Group 2 - Tarana Burke

Tarana Burke and protesters at the Survivor's March

Tarana Burke is an African-American civil rights and women’s rights activist, prominently known for her founding of the Me Too campaign. The hashtag as we know it today was only pioneered into a wider movement a little more than a year ago. But even before all of the attention her movement received in the media, Burke had long history of helping victims of sexual abuse recover from their experiences and empower them for the future.

As early as a teenager, Burke had already started giving back to her community as an activist and voice for younger girls in her community. The experience that Burke claimed prompted her movement was while she was a counselor at a girls’ youth camp. One of the girls in attendance, Heaven, was regarded as a “troubled” child. When she went to speak with Burke privately and divulged information about the sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend, she cut off the young girl to redirect her to another counselor. Burke was also a survivor of sexual abuse, and later admitted she was not ready to confront someone else’s trauma before she had fully conquered her own. Heaven didn’t return to camp after, and Tarana Burke was left questioning why she couldn’t have just told the young girl, “me too”.

Milano's tweet that recently reignited the movement

It was only in 2017 after the victims of Harvey Weinstein came forth did the movement become the hashtag we know today. Amidst the allegations, Alyssa Milano, an American actress and activist, gave attention to Burke's pre-existing movement on Twitter. The movement was reignited with fervor never before seen and brought Burke back to the frontline of it all.

Along with being the founder of the Me Too movement, Burke was also the founder of Just Be Inc. in 2006, an organization devoted to helping the wellbeing and wholeness of young women of color by reaffirming their self worth in adversity of mass media and patriarchal society. She is also a senior director and speaker for Girls for Gender Equity, a Brooklyn based foundation with the goal of removing the barriers and obstacles that women face in order to promote equality and empowerment for women everywhere.

Here's a link to our presentation!