These Black Women Trekked The Underground Railroad In Honor Of Harriet Tubman

A group of black women that were retracing Harriet Tubman’s escape on the Underground Railroad finished their 100-mile trek on Saturday.

The 10 women of GirlTrek, a black health and wellness advocacy organization, spent the last five days walking from east Maryland to Delaware. It was part of their goal to honor Harriet Tubman this Women’s History Month, ending their journey on Harriet Tubman Day.

“We will show and prove that 2018 is about radical courage and unshakeable sisterhood,” GirlsTrek founder T. Morgan Dixon said in a statement before the trek. “Harriet Tubman saved her own life first and then went back time after time to save the lives of others giving us the blueprint for the work GirlTrek does today.”

The team were met in Wilmington, Delaware by some of their 125,000 members nationwide, who traveled to the final destination to cheer their sisters on.

“Thank you. Thank you for your kind words, light, prayers, encouragement, love and radiating positive energy,” the organization’s official account tweeted Saturday. “We love you and we’re glad we we are done! 100 miles in 5 days ain’t no joke!”

The ladies walked about 20 miles per day after training for three weeks, one of the trekkers Chyna Johnson told Tulane University. 

“It means the opportunity to continue a legacy that Harriet Tubman started,” Johnson said. “She gave us a roadmap to our own personal freedom. She did it as a fight for her life and we can walk in that, in honor of that.”

Their journey was well-documented on social media under the #HarrietsGreatEscape hashtag.

Congrats to these sheroes!