost: Showing Their Faces, Telling Their Stories” features paintings of those whose lives were ended by racial violence, and is presented by Artists for Justice. A second, “I Am My Sister Dolls” features the culturally iconic handmade doll line of event organizer Adrian Green Holmes. The exhibits will be open from 12 to 6pm at 321 High Street in Cambridge. Guests may also visit the vendor area at Cannery Way from 1 to 8pm.
Day of Resilience 2020 is being organized by Alpha Genesis, CDC with support from the Constituency for Africa (CFA), Dorchester County, and the City of Cambridge.
ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES
Harriet Tubman Museum:
The Constituency for Africa (CFA) begins the 2020 Ronald Brown African Affairs Series at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge, MD. The virtual Harriet Tubman Town Hall on Africa will be broadcast from the Harriet Tubman Museum from 3 to 5pm. Dr. Julianne Malveaux will be the keynote speaker. Dr. Julius Garvey, the Honorable Robert Dussey, Foreign Minister of Togo, and Izmira Aitch, Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.), are among the panel speakers.
The Town Hall program includes a live creation of a Salt Art portrait by local artist Miriam Moran. This will be a global event on Zoom with participants from across the country and Africa. The building will not be open to the public, however a Zoom link will be provided.
In addition, from 2 to 2:45pm, CFA will organize a meeting for young leaders in Cambridge, the “Youth Ambassadors” and the Bowtie Boys from Houston, TX, to follow up on a similar meeting last year, and the trip to Washington in February by a 30-person youth delegation that visited the embassies of Mali, Ghana, and Rwanda for briefings.
Cannery Way Park:
A jazz concert fundraiser at the Harriet Tubman Mural will feature Washington, DC Jazz Artist Linda Harris, from 6 to 8pm. Harris has performed in France, Sweden, Panama, New Orleans, New York, and South Carolina. She holds fast to the words of Harriet Tubman – “I had reasoned this out in my mind, there was one of two things I had a right to – liberty or death.” In 2020, the walk for liberty continues as Harris and seven other women walk the 125-mile Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway from September 5 to 10, 2020. Harriett’s story motivates Harris in the most amazing ways; she wrote a song called “Freedom” in honor of the journey and will release a music video featuring the video clips from the journey and the Harriet Tubman Mural, “Take My Hand.” During the Sept. 12 concert, Cambridge musician Antone Ennels is the opening artist performing his newly released single “1 Foot.” Concert is open only to those with advance, paid tickets. See ticket info.
For more information, visit AlphaGenesisCDC.org or the Day of Resilience Facebook page.
Please note: both the opening ceremony and closing concert will have limited seating in order to adhere to all social distancing guidelines. Wrist bands, masks and temperature check will be required for each seated event.
For more information, contact info@alphagenesiscdc.org.