Philadelphia’s “walking artist,” Ken Johnston, has embarked on a 75-mile journey across southern Chester County. The walk spans from Hinsonville to Phoenixville, and aims to recognize the free African American communities that existed before the Civil War, writes Valerie Russ for The Philadelphia Inquirer.  

Johnston, 62, initiated his journey at the historic Hosanna African United Methodist Protestant Church in Hinsonville. The church, visited by Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth, was a notable stop on the Underground Railroad.  

Johnston emphasizes that these communities were active contributors, establishing businesses, farms, and churches that played a crucial role in the Underground Railroad. 

Bernard Lambert, a descendant of a free Black landowner who donated property to the Hosanna Church, joined Johnston on his walk.  Lambert is also a Civil War reenactor and he is the descendent of one of the six Black Chester County cousins who served in the war.  

From Hinsonville, Johnston walked 12.5 miles to Bucktoe Cemetery in Kennett Township and then walked from the Chandler Mill Nature Preserve to Barnard Station in Pocopson for 11.2 miles. 

Other planned sites include Unionville High School, the Hayti community in Valley Township, Coatesville, Downingtown, and West Chester where he plans to interview the town’s first Black female mayor Lillian DeBaptiste, before concluding the trip in Phoenixville.  

Read more about this historical journey that Ken Johnston is embarking on in The Philadelphia Inquirer.  

Ken Johnston also walked over 400-miles in honor of Harriet Tubman’s journey.