Walk of the People - A Pilgrimage for Life
Encyclopedia
A Walk of the People - A Pilgrimage for Life was a walking personal and political action organized by peace activists Dale James Outhouse and Pamela Blockey O'Brien to bring attention to the perils of impending nuclear war
between the United States
and the Soviet Union
. The walk started on March 1, 1984, in Point Conception
, California
, and traversed 7,000 miles, ending in Hungary
in late 1985. Some members went by train to Moscow
, Russia
.
proceeded at a furious pace. Some United States leaders talked of a winnable nuclear war against the former Soviet Union. U.S. President Ronald Reagan
and USSR Premier Konstantin Chernenko
had not as much as met in the previous four years. More nuclear weapons had been installed in Europe on both sides of the Berlin Wall
and Iron Curtain
, pointing at each other.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
set its traditional “Doomsday Clock
,” which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to three minutes before midnight in 1984. That was the closest the clock had been to midnight in three decades, with it being at 12 minutes in 1972, when the U.S. and former Soviet Union signed SALT I. http://www.thebulletin.org/minutes-to-midnight/timeline.html
Since political leaders were not even talking, the crucial times demanded extraordinary action from citizens. One method of trying to break through this wall of East-West division was a walk of some 7,000 miles from California to Moscow, Russia called A Walk of the People – A Pilgrimage for Life. The project was organized primarily by peace activist Dale James Outhouse and Pamela Blockey O'Brien, a long-time organizer of peace, human rights, and social justice projects and member of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
. http://www.ifor.org
, New Mexico
, Texas
, then the Deep South
, picking up people along the way. By the time the project reached Washington, D.C.
in November 1984, the number of full-time walkers was up to 15. [“Walking toward Moscow.” The New York Times, Nov. 16, 1984; Joan Galler, “Marchers make area stop in cross country journey.” Woodbridge News Tribune, Dec. 12, 1984.] The walk continued to New York City
, then to Europe
, with a contingent eventually reaching Moscow in December 1985.
Participants met hundreds of people from all walks of life, government officials, and religious leaders, and collected letters, poems, drawings, and other messages of peace to distribute to people beyond the Berlin Wall. Besides that direct people-to-people action, members raised awareness through the media. The walk was covered by some 1,600 newspapers and 500 radio and television stations in the U.S. and Europe, from CNN
to national television in France. http://www.booklocker.com/books/959.html
Some participants continued to participate in similar breaking-down-the-walls projects, including the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament
, a larger group that crossed the U.S. in 1986; and a walk that took place in India
in 1987-88. By 1988, the “Doomsday Clock” was back up to six minutes and continued rising as East-West relations improved, although it has since gone back down to five minutes, as of 2007. http://www.thebulletin.org/minutes-to-midnight/timeline.html
, Arkansas
, and the Peace and Justice Studies Association
of Evergreen State College, Washington. http://www.omnicenter.org/omniprojects/bib3.htm
, the main organizer in Europe, also succumbed to cancer in 2006.
Pamela Blockey O'Brien, the main organizer of A Walk of the People in the U.S., passed away of an asthma attack and COPD in 2009. Edith Webber, who walked along with her husband, Carroll Webber, through part of Europe, passed away in 2009 after a bout with pneumonia at the age of 89.
, in which several hundred people hiked across the U.S. in 1986. He walked with the Great Peace March for its first week in California.
Peace Pilgrim, as Mildred Lisette Norman was known, walked across the United States, mostly on her own, from 1953 until 1981. Many of the participants of Walk of the People were inspired by her and met people who knew Peace Pilgrim.
A Walk to Moscow crossed the U.S. and Europe from 1981 to 1983. Walk of the People members met with Walk to Moscow peace walk
members in Europe and even stayed at the same mill house in Regnitzlosau, Germany, while waiting for Eastern bloc visas.
Sam Atwood, "Peace pilgrims pass through with message against nukes," Santa Fe New Mexican, May 6, 1984. http://www.newspaperarchive.com/SiteMap/FreePdfPreview.aspx?img=111484258
Roland Prinz, "U.S. Peace Activists Denied East German Visas." The Associated Press, Sept. 12, 1985.
United Press International, “Peace walk hits snag at E. Germany,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 14, 1985.
“Walking toward Moscow.” The New York Times, Nov. 16, 1984.
Joan Galler, “Marchers make area stop in cross country journey.” Woodbridge News Tribune, Dec. 12, 1984.
“Peace pilgrims on their way to Moscow.” Carlisle Evening News and Star, England, Feb. 21, 1985.
John Wheeler, “Round the world to Thornhill.” Dumfries & Galloway Standard
and Advertiser, England, March 1, 1985.
Kath Gosling, “Walking 8,500 miles in quest of world peace.” Evening Sentinel, England, March 11, 1985.
Laura DeJardin, “Avec eux, nous avons parle de la paix mondiale en marchant.” Le Havre Libre, France, April 4, 1985.
C. Preteux, “Les marcheurs de la Paix: Motives et unis pour le desarmement.” Le Havre Press, France, April 4, 1985.
Bernadette Colson, “Les gens n’aiment pas les armes.” La Croix, Paris, France. April 17, 1985.
Oliver Fehn, “Ein pilgerzug furs leben.” Munchberg Lokalnachrichte, Germany, June 18, 1985.
Dennis Phillips, “Texan making peace walk to USSR.” The Dallas Morning News, May 27, 1985.
Kevin Davis, “Hikers for peace visit Dallas on way to Moscow.” The Dallas Morning News, June 7, 1984.
“They walked miles to promote peace.” The Times of India, New Delhi, Jan. 15, 1988.
Kevin J. Shay, “Walking for peace through the land of Gandhi.” Dallas Peace Times, March 1988.
Amber Amundson. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 25, 2001.
Dale James Outhouse, Walk of the People, Reflections of 25 Years, blog, 2008-09. http://walkofthepeople.blogspot.com/
Kevin J. Shay, Walking Through the Wall. Booklocker, 2002. http://www.booklocker.com/books/959.html
Nuclear warfare
Nuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
between the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. The walk started on March 1, 1984, in Point Conception
Point Conception
Point Conception is a headland along the Pacific coast of U.S. state of California, located in southwestern Santa Barbara County. It is the point where the Santa Barbara Channel meets the Pacific Ocean, and as the corner between the mostly north-south trending portion of coast to the north and the...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and traversed 7,000 miles, ending in Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
in late 1985. Some members went by train to Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Why the project was organized
In 1984, the global nuclear arms raceNuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
proceeded at a furious pace. Some United States leaders talked of a winnable nuclear war against the former Soviet Union. U.S. President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and USSR Premier Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...
had not as much as met in the previous four years. More nuclear weapons had been installed in Europe on both sides of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
and Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
, pointing at each other.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is a nontechnical online magazine that covers global security and public policy issues, especially related to the dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction...
set its traditional “Doomsday Clock
Doomsday Clock
The Doomsday Clock is a symbolic clock face, maintained since 1947 by the board of directors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists at the University of Chicago. The closer the clock is to midnight, the closer the world is estimated to be to global disaster. , the Doomsday Clock now stands at six...
,” which has marked the danger of nuclear war since 1947, to three minutes before midnight in 1984. That was the closest the clock had been to midnight in three decades, with it being at 12 minutes in 1972, when the U.S. and former Soviet Union signed SALT I. http://www.thebulletin.org/minutes-to-midnight/timeline.html
Since political leaders were not even talking, the crucial times demanded extraordinary action from citizens. One method of trying to break through this wall of East-West division was a walk of some 7,000 miles from California to Moscow, Russia called A Walk of the People – A Pilgrimage for Life. The project was organized primarily by peace activist Dale James Outhouse and Pamela Blockey O'Brien, a long-time organizer of peace, human rights, and social justice projects and member of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation
International Fellowship of Reconciliation
The International Fellowship of Reconciliation is an international faith-based nonviolent movement created shortly after the First World War, in 1919, to draw together national Fellowships of Reconciliation that had been founded during the war....
. http://www.ifor.org
More details on the walk
On March 1, 1984, a handful of people started walking from Point Conception, California. The participants proceeded to ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, then the Deep South
Deep South
The Deep South is a descriptive category of the cultural and geographic subregions in the American South. Historically, it is differentiated from the "Upper South" as being the states which were most dependent on plantation type agriculture during the pre-Civil War period...
, picking up people along the way. By the time the project reached Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
in November 1984, the number of full-time walkers was up to 15. [“Walking toward Moscow.” The New York Times, Nov. 16, 1984; Joan Galler, “Marchers make area stop in cross country journey.” Woodbridge News Tribune, Dec. 12, 1984.] The walk continued to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, then to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, with a contingent eventually reaching Moscow in December 1985.
Participants met hundreds of people from all walks of life, government officials, and religious leaders, and collected letters, poems, drawings, and other messages of peace to distribute to people beyond the Berlin Wall. Besides that direct people-to-people action, members raised awareness through the media. The walk was covered by some 1,600 newspapers and 500 radio and television stations in the U.S. and Europe, from CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
to national television in France. http://www.booklocker.com/books/959.html
Some participants continued to participate in similar breaking-down-the-walls projects, including the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament
Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament
The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, Inc. was a cross-country event in 1986 aimed at raising awareness to the growing danger of nuclear proliferation and to advocate for complete, verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons from the earth...
, a larger group that crossed the U.S. in 1986; and a walk that took place in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1987-88. By 1988, the “Doomsday Clock” was back up to six minutes and continued rising as East-West relations improved, although it has since gone back down to five minutes, as of 2007. http://www.thebulletin.org/minutes-to-midnight/timeline.html
Book on project
One participant, journalist Kevin J. Shay, wrote a book about the inside story of the project called Walking through the Wall. The book won a 2002 International PeaceWriting Award, sponsored by the Omni Center for Peace, Justice, & Ecology of FayettevilleFayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville is the county seat of Washington County, and the third largest city in Arkansas. The city is centrally located within the county and is home to the University of Arkansas. Fayetteville is also deep in the Boston Mountains, a subset of The Ozarks...
, Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
, and the Peace and Justice Studies Association
Peace and Justice Studies Association
The Peace and Justice Studies Association is a non-profit organization headquartered at Prescott College and based in Prescott, Arizona; its current Executive Director is Randall Amster. It was formed in 2001 as a result of a merger of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development ...
of Evergreen State College, Washington. http://www.omnicenter.org/omniprojects/bib3.htm
Some Key Participants Pass Away
Andy Rector, who walked all the way from Alabama until the end, died of cancer in 1994. Solange FernexSolange Fernex
Solange Fernex was a French pacifist activist and politician, born on 15 April 1934 at Strasbourg, France, and died from cancer on 11 September 2006, at Biederthal, France.She led Europe-Ecologie list for the first European elections in 1979...
, the main organizer in Europe, also succumbed to cancer in 2006.
Pamela Blockey O'Brien, the main organizer of A Walk of the People in the U.S., passed away of an asthma attack and COPD in 2009. Edith Webber, who walked along with her husband, Carroll Webber, through part of Europe, passed away in 2009 after a bout with pneumonia at the age of 89.
Other Cross-Country Peace Marches
Shay also participated in the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear DisarmamentGreat Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament
The Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, Inc. was a cross-country event in 1986 aimed at raising awareness to the growing danger of nuclear proliferation and to advocate for complete, verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons from the earth...
, in which several hundred people hiked across the U.S. in 1986. He walked with the Great Peace March for its first week in California.
Peace Pilgrim, as Mildred Lisette Norman was known, walked across the United States, mostly on her own, from 1953 until 1981. Many of the participants of Walk of the People were inspired by her and met people who knew Peace Pilgrim.
A Walk to Moscow crossed the U.S. and Europe from 1981 to 1983. Walk of the People members met with Walk to Moscow peace walk
Peace walk
A peace walk or peace march, sometimes referred to as a peace pilgrimage, is a form of nonviolent action where a person or groups of people march a set distance to raise awareness of particular issues important to the walkers.-Europe:...
members in Europe and even stayed at the same mill house in Regnitzlosau, Germany, while waiting for Eastern bloc visas.
More Sources
Collection of materials on Walk of the People project and some walks for similar causes donated to Swartmore College, Pa., by Kevin J. Shay. http://tripod.brynmawr.edu/search?/dWalk+of+the+People+%3A+a+Pilgrimage+for+Life/dwalk+of+the+people+a+pilgrimage+for+life/-3%2C-1%2C0%2CB/frameset&FF=dwalk+of+the+people+a+pilgrimage+for+life&1%2C1%2CSam Atwood, "Peace pilgrims pass through with message against nukes," Santa Fe New Mexican, May 6, 1984. http://www.newspaperarchive.com/SiteMap/FreePdfPreview.aspx?img=111484258
Roland Prinz, "U.S. Peace Activists Denied East German Visas." The Associated Press, Sept. 12, 1985.
United Press International, “Peace walk hits snag at E. Germany,” The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, July 14, 1985.
“Walking toward Moscow.” The New York Times, Nov. 16, 1984.
Joan Galler, “Marchers make area stop in cross country journey.” Woodbridge News Tribune, Dec. 12, 1984.
“Peace pilgrims on their way to Moscow.” Carlisle Evening News and Star, England, Feb. 21, 1985.
John Wheeler, “Round the world to Thornhill.” Dumfries & Galloway Standard
Dumfries & Galloway Standard
The Dumfries & Galloway Standard is a tabloid newspaper primarily serves Dumfries and the surrounding towns and villages such as Thornhill, Sanquhar, Lockerbie and Annan. But it also covers Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbright, Gretna and news in Wigtownshire such as in the town of Stranraer...
and Advertiser, England, March 1, 1985.
Kath Gosling, “Walking 8,500 miles in quest of world peace.” Evening Sentinel, England, March 11, 1985.
Laura DeJardin, “Avec eux, nous avons parle de la paix mondiale en marchant.” Le Havre Libre, France, April 4, 1985.
C. Preteux, “Les marcheurs de la Paix: Motives et unis pour le desarmement.” Le Havre Press, France, April 4, 1985.
Bernadette Colson, “Les gens n’aiment pas les armes.” La Croix, Paris, France. April 17, 1985.
Oliver Fehn, “Ein pilgerzug furs leben.” Munchberg Lokalnachrichte, Germany, June 18, 1985.
Dennis Phillips, “Texan making peace walk to USSR.” The Dallas Morning News, May 27, 1985.
Kevin Davis, “Hikers for peace visit Dallas on way to Moscow.” The Dallas Morning News, June 7, 1984.
“They walked miles to promote peace.” The Times of India, New Delhi, Jan. 15, 1988.
Kevin J. Shay, “Walking for peace through the land of Gandhi.” Dallas Peace Times, March 1988.
Amber Amundson. Chicago Tribune, Sept. 25, 2001.
Dale James Outhouse, Walk of the People, Reflections of 25 Years, blog, 2008-09. http://walkofthepeople.blogspot.com/
Kevin J. Shay, Walking Through the Wall. Booklocker, 2002. http://www.booklocker.com/books/959.html