Sad news has come in today as the first black woman to reach both the North Pole and the South Pole has died!

Barbara Hillary, an African America woman who broke history as an explore has died at the age of 88.

Hillary was not only the first African American woman to reach the north pole, but she became the oldest person at age 75 to do so. Four years after her history-making exploration, Hill became the first black woman to also reach the South Pole.

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While making history, Hillary was a community activist, a nurse, the editor in chief of the nonprofit publication The Peninsula Magazine, as well as a breast cancer and lung cancer survivor.

A post was shared to her Twitter page to share the news saying;

Dear friends, Barbara Hillary has died. She was 88 and had suffered significant health decline in recent months. She lives on in history, in the hearts of those who loved her, and in the inspiration she gave to so many. @northsouthpole #NorthPole #SouthPole #Mongolia #Explorer

— Barbara Hillary (@northsouthpole) November 23, 2019

“There were still so many things she wanted to do,” her friend Deborah Bogosian told 1010 WINS. “… Everything about her was fascinating, convention-breaking, and confounding. Her record-setting treks, her defeat over cancer, her arduous fight to get her house back after Hurricane Sandy. Her years as a nurse, her gigs as a taxi driver and in sundry other jobs that gave her more than a few stories to tell. Her appreciation for archery, guns and knives, big trucks and big dogs. The roses and miraculous tomatoes she grew.”

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Our thoughts and prayers go out to Barbara’s family, friends and all those who lvoed her during this difficult time!