BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — As Women’s History Month comes to a close, the stories of two Maryland women, decades apart show how representation in travel has evolved.
In 1946, Baltimore native Edith “Jackie” Ronne, made history as the first American woman to visit Antarctica.
It was at a time when exploration was dominated by men. Ronne joined a nearly two-year expedition as the only woman on a team of 20. The group of men weren't pleased, as she was tasked to lead the exploration if something happened to her husband.
Despite the resistance, she played a key role in collecting data and helping map the Antarctic coastline. According to the Maryland Commission for Women, she’s considered an early pioneer in Antarctic tourism, paving the way for women who would later explore and make policy decisions there.
In her lifetime, she visited the continent 16 times, setup a scholarship for women geographers and received a congressional medal for her work. Ronne's husband even named an ice shelf in honor.
Decades later, that impact is still being felt.
Baltimore County resident, Kalin Thomas, has traveled to 6 continents and more than 20 countries.
"It was like I was blazing a trail for the next people coming through, the next black woman coming through," Thomas said.
She followed in Ronne’s footsteps, visiting Antarctica herself, a full-circle moment for two Baltimore women. But even in a sea of people, there were moments were she felt alone.
“I went to a lot of places where people who look like us were the help,” Thomas said. “At that time I really wanted to see more of us enjoying the travel as opposed to being the workers.”
Thomas went on to become CNN’s first Black travel reporter, often finding herself as the only Black woman in the room while reporting abroad.
"A lot of places that I went to, I was the only one. A lot of times I was with a crew of 3 white men and me," Thomas said.
Not every trip was a welcoming one, she recalls one trip to Tennessee.
"A guy who lived there saw me with my white crew and he yelled to the cameraman, hey man, do you know she's black?," Thomas said.
Thomas is writing a book about her travels, the joys and hardships of exploring the world as a black woman in the 80s. That includes one of her trips to Japan.
"They ignored me. I thought it was racism but when I spoke to another Japanese woman who they were treating the same way, she says no, it's sexism. They only talk to men they don't talk to the women," Thomas said.
She hoped that someone watching her on TV, would see themselves in her. Kalin started behind the scenes, working camera, floor directing, and teleprompter before making her way on-air as a reporter for CNN 'Travel Now'.
“As African Americans and our ancestors, we have spread out from Africa to all over the black diaspora and so wherever we go we belong,” Thomas said. “And I feel like a lot of the younger travelers now know that, they feel that they belong.”
