The mentoring program for black girls and young women takes participants on a 14-day tour and learns about the Underground Railroad, the history of black people.
Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitor Centre supports her legacy
The Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Centre is one of two national historic parks that continue to live on the heritage of the abolitionist.
WASHINGTON – Samaria Helton learned about Thomas Jefferson at school, but didn’t know that the former president had hundreds of enslaved people until he recently visited the Monticello Farm in Virginia.
The visit was important in her quest to learn more about black history, she said.
“This is my history,” said Helton, a 16-year-old high school junior from Sanford, North Carolina. “You need to learn about your history.”
Monticello was one of several stops on a 14-day trip between Helton and eight other middle and high school students, a mentoring program for black girls and young women. They learn firsthand about black history when they visit historic Black Churches, Old Plantations, the National Museum of African Americans, and other places that tell their stories.
This trip, “The Journey To Freedom,” brings participants through the state where abolitionist Harriet Tubman led people who were free to enslavement on the Underground Railroad.
Organizers said the trip is especially important now, with the stripping of historic black figures, including Tubman from the website, the ban on books, the demolition of educational programs, and the attacks on diversity, equity and comprehensive initiatives.
“Knowledge is a core value for us,” said Natasha Sistrank Robinson, co-founder of Leadership Link. “We are passing on this history across generations.”
“Expression is important”
The early parts of the trip include a stop with a black history link, but on June 25th at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Visitors Center in Maryland, where the girl begins to follow her path.
The program aims to introduce girls to black female leaders, both historical and current days. “So they can see what they’re going to be,” said Robinson, a graduate of the Naval Academy.
The girls were already studying the truth about the abolitionist sojourners, so it would make sense to focus next on Tubman, Sistrank Robinson said.
“To let them know not only the mythical figures of Harriet Tubman, but the full history of her life,” she said. “It didn’t stop her from releasing herself, freeing her family, and fighting for release for others.”
Helton, High school juniors appreciated their focus on Tubman.
“There’s a lot to learn from her, to follow her path and fight for our people like she did,” she said.
The trip will begin in June
The trip began in June in North Carolina, where the girls celebrated with a soul food dinner and a documentary, “June: Documentary of Faith and Freedom.”
“It was a fun way to start our trip,” said 16-year-old Capria Daniels, a high school junior in Clinton, Maryland.
Daniels said he can’t miss the opportunity to take part in the two-week trip.
The girls, from sixth grade to seniors in high school, came from Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The trip is funded by grants and donations.
Stops include Virginia University, the Museum of African American History and Culture, Howard University, and the historic Black School in Washington, DC, as well as a visit to the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia and the Tubman home in upstate New York. The journey ended in Toronto, where many enslaved black people fled.
There are also some light outings, such as the Broadway musical “Hamilton.” At some stops, guest speakers discuss the importance of leadership.
Daniels said the stop “will give you a better understanding of where I came from and teach the next generation.”
“Most of it is coated with sugar.”
Beyond site visits and reading assignments, girls have a passport book to collect stamps at each stop and write down reflections.
They are also equipped with songbooks to learn classic protest songs such as “The Eye of the Prize” and modern gospel songs like “Goodness of God.”
Still at the heart of our trip, we visit sites that have connections to black history.
“It makes things we read about the real thing for them in very different ways,” Robinson said.
Helton and Daniels said that the lessons of history at school often do not tell the entire story, including the brutality of slavery.
“We learned the basics, and most of it is coated with sugar,” Helton said.
When he visited the Museum of History and Culture of African Americans attacked by the Trump administration earlier this week, Helton said he learned more about the horrifying situation of millions of Africans stuffed into slave ships.
“It was sad to just know that they had to go through it,” she said.
Destiny Davis, 20, a summer intern in the program, said even college lacks teaching the truth about black history.
“They rule out a lot of graphic information,” said Davis, a junior at the University of North Carolina’s Greensboro. “They teach you the history you want them to know.”
For Daniels, each stop meant learning something new.
“It definitely taught me more about my history,” she said.
