Tarana Burke
American activist who founded the MeToo movement.
Tarana Burke, born September 12, 1973, in New York City, is an American activist who originated the MeToo movement. Her early life in The Bronx included Catholic primary school and Herbert H. Lehman High School. She began community organizing in the late 1980s through the 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement. Burke attended Alabama State University, a historically Black institution, and later Auburn University at Montgomery, where she organized press conferences and protests focused on racial justice, and worked on issues including racial discrimination, housing inequality, and economic justice. After graduating, she moved to Selma, Alabama, in the late 1990s. In 1997, a pivotal encounter with a girl named Heaven, who disclosed sexual abuse by her mother’s boyfriend, left Burke feeling she had no adequate response; she later wished she had said "me too." This experience, along with her work with survivors of sexual violence, led her to found the nonprofit Just Be Inc. in 2003, an all-girls program for Black girls aged 12 to 18. In 2006, Burke founded the MeToo movement, using the phrase to raise awareness of pervasive sexual abuse and assault. She created a Myspace page for the effort, and Just Be Inc. received its first grant in 2007. In 2008, she moved to Philadelphia, working at Art Sanctuary Philadelphia and other nonprofits. She served as a consultant for the 2014 film *Selma*, about the 1965 voting rights marches. Burke later became Senior Director at Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn. The movement gained global prominence in October 2017 when the hashtag #MeToo went viral after actress Alyssa Milano encouraged its use, following allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Milano soon acknowledged Burke’s earlier work. *Time* named Burke among "the silence breakers" as Person of the Year for 2017. In 2018, she founded me too. International, serving as Chief Vision Officer. Burke has published two *New York Times* best sellers: *You Are Your Best Thing* (co-authored with Brené Brown, 2021) and her memoir *Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement* (2021). Harvard University published a case study on her in 2020.
- field
- Activism
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Founding the MeToo movement
Verified Timeline
Quick Facts
- Birth Date
- 1973-09-12
- Birth Place
- New York City, U.S.
- Education
- Alabama State University / Auburn University at Montgomery (BA)
- Occupation
- Activist, organizer, author
- Movement
- metoo (#metoo)
- Organization
- me too. International, Just Be Inc. · Girls for Gender Equity · 21st Century Youth Leadership Movement · National Voting Rights Museum
- Years Active
- 1989–present
- Website
- metoomvmt.org · me too. International – official website
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
Tarana Burke first used the phrase "Me Too" on social media around 2006, on Myspace, as a sexual assault survivor and activist. Her original purpose was to empower women through empathy, especially focused on young and vulnerable women. After the hashtag #MeToo went viral in late 2017, Facebook reported that almost half of its American users were friends with someone who said they had been sexually assaulted or harassed. Burke has stated that the movement has grown to include both men and women of all colors and ages, continuing to support marginalized people in marginalized communities. She has emphasized the importance of early education about consent, including the right to refuse unwanted sexual contact regardless of the perpetrator’s relationship to the individual. Burke has also encouraged men to engage in discussions about consent, challenge inappropriate behavior, and listen to survivors’ experiences. She has stated the current purpose of the movement is to give people the resources to have access to healing, as well as to advocate for changes to laws and policies, including processing all untested rape kits, re-examining local school policies, improving the vetting of teachers, and updating sexual harassment policies. She supports the #MeToo bill in the U.S. Congress, which would remove the requirement that staffers of the federal government go through months of "cooling off" before being allowed to file a complaint against a Congressperson.
Reader's Guide
Tarana Burke's significance lies in founding the MeToo movement in 2006, which began as a grassroots effort on Myspace to empower survivors of sexual assault through empathy and solidarity. The movement spread virally in October 2017 after Alyssa Milano's tweet, leading to widespread media coverage and discussion of sexual harassment, particularly in Hollywood, and resulting in high-profile terminations. Burke has since reframed the movement as an international movement for justice for marginalized people. Her activism focuses on healing, policy change, and early education about consent. She advocates for professionals who work with children to be fingerprinted and subjected to background checks, and for sex education that teaches kids to report predatory behavior immediately. The movement has sparked debate over supporting survivors while ensuring due process, with studies by the United States Department of Justice and UK Home Office estimating that false reports make up only 2–10% of sexual assault claims. Critics have highlighted gaps in the movement’s reach, including its failure to address police abuse, include sex workers, or center marginalized women, who face the highest rates of violence.
Did You Know?
- Tarana Burke first used the phrase "Me Too" on Myspace around 2006.
- The hashtag #MeToo went viral in October 2017 after actress Alyssa Milano posted on Twitter, following allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
- After #MeToo went viral, Facebook reported that almost half of its American users were friends with someone who said they had been sexually assaulted or harassed.
- Burke has stated the movement's purpose includes processing all untested rape kits and updating sexual harassment policies.
- Studies by the United States Department of Justice and UK Home Office estimate that false reports make up only 2–10% of sexual assault claims.
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