{"id":24814,"date":"2018-03-16T07:00:43","date_gmt":"2018-03-16T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/?p=24814"},"modified":"2018-03-20T11:25:29","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T18:25:29","slug":"girltrek-honors-harriet-tubman-by-walking-100-miles-along-the-underground-railroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/girltrek-honors-harriet-tubman-by-walking-100-miles-along-the-underground-railroad","title":{"rendered":"GirlTrek Honors Harriet Tubman by Walking 100 Miles Along the Underground Railroad"},"content":{"rendered":"

On March 6 on the eastern shore of Maryland, a group of Black women gathered in a circle to remember their ancestors\u2019 journeys on this same land. They were about to embark on a 100-mile journey following in the footsteps of Harriet Tubman, who walked her way to freedom along the Underground Railroad in 1849. Organized by <\/span>GirlTrek<\/span><\/a>, the Black health and wellness advocacy nonprofit, the walk\u2014called Harriet\u2019s Great Escape\u2014aimed to honor Tubman\u2019s legacy. GirlTrek has marked Harriet Tubman Day (March 10) since 2013, the 100-year anniversary of Tubman\u2019s passing, but this year\u2019s trek was the most notable to date. Drawing inspiration from Tubman, the journey had another mission: to bring attention to the health crisis facing Black women and girls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we needed to be even bolder and hold this unprecedented trek. Harriet Tubman saved her own life first and then went back time after time to save the lives of others giving us the blueprint for the work GirlTrek does today. This is radical self-care at its core,\u201d GirlTrek cofounder T. Morgan Dixon said. <\/span><\/p>\n

Black women have the <\/span>highest rates<\/span><\/a> of coronary heart disease in the country, and a 2017 report from the Institute for Women\u2019s Policy Research found more than <\/span>one in seven<\/span><\/a> Black women have been told they have diabetes. \u201cPeople need to understand [the health crisis] is real. These are preventable diseases. They won\u2019t just affect the women that are living today, \u00a0they will affect the generations that are to come,\u201d said Nicole Hubb, national director of events for GirlTrek.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GirlTrek

Nicole Hubb sings. Courtesy of Taylor Rees.<\/p><\/div>\n

The women in GirlTrek believe that if Harriet Tubman could walk herself to freedom, they can walk themselves to better health. After all, walking has been a healing tradition in Black culture through the ages. \u201cIn today\u2019s political climate, a lot of basic liberties seem threatened,\u201d said Jewel Bush, national director of communications for GirlTrek. \u201cThe enslaved Africans of Harriet\u2019s time experienced inhumane things I can\u2019t begin to fathom. What we are dealing with now, it\u2019s a different iteration of it. Harriet was bold enough to believe that she could set herself free.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For five days, these 10 women walked from Maryland to the other side of Mason-Dixon line in Delaware, through sun, wind and snow. \u201cFor me, it got rough. Day two was rain that turned into sleet that turned into snow. \u2026 Every step was adding insult to injury. I was looking at my sisters\u2019 feet before me, doing what they were doing,\u201d Nicole said. She kept going because, \u201cIt an honor to walk in the footsteps of Harriet Tubman, and everything she did for this country. \u2026 We need to always be thinking about how we are serving the next person. Someone else is going to live in your house, spend your money, ride your car. But you can have a legacy in the people you help.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GirlTrek

Onika Jervis rests. Courtesy of Taylor Rees.<\/p><\/div>\n

Harriet\u2019s Great Escape sought to inspire others to make health changes. \u201cWhen other Black women see [that] regular, but extraordinary, folks of different ages, body types and backgrounds<\/span> can do this, then they can do extraordinary things too,\u201d Jewel said.<\/span><\/p>\n

That’s why, at the end of the 100-mile walk, GirlTrek issued a challenge via social media<\/a> to the Black community: Walk 100 miles in your own hometown by May 10. GirlTrek believes if you walk for just 30 minutes every day, your life will change for the better. Everything, they conclude, starts with health. If you can\u2019t get out of bed, you can\u2019t work to change the rest of the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along the walk it became clear to Onika Jervis, national director of recruitment and outreach for GirlTrek, that solution to the Black health crisis of today is a collective one. \u201cHarriet didn\u2019t get her freedom by herself. There were abolitionists that were Black and white, that helped her along the way,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take the collective to be able to create the new railroad<\/span>\u2014<\/span>and we don\u2019t need it to be underground.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"GirlTrek

Jewel Bush takes a break. Courtesy of Taylor Rees.<\/p><\/div>\n

For GirlTrek, it all begins with walking as a community. \u201cWhen you look at walking in the political sense, you look at the women who boycotted buses in Montgomery, you look at the civil rights marches, you look at Harriet Tubman, who literally walked herself to freedom,\u201d Jewel said. \u201cWhen Black women walk, things change\u2014for our health, our community, the world.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On March 6 on the eastern shore of Maryland, a group of Black women gathered in a circle to remember their ancestors\u2019 journeys on this same land. They were about to embark on a 100-mile journey following in the footsteps of Harriet Tubman, who walked her way to freedom along the Underground Railroad in 1849. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":24821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685],"tags":[726,690,727],"internal-tag":[],"class_list":["post-24814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-force-of-nature","tag-girltrek","tag-latest-posts"],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/rei.com\/blog\/news\/girltrek-honors-harriet-tubman-by-walking-100-miles-along-the-underground-railroad","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"GirlTrek Honors Harriet Tubman by Walking 100 Miles Along the Underground Railroad","url":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/girltrek-honors-harriet-tubman-by-walking-100-miles-along-the-underground-railroad","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/news\/girltrek-honors-harriet-tubman-by-walking-100-miles-along-the-underground-railroad"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/03\/2-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.rei.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2018\/03\/2-1.jpg?fit=1724%2C1034"},"articleSection":"News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aer Parris-Hoshour"}],"creator":["Aer Parris-Hoshour"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Uncommon Path \u2013 An REI Co-op Publication","logo":""},"keywords":["force of nature","girltrek","latest posts"],"dateCreated":"2018-03-16T14:00:43Z","datePublished":"2018-03-16T14:00:43Z","dateModified":"2018-03-20T18:25:29Z"},"rendered":"