Rename Virginia Inside Passage to Harriet Tubman Inside Waterway

Harriet Tubman was a Civil War spy, scout and nurse, an abolitionist, a suffragist and a hero called “Moses” for her strength and her grit as a conductor for The Underground Railroad is a historical icon that embodies the spirit of resilience.  

On behalf of Rep. Elaina Luria (Virginia), Congressional Research Services is undergoing an analysis on renaming the Virginia Inside Passage to Harriet Tubman Waterway. 

Wherever their was a waterway, it was an escape route for the enslaved. The Virginia Inside Passage, along with several bays located in Virginia, Maryland and Delaware was the corridor for freedom along the Eastern Shore of Delmarva Peninsula and saw countless enslaved Africans take this route to emancipate themselves from the shackles of slavery. 

Harriet Tubman made 13 trips between her home in Dorchester County on the Delmarva Peninsula. The mouth of this waterway begins at the Chesapeake Bay, which was the entry point of many slave ships arriving from West Africa. 

This legislation is designed to bring a wave of healing to the United States of America. In no way is this aimed to rewrite history, but to acknowledge the past, and move our country towards the future. This waterway wil honor the enslaved who traverse this route, and the abolitionists and Native Americans who gave refuge to them along the way. 

There are no appropriations needed from Congress for the Harriet Tubman Waterway Act.