BLACK HISTORY MOMENT: 75 YEAR OLD BECOMES FIRST BLACK WOMAN TO REACH THE NORTH POLE (670 hits)
Barbara Hillary is the first African American woman to reach the North Pole on April 23, 2007--hold on to your chairs ladies and gents--at the impressive age of 75!
Barbara Hillary is a retired nurse who was born: June 12, 1931 San Juan Hill Manhattan ( Currently known as Lincoln Center). She is a graduate of the New School University and has earned her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Professional Studies Degrees.
Hillary said she became fascinated with the North Pole during her retirement and gained experience by sledding and snow mobiling in the U.S. and Canada.
She is the founder and Editor-in Chief of The Peninsula Magazine, the first multi-cultural magazine published by an African American in Queens, NY.
Ms Hillary is the recipient of numerous awards including "The Woman Of Courage" award from NOW (National Organisation of women)for reaching the North Pole; a “Special Citation” from The United States House of Representatives, a Resolution honoring and recognizing her achievements introduced by Representative Gregory W. Meeks.
Wow this is really amazing!
Saturday, February 5th 2011 at 2:07PM
Siebra Muhammad
Amazing!!! Thank you!
I would like to find out more about this.
Saturday, February 5th 2011 at 3:44PM
Richard Kigel
You're welcome Rich, she has her own website, www.barbarahillary.com where you can read her biography and view photos of her journey. I admire her ability to think outside the box!
Saturday, February 5th 2011 at 4:37PM
Siebra Muhammad
Here's the article from USATODAY.com:
NEW YORK -- The bone-numbing trek to the North Pole is riddled with enough perils to make a seasoned explorer quake: Frostbite threatens, polar bears loom and the ice is constantly shifting beneath frozen feet.
But Barbara Hillary took it all in stride, completing the trek to the world's northernmost point last month at the age of 75. She is one of the oldest people to reach the North Pole, and is believed to be the first black woman to accomplish the feat.
Hillary, of Averne, N.Y., grew up in Harlem and devoted herself to a nursing career and community activism. At 67, she battled lung cancer. Five years later, she went dog sledding in Quebec and photographed polar bears in Manitoba.
Then she heard that a black woman had never made it to the North Pole.
"I said, 'What's wrong with this picture?"' she said. "So I sort of rolled into this, shall we say."
In 1909, Matthew Henson made history as the first black man to reach the Pole, though his accomplishment was not officially recognized for decades -- it was overshadowed by the presence of his white colleague, Robert Peary.
Ann Bancroft, a physical-education teacher from Minnesota, was the North Pole's first female visitor in 1986 as a member of the Steger Polar Expedition, which arrived unassisted in a re-creation of the 1909 trip. Various scientific organizations said no record exists of a black woman matching Bancroft's feat, although such record-keeping is not perfect.
"It's not like there's a guest book when you get up there and you sign it," said Robert Russell, founder of Eagles Cry Adventures Inc., the travel company that leads thrill-seekers like Hillary to the farthest corners of the globe. Russell conducted six months' worth of research, interviewing fellow polar expedition contractors and digging through history books, but failed to find a black woman who had completed the trek.
Russell's paying customers can travel to the North Pole in various ways, from 18-day cross-country ski trips to simply being dropped off at the Pole via helicopter. The trip costs about $21,000 per person.
Hillary insisted on skiing. Only trouble was, she had never been on skis before.
"It wasn't a popular sport in Harlem," she quipped.
So she enrolled in cross-country-skiing lessons and hired a personal trainer, who finally determined she was physically fit for the voyage.
"She's a headstrong woman. You don't tell her 'no' about too many things," Russell said.
Her lack of money didn't stop her, either. Hillary scraped together thousands of dollars and solicited private donors.
On April 23, Hillary set off on skis from a Norwegian base camp with two guides. Russell, fearing for her health, had convinced her to take a daylong ski route in lieu of a longer trip.
As the sunlight glinted off the ice, distorting her vision, Hillary struggled beneath a load of gear and pressed on. In her euphoria at reaching the Pole, she forgot the cold and removed her gloves, causing her fingers to become frostbitten.
Standing at the top of the world, she couldn't have cared less. The enormous expanse of ice and sky left Hillary, for once in her long life, speechless.
Hillary says she hopes her journey will inspire hope in other cancer survivors. She is already planning a new adventure: that of a global-warming activist.
"I'd like to go and lecture to different groups on what they can do on a grass-roots level (to fight global warming)," she said.
