Gladys Muhammad, an Indiana native, works tirelessly to preserve Harriet Tubman’s heritage. Following her early observations of the inequalities between her town and others, Muhammad began her 34-year career with the South Bend Heritage Foundation (SBHF), where she worked as a community organizer in 1987 and contributed to the organization’s aim of stabilizing and improving neighborhoods.
She told the magazine, “I decided early that the area where my family and friends lived should have the same resources as other areas in the city.”
Despite his retirement, Muhammad still volunteers with SBHF on a monthly basis. She recently helped raise “funds for a commemorative Harriet Tubman statue and bench,” which will be unveiled in 2022.
After speaking with the team, they chose Howard Park, “a well-known and well-attended park in the city,” as the location for the life-size interactive sculpture. The trailblazer claimed that she wants people to know that “Black and White citizens did work together to help Black families escape the horrors of slavery,” despite the absence of evidence that Tubman stopped there personally.
During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, a brief history lesson was provided on Tubman’s brave dedication to the Underground Railroad and guiding runaway slaves to freedom. Not only that, but Muhammad herself gave a concert and reenactment for the crowd.
“I portray Harriet Tubman to honor her legacy and the Underground Railroad‘s ties to Indiana,” she went on to say.
Nonetheless, this was not Muhammad’s first time wearing Tubman’s shoes. She represents abolitionist and campaigner Sojourner Truth, a pioneer in women’s rights, at school and events in South Bend.
According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, in the 1840s and 1850s, South Bend was a final destination for enslaved individuals seeking to flee the state. Runaway slaves utilized South Bend to go north to freedom, with the help of local abolitionists such as Thomas Bulla and Solomon Palmer.
Muhammad, a community activist, says it is critical for South Bend residents to have a site where they can “contemplate the courage it took to lead people to freedom.”
The trailblazer received the 2023 Dorothy Richardson Award for Resident Leadership from NeighborWorks America for her dedication to honoring Tubman’s legacy.