 The action freed more than 750 slaves and is the only military campaign in American history planned and led by a woman.The Combahee River Collective Statement was developed by a "collective of Black feminists [...] involved in the process of defining and clarifying our politics, while...doing political work within our own group and in coalition with other progressive organizations and movements..."

Members of the collective describe having a feeling of creating something which had not existed previously.Demita Frazier described the CRC's beginnings as "not a mix cake", meaning that the women involved had to create the meaning and purpose of the group "from scratch."