We Are Harriet: The History and Humility of Changemaking with T. Morgan Dixon, Co-Founder of GirlTrek
An Excerpt from Rank & File Magazine
“I am the daughter of Carol, who is the daughter of Letha, who is the daughter of Willie.”
T. Morgan Dixon introduces herself with a “daughters of” statement, explaining how looking to her past helps her work from a place of humility and gratitude. Her posture is woven into the fabric of GirlTrek and is the foundation of this innovative movement.
GirlTrek is much more than the largest public health nonprofit in the United States for African-American women and girls. It is a movement that channels the wisdom of the greatest changemakers in history to propel people forward toward their most healthy self, while simultaneously building community and environmental stewardship as a by-product. Just like Morgan looks to her mother and grandmother, GirlTrek looks to the heroes of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement to instruct its vision, mission and systems.
Morgan sits down with Rank & File to discuss the power of walking in the footsteps of history’s greatest changemakers to inform our path as we mobilize movements for a better future.
Changemaking Is In Our Blood
“I’ve never been more hopeful about America’s future.” Morgan sees the hustle in the eyes of the American people, feels the hope and trusts that we’re growing into something better. “We’ve survived some tragic missteps as a collective, and the people still here are uniquely positioned to be changemakers.”
GirlTrek operates out of that hustle. Morgan explains that “82% of black women are overweight, and 53% are obese. Every day, 137 black women die of preventable heart disease. That’s every eleven minutes. It’s killing more of us than gun violence, cigarette smoking and HIV, combined.” The crisis is urgent, but GirlTrek desires a change that will last. So they start with one simple action: walking.
“I think we have to be careful as innovators not to have a hubris around what problem-solving and changemaking means.” Morgan knows that there is pressure around the title “changemaker” that suggests something grand, but she believes the everyday actions of individuals drive the most interesting and lasting forms of innovation. She explains, “I think innovation happens all around us, and the moment we stop recognizing, that is the moment we lose our edge.”
Like all Americans, Morgan believes changemaking is in her blood. Her mother was a changemaker when she desegregated her school. Her grandmother was an innovator when she discovered efficient ways to launder people’s clothing and still have time to take great care of her children. Her family is full of women and men who spent their lives demanding rights to a better life for their families and communities. Morgan believes changemaking is a part of who we all are as human beings, but we have to open our eyes to where we’ve come from to see how we move forward.
Along with her history, faith inspires Morgan as a changemaker. To her, the church and social change have always worked together. “The black church has been an engine of social justice in America,” she explains. Morgan believes that what they’re doing through GirlTrek is as much spiritual as it is physical. She says, “When we are talking about inspiration, the word ‘spirit’ is right there in the middle.” GirlTrek is filling an inspiration gap, helping women to be moved to care for their bodies, their families and their communities. “You have to have something that inspires you to take initial action,” Morgan says. Her mother taught her that “faith is a stronger word than hope, because faith requires action.” In this culture of inactivity, where black women are dying every single day, Morgan’s radical belief in what connects us all inspires her to keep moving.
People’s Innovation and the Civil Rights Movement
GirlTrek’s model flows out of what Morgan calls “people’s innovation,” which is the kind of changemaking on display in the United State’s civil rights history. In order to kickstart their movement, co-founders Morgan and Vanessa dove headfirst into the specifics of the Civil Rights Movement. They tore it apart, peeled back the layers and studied the public heroes, the private heroes, the systems in place and the decisions made.
What they found is that the Civil Rights Movement was not focused on direct service to people, and neither is GirlTrek. “What we are doing is culture-making, creating new norms, new values and really powerful leadership models,” Morgan explains.
From the Civil Rights Movement, they also learned to find their locus of control. In the Montgomery bus boycott, protesters knew they could walk to work, so they didn’t ride segregated buses. They could control their commute, and in that, they were able to make a statement and start a movement. In the health crisis, GirlTrek encourages women to walk themselves to a healthier body. They can take the first steps, and from there, GirlTrek trains them to stand on the frontlines of change in the physical, mental and emotional health of their own communities.
The Harriet Doctrine
In 1849, Harriet Tubman escaped from slavery in Maryland and dedicated the rest of her life to fighting for human rights. She is most known for pioneering and leading slaves in America to freedom through a system of safe houses called the Underground Railroad, and is the U.S. civil rights hero that most influenced the GirlTrek movement. Morgan carefully studied her life, and now shares four lessons that can be applied by all who seek to be movement makers for the sake of social change… Continue Reading inside Rank & File Magazine
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Photo courtesy of ©GirlTrek by Taylor Rees
