Peace Pilgrim: walking her talk against hate
Can you imagine walking across the country with only the cloths on your back? Meet Peace Pilgrim (1908-1981), a New Jersey native who did this for 28 years! At age 45, when most women of her time were already grandmothers, she gave up everything she owned and began a personal pilgrimage on foot to spread her message of peace. During International Women’s Day, I’m honored to share a little about the woman who has made such a tremendous impact on my life.
At schools, churches, jails, truck stops, street corners, or wherever the road took her, Peace Pilgrim inspired tens of thousands of people, one step at a time. She lived off the land and the kindness of those she met, saying, “I shall remain a wanderer until mankind has learned the way of peace, walking until given shelter and fasting until given food.”
Although many offered her lodging along the way, she loved sleeping outdoors and was not above snoozing on cement floors, park benches and, once, on the front seat of a fire engine in Tombstone, AZ.
Born Mildred Lisette Norman, she officially became Peace Pilgrim on Jan. 1, 1953 as she stepped out in front of Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Parade in her blue tunic with her new identity emblazoned on the front. The name and mission came to her in a vision as she rested on a mountaintop along the 2050-mile Appalachian Trail, which, by the way, she was the first woman to hike in one season!
For nearly three decades, Peace Pilgrim crossed the country more than six times. No matter what she encountered, her sole response was love. With every step she took, every smile she shared, this extraordinary woman was a beacon of light on an incredible journey of peace.
Even decades after her “glorious transition to a freer place,” Peace Pilgrim continues to make a difference in hundreds of thousands of lives around the globe thanks to the Friends of Peace Pilgrim (FoPP) organization.
Through my own middle grade biographical novel, Peace Pilgrim: Walking Her Talk Against Hate, and my relationship with FoPP, I came to know and also love Peace Piglrim’s “baby” sister, Helene Young, who recently left us at age 105.
On this, the 110th International Women’s Day, I’m forever grateful to have both as strong, joyful, compassionate role models!