GirlTrek’s Black History Bootcamp, a 21-day walking meditation for daily resistance that celebrates a different Black woman of historic significance each day; and day 21 of nationwide protests against racism and police brutality following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. GirlTrek encourages Black women to use radical self-care and walking as the first practical step to leading healthier, more fulfilled lives.
GirlTrek is an organization with 740,000 active members and counting — profiled on CNN — it is the largest health movement and nonprofit for Black women and girls in the country. GirlTrek is on a mission to inspire one million Black women to walk in the direction of their healthiest, most fulfilled lives by the end of 2020 and it all starts with taking the pledge at GirlTrek.org.
“In this moment, as we fight for our very sanity, our communities, our babies, ourselves, our men –we turn to the most beautiful source, the Black women who walked before us. We are not invisible. You will not break us, steal from, reject us, murder us and then demand that we do the labor of turning the world right-side up,” said GirlTrek cofounder T. Morgan Dixon. “We are the #DaughtersOf freedom fighters, of waymakers, strategists and builders of nations … authors, artists, soldiers, and spies. And in order to know where we’re going in this moment, we need to know where we have been.”
Each day (except on the weekends) participants of the Black History Bootcamp receive an email with the featured foremother that includes reading resources, speeches and a specially-curated playlist of songs dedicated to her to listen to on their solo walks. At noon EST, cofounders T. Morgan Dixon and Vanessa Garrison convene a conversation on the woman’s life, where thousands dial in to listen and walk-in virtual solidarity. The call-in info is 1 (646) 876-9923, code: 734464325.
The Black History Bootcamp kicked-off on June 1st, and by the second day, 10,000 people had accepted the challenge and by day 10, more than 85,000 people signed up to learn about legendary and revolutionary Black women in history like Audre Lorde, Ella Baker, Shirly Chisholm, Georgia Gilmore and Nina Simone.
The challenge is free and open to everyone regardless of race or gender. Sign up here. Past Black History Bootcamp episodes can be downloaded at Apple Podcasts or Spotify. So far, the podcast has been downloaded more than 50,000 times.
“We want you to start a life-saving habit of daily walking with us. Science has shown that it takes 21 days to successfully build a habit – and we promise you that if you complete this challenge, it will change your life,” said GirlTrek cofounder Vanessa Garrison.