I thought I would be the youngest person ever to run across the USA until I found out that a slightly younger 15-year old boy named Tobias Cotton ran across America in 1928. Although we are both running across the country to help people, he was doing it to save his family from poverty, and my goal is to save people worldwide from the horrors of GMOs.
When Tobias’s dad got injured while fixing a car, the family was left in poverty with no way to make money. They would have been left that way if Tobias hadn’t heard about the $25,000 prize for winning a trans continental race nicknamed the Bunion Derby. After convincing his family to let him run he was one of 198 competitors, and one of five African Americans competing.
Near the end of the race his dreams were destroyed, after running over 3,000 miles he finished in 35th place. Tobias’s dreams seemed to be ruined until William Bojangles Robinson heard about this tragic story. Mr. Robinson who played a part in the musical, “Black Birds” organized a performance in Tobias’s honor, where all of the earnings went to the Cotton Family. Later he was awarded a diamond studded gold medal for completing his run.
Initially, when I discovered that I wasn’t going to be the youngest person to run across America I was disappointed, but when I heard the story of Tobias Cotton, I decided that it was fine with me that someone like Tobias beat me as the youngest person to complete this run.
Read more about Tobias Cotton here.