A non profit organization 410-989-3909
We build Authentic, Creative, Communities by integrating arts and culture
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Statue Unveiling in September 2022
Our Journey Begins ...
Be a part of this HISTORIC fundraiser! While other cities are taking down monuments, we are building one to honor our own Harriet Tubman. It will be installed on the grounds where enslaved were auctioned and where Harriet's niece was heroically recused!
Movement supporting ‘Harriet’s Journey Home’ gains momentum
A Day of Resilience inspires Dorchester County
CAMBRIDGE, MD – Inspired by the traveling sculpture that graced the Dorchester County Courthouse entrance earlier this fall, a grassroots movement is gaining momentum to commission a permanent sculpture to honor Harriet Tubman in the community that was her home. Their fundraising effort was launched in conjunction with Giving Tuesday on Dec. 1 and will continue throughout next year.
Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation (AGCDC) is leading the charge to have a new statue created specifically for Dorchester County by the same Emmy and Academy-award winning sculptor, Wesley Wofford. A dedicated team of volunteers including members of state and local government, the county Chamber of Commerce, the local Heritage Area, community organizations and schools are all actively involved in the endeavor.
Generations ago, Harriet Tubman was the hero Dorchester County needed. She was born in slavery not far from Cambridge. Skilled in navigating the local marshes and rivers, she led enslaved families to freedom. The names of those men, women and children are family names still heard throughout the Dorchester community to this day, said Adrian Holmes, founder and president of AGCDC.
“Harriet Tubman is the hero we need today, our North Star that recognizes the bravery, strength and resilience in each one of us,” Holmes said. “Art gives us the power to connect with our hero.
“In the short month that Wesley Wofford’s dynamic statue ‘Harriet Tubman – The Journey to Freedom’ was in Cambridge, hundreds of visitors shared time with Harriet. Often exuberant, always moving, people took pictures, held the statue’s outstretched hand, and brought family members to visit. In celebrating Harriet, we are inspired, our faith renewed and our commitment to community and family uplifted.”
The “Harriet’s Journey Home” fundraiser seeks to raise $250,000 to commission, purchase and permanently install a bronze statue of Harriet Tubman at the Dorchester County Courthouse. A portion of the funds will be used for any ongoing maintenance.
Welcoming Harriet home to Dorchester will continue building connections for the local community, as well as for the thousands of visitors who come to Maryland to experience the most powerful Underground Railroad storytelling destination in the world.
“The City of Cambridge has inspired me so much over the last several months,” Wofford said. “It began with their activism in bringing The Journey to Freedom to the city and then seeing the Day of Resilience. Ordinarily, I do not work on any designs until we have solidified a contract, but after participating in their forum about what they would like their statue to say, my artistic muse could not be quieted.
“All of that excitement brought about my first design concepts which I presented when we visited Cambridge. My concepts evolved further in my mind after the immersive tour of Cambridge that expanded my understanding of Harriet’s origins. This evolution continues and will eventually generate the perfect and authentic solution for the courthouse. As an artist, I absorb all of the energy and historical details surrounding a project and Alpha Genesis and the people of Cambridge have provided me with that ignition of ideas.”
AGCDC invites the community to share in that excitement and join the movement to fund the creation of Dorchester’s own Harriet Tubman statue. All donations, large or small are welcome. The fund for Harriet is being managed by the Mid-Shore Community Foundation. Donations may be made through PayPal or on the Mid-Shore Community Foundation website at mscf.org. Contributions are fully tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. For more information, contact Adrian Holmes at 410-989-3909 or email info@AlphaGenesisCDC.org.
A Statue of our OWN...September 2022
Art, Culture and Community
What We Believe
The Alpha Genesis Community Development Corporation (AGCDC) believes in the power of Art, Culture, Education and Community…and in the synergy and collective creativity of that collaboration.
Together they form the building blocks that enable the “building of Blocks”— economically strengthened neighborhoods and communities, rich in culture, history, and purpose.
Neighborhoods that paint a picture highlighting our similarities and supporting the individual and collective narratives of our City.
Building Authentic, Creative Communities
Public Art Mural
400 Block of Race Street, Cambridge, MD
400 Block of Race Street, Cambridge, MD
400 Block of Race Street, Cambridge, MD
Get involved!!
400 Block of Race Street, Cambridge, MD
400 Block of Race Street, Cambridge, MD
Art Changes People!!!
PEOPLE Change the World!
Tuesday June 16 - Friday June 19, 2020
5 - 10 pm
Harriet Tubman Mural Project
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Thank You to our Sponsors and Community Partners!
THANK YOU for making the Day of Resilience 2019 a SUCCESS!
MHAA Outstanding Project 2019
Organized by Alpha Genesis CDC, Dorchester Center for the Arts and the City of Cambridge.
This award recognizes an exceptional project, event, or activity conducted/sponsored by an organization, business, individual or local government that highlights Dorchester’s natural or cultural heritage and/or increases public awareness of its history, heritage, and cultural traditions.
In selecting the Day of Resilience for this honor, the Heritage Area Board noted that the event provided recognition and reflection on the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Africans to be sold into bondage in North America in 1619. If you were not present for this event, you missed a powerful experience.
A Day of Resilience began a drum call, pouring of libations, dance and spoken word at the Dorchester County Courthouse, which had been the site of slave auctions in the 1800s. It continued with a processional, “The Healing Journey,” from the Courthouse to the Harriet Tubman Mural at the Harriet Tubman Museum on Race Street.
The program continued with a mural dedication that featured more drumming, guest speakers and ribbon cutting with the artist Michael Rosato and other dignitaries. The day continued with special events that included keynote speaker Dr. Julius Garvey, a panel discussion with ambassadors from Mali, the Namibia and Togo, and a Souls at Sea remembrance ceremony commemorating the lives lost in the waters along the Middle Passage.
From the beginning of the event at the Dorchester County Courthouse through the programming throughout the day and into the closing activities during the gathering at Cannery Way, the celebration highlighted the cultural heritage of Dorchester’s African-American community and inspired a new appreciation and understanding of this heritage for the hundreds of attendees.
Help Our Cause
AGCDC relies on generous support from individuals and institutions to assist in our Mission to serve underserved and under-resourced communities become stronger and healthier through the arts and economic development.
