PATHWAYS TO FREEDOM

The Underground Railroad

Pilgrimage 2027

Join the Journey

FAQs

WHO WE ARE

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For more than 25 years, Ashé Cultural Arts Center has served as a cultural anchor for the African Diaspora, creating transformative experiences that connect history, culture, community, and healing.

Through signature programs such as the annual MAAFA Commemoration, Ashé honors the resilience, sacrifice, and triumph of those whose lives and labor shaped the world we inhabit today.

THE VISION

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The African Diaspora community has called upon Ashé Cultural Arts Center to create opportunities for a deeper understanding of ancestry and heritage. In response, Ashé has developed the Underground Railroad Pilgrimage 2027, a transformative, intergenerational journey that retraces the pathways to freedom traveled by enslaved Africans and their allies throughout the United States.

As an act of Sankofa, we believe that before we can return home, we must first understand the journey. This pilgrimage explores the escapes, resistances, revolts, and collective movements that forced America to move closer to the democracy it proclaimed.

In July 2027, approximately 200 sojourners will embark on this historic experience, engaging with the people, places, and stories that fueled one of the most significant freedom movements in American history.

THE JOURNEY

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Pathways to Freedom will travel through key locations connected to the Underground Railroad, abolitionist movements, and Black resistance:

New Orleans, LA • Natchez, MS • Memphis, TN • Chattanooga, TN • Knoxville, TN • Mammoth Cave, KY • Louisville, KY • Madison, IN • Cincinnati, OH • Detroit, MI • Niagara Falls, ON • Auburn, NY • New York, NY • Philadelphia, PA • Washington, DC • Charleston, SC • Hilton Head Island, SC • Pensacola, FL • Mobile, AL • New Orleans, LA

Through historic sites, museums, archives, memorials, cultural institutions, and community engagement, participants will experience history not as spectators, but as active witnesses to the stories of courage, resilience, and liberation that continue to shape our collective future.

“Before we can return home, we must first understand the journey.”

Why It Matters

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  • Preserve and amplify African American history and heritage

  • Foster intergenerational learning and cultural exchange

  • Deepen connections across the African Diaspora

  • Inspire civic engagement, healing, and collective remembrance

  • Create lasting relationships between communities connected by a shared history

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars, to change the world..” -

Harriet Tubman

  • 400

    Sojourners

  • 20

    Destinations

  • 11

    States + Canada

  • ONE

    Shared Journey

DOOR OF RETURN

PILGRIMAGE 2027

RETURNING HOME THROUGH SANKOFA.

Honoring the Past. Reclaiming the Present. Shaping the Future.

Join the Journey

FAQs

THE JOURNEY

1

The international portion of the pilgrimage will bring approximately 200 sojourners to locations connected to the transatlantic slave trade, cultural preservation, resistance, healing, and reconnection.

Featured destinations include:

  • BENIN

  • Cotonou — Pan African Mural Wall & Amazon Monument

  • Ouidah — Door of Return / Door of Return Transformation Ceremony

  • GHANA

  • Accra

  • Cape Coast — Door of Return / Door of Return Transformation Ceremony

  • SENEGAL

  • Dakar

  • Gorée Island — Door of Return / Door of Return Transformation Ceremony

  • DIASPORA CONNECTIONS

  • Colombia

  • Haiti

Through cultural exchanges, artistic collaborations, memorial ceremonies, historical exploration, and community engagement, participants will experience a living connection to the people, places, and stories that continue to define the global African Diaspora.

Why It Matters

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  • Reconnect descendants of the African Diaspora with ancestral homelands

    Foster healing, remembrance, and cultural restoration

    Build international relationships across Africa and Diaspora communities

    Promote cultural exchange, scholarship, and artistic collaboration

    Create transformative intergenerational experiences rooted in Sankofa

    Honor the resilience and legacy of those who endured the transatlantic slave trade

  • 200 Sojourners

  • Africa & the Diaspora

  • ONE Shared Return

CULTURAL VALUES

  • FAWOHODIE

    Freedom & Emancipation

  • NKYINKYIM

    Resilience & Life’s Journey

  • SANKOFA

    Return to Learn from the Past

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