Bristol Borough set to celebrate legacy of Harriet Tubman
Bristol Borough resident Louise Davis
The African American Historical and Cultural Society of Bucks County will host a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the unveiling of the Harriet Tubman monument at Lions Park at the wharf in Bristol Borough off Mill Street.
A brief ceremony Saturday at 10 a.m. will be led by Deal Wright, president of the society.
The late Sidney Taylor, former society president, will be acknowledged.
“He was maybe one of the most important ones in getting the monument done,” said Louise Davis, 80, a lifelong resident of Bristol Borough who portrays Tubman.
At the Community Baptist Church at 225 Radcliff St., the program will continue with the reading of a proclamation from Bristol Borough Council.
Davis will tell some life stories of the former slave, abolitionist and Underground Railroad conductor.
“I’m a relative of Harriet Tubman,” she said. “She did not have children. She did have brothers and sisters and she had a father. It is through the father that I’m related to her. My great-grandfather and her father were brothers. I’m a third cousin. When they say, ‘descendant’ — that throws it off.”
People will sing some of the Underground Railroad songs.
Davis said one of the reasons for having the program is to acknowledge the fact that the whole area made it possible for the statue to be there.
“We’re very much aware that there was great input from the state,” she said. “We did get money from the state that helped us put the statue up.”
Bristol Borough Council, Bristol Township Board of Supervisors, schools, churches and individuals contributed to the cost of the monument.
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