Chloe Cooley. Laura Secord. Harriet Tubman.
These are three ‘mighty’ women that another mighty woman, award-winning Rochelle Bush, spoke about during an International Women’s Day celebration at the Sheraton Fallsview Hotel last Friday.
Bush was recognized at the event by the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce for her work in ensuring that the legacies of Harriet Tubman and other freedom seekers are never forgotten or erased.
At the celebration, Bush, owner and primary guide of Tubman Tours Canada, said she was “humbled” with this award and that “in my head, I had doubted that you even even knew about me or my small business.”
“You never think anyone is paying attention,” she said, before acknowledging her supporters, including her “dead ancestors for their greatness and all that they have achieved and for crossing the mighty Niagara River to settle here in Niagara.”
Bush has deep roots int St. Catharines. Her maternal great-great grandfather served as the minister in charge of Salem Chapel BME Church during the period when abolitionist Harriet Tubman was an active member.
Fifteen years ago Bush created the Harriet Tubman Tour, highlighting Tubman’s time in St. Catharines and her pivotal role in rescuing about 70 freedom-seekers.
Bush also co-created the NOTL Museum’s 2023 award-winning exhibition, Bound and Determined: Chloe Cooley, Enslavement, and the Fight for Freedom.
In 2021 she led an initiative to rename a public park in St. Catharines in honour of Richard Pierpoint, the city’s first black setter and a War of 1812 veteran.
In her acceptance speech, Bush said that Chloe, Secord and Tubman are three women she references during her tours. Chloe Cooley was the impetus for the formation of the Act to Limit Slavery, and Laura Secord was “a great Canadian” who informed the British that the Americans were coming. Bush asked, “if it wasn’t for her, what would have happened to Black people who were living in this area?”
Bush is also a trustee and resident historian of Salem Chapel, BME Church and Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic sites.
She dedicated her award to her late maternal grandmother, Ethel Mae Flowers Harper Smith, who advised young Bush to always put women first.
“My grandmother told me that if there’s a woman on the ballot, you vote for her no matter what. You vote for her because she has courage. She believes she is equal to and can take on the men at the table. She’s fearless, and most of all, she wants a better place in society for women.”