Historic bike ride honoring Harriet Tubman rolls through South Jersey
LAWNSIDE, N.J. (CBS) -- A historic 1,200-mile bike ride honoring Harriet Tubman made a stop Tuesday in Camden County. The ride is an epic journey with the goal of educating people about history.
The bicyclists are stopping at several important landmarks along the way, including the Peter Mott House Underground Railroad Museum.
The crowd erupted into cheers as nine bicyclists arrived in Lawnside on an important mission. They're retracing Tubman's steps to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
"It's been 200 years since Harriet Tubman was born," Augusto Macedo said. "So, this year, we decided what an opportunity to bring awareness to this particular aspect of American history."
The group, known as the Underground Railroad Nine, is biking all the way from Tubman's birthplace in Cambridge, Maryland, to Ontario, Canada.
On Wednesday, they paid a brief visit to the Peter Mott House in Lawnside, where they had a chance to rest and refuel.
Linda Shockley runs the museum.
"We're excited and honored that they're coming through," Shockley said, "that they picked this as one of the historic sites that they acknowledge on their way."
Nine bicyclists are retracing Harriet Tubman’s path toward freedom on the Underground Railroad. They started their 1,200-mile journey at Tubman’s birthplace in Maryland and will end in Ontario, Canada. Today they made a stop at @LawnsideHistory’s Peter Mott House in South Jersey. pic.twitter.com/81CVaEju0b
— Madeleine Wright (@MWrightReports) July 25, 2023
Borough officials presented the cyclists with a proclamation.
While their journey isn't easy, Macedo says it's nothing compared to what Tubman went through as a fugitive.
"That is her courage, her determination, that is so surreal," Macedo said, "to think someone can walk from half of the country and go to another country on foot without being captured."
The bicyclists say they've gotten a lot of support from everyone they've met.
Shockley believes their journey is important.
"It draws attention to humanity's concern about freedom," Shockley said, "and right of everyone to be free, fully free, when we still have so many people enslaved around the world."
The bicyclists say they're aiming to be in Canada by Saturday.
While there, they're planning to attend the Emancipation Festival, an annual celebration of freedom.