The 1st Black woman to reach the North Pole
Remembering the legendary explorer, Barbara Hillary
In today’s newsletter: a legendary explorer, ways to support the Black community, and my fat cat. This month, a portion of profits from paid newsletter subscriptions will be donated to the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. If you’ve found your way here but are not yet subscribed, here, let me help you with that:
I remember when I first met Barbara Hillary during the W Hotel’s ‘What She Said‘ series back in 2018. I was asked to join a panel of intrepid women to speak about life-changing trips, and one of those women was Barbara. At first glance, Barbara seemed frail and unassuming. But when she spoke, you realized just what a lioness this woman was. She was the type of person to casually say things that made you want to immediately jot it down for posterity. At a certain point in our panel — and I say this with no exaggeration — I wanted to drop the mic, step off the stage, and sit cross-legged in front of Barbara, to hang off her every word.
You see, it wasn’t just that Barbara had incredible stories to tell. Most travelers I meet will regale me with anecdotes about the time they fell in love in France or got lost in Borneo. Rather, it was Barbara’s sheer tenacity and magnetism that made her a remarkable woman. She was an unapologetic firecracker, a well of wisdom, and a woman who defied every stereotype that society forces upon its elderly and Black communities.
Back in 2007, Barbara Hillary became the first Black woman to travel to the North Pole at age 75. Four years later, she would break another record, becoming the first Black woman to reach the South Pole at age 79. After retiring from a 55-year career in nursing, Barbara sought unique adventures. She went dog sledding in Quebec and photographed polar bears in Manitoba, but it wasn’t until she learned that no Black woman had traveled to the North Pole that she would set her eyes on reaching it. Convincing people to support her endeavor wasn’t easy. One day, over the phone, she laughed as she recalled the absurdity of asking people to support her North Pole mission.
“It was a matter of raising money and convincing potential funders that I was not a woman running loose in a nursing home, using the telephone, and calling people at random,” she told me with a larger-than-life laugh. “Just imagine my opening introduction: ‘Hello, my name is Barbara Hillary. I’m a 75-year-old Black woman and my goal is to ski to the North Pole.’ How often do you hear that?”
Regardless of the challenges, Barbara found herself standing on top of the world — literally. With minimal financial backing and as a lung cancer survivor who had lost 25 percent of her breathing capacity due to surgery; Barbara broke a world record. In the years that followed, Barbara became a living legend. Her age-defying trips were spun into guest speaking opportunities to inspire the next generation of explorers. She even became Editor-in-Chief of Peninsula Magazine, a non-profit and multi-racial magazine in New York.
Barbara never let her age hold her back. She scoffed at the notion that elderly folks should waste away in nursing homes, choosing instead to live life on her terms. She bristled at the idea that our elderly population should be denied passion, sex, and adventure by virtue of their age. She took pride in defiantly scaling mountains and traveling to far-flung locales, and to those who felt they couldn’t do the same, she would say:
“Give yourself a mental enema. Get out and do what you want to do and don’t concern yourself with what other people think!”
After our first meeting, I sporadically kept in touch with Barbara in the time that followed. When it came time to plan our second issue of Unearth Women magazine, I immediately thought of Barbara for our Women to Watch section. Anytime we’d hop on a call, she would launch into stories that were always interwoven with golden nuggets of wisdom.
In the last few months of her life, I had been in touch with Barbara in hopes of having her as a guest speaker on an upcoming Unearth Women panel. If her health was failing, she kept the secret well. I knew only that Barbara — ever the intrepid — was making plans to travel to outer Mongolia to visit a nomadic tribe known for herding wild reindeer. Before passing in late November 2019, Barbara did have her final adventure in Mongolia. In my last interview with her, I remember the sparkling humor and sharp wit of the great Barbara Hillary.
If you get cat hair in your welcome package, you know why
Someone recently asked me where Unearth Women’s offices are, to which I could only stifle a laugh. As much as I may wish that I had a glass-walled office covered in feminist neon signs and a diverse staff of in-house editors and writers; the reality is far less glamourous. Nowadays, my “office” is my one-bedroom apartment in Queens. My “colleagues” are a profoundly lazy cat who will not stop knocking papers off my desk, an anxious brown puppy who paws at my thigh for pets, and a loving boyfriend who is busy chiseling away at his own projects.
This week, I was putting together welcome packages for new paying subscribers who sign up for a yearly subscription. Our welcome packages include a copy of our first issue, empower women stickers and a discount to our online store. As I was lovingly wrapping the packages, my fat cat plopped his big striped butt right in the middle of my “office.” Thankfully, he’s devastatingly cute to make up for such blatant rudeness, but if you find a stray cat hair in your welcome gift — you know why. If you’re not yet a subscriber, click the button below to unlock exciting perks and support great nonprofits.
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Ways to support the Black community for Black History Month, and beyond
Subscribe to The Black Explorer, which is a stunning new magazine that celebrates the Black travel narrative. Attend Travel + Leisure’s BlackPrint event, focused on the Black travel experience. Join The Black Travel Alliance (BTA), which was formed with a mission to fight for the representation of Black content creators. Their #PullUpForTravel campaign asked tourism boards, media, and companies to share internal audits of their teams, and the results are eye-opening.
Listen to the Afros and Knives podcast, which celebrates inspiring Black women within the food and hospitality industry. Check out Travel + Leisure’s Let’s Go Together podcast, which is hosted by Travel Channel’s first Black female host, Kellee Edwards. Order a copy of The ABC Travel Green Book, a modern adaptation of the historic Green Book. Written by Martinique Lewis, The ABC Travel Green Book spotlights Black-owned businesses across six continents. Follow these inspiring Black women who are reshaping the travel industry, including Evita Robinson, Oneika Raymond, Imani Bashir, and Jessica Nabongo.
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Organizations we’ve supported in the past: Women for Women International, Heart of Dinner.