JUMP ROPE GIRLS

In 1988, reporting for the New York Times, Susan Hartman wrote about a group of girls, who lived on her Brooklyn block. Athletic and graceful, they were expert Double Dutch jumpers, and often performed a rapping, clapping game they called ‘cheers.’ No matter what was going on in their lives, or on the block—which became increasingly dangerous as crack hit the city—they showed up for their games.

A generation later, Hartman did a follow-up cover story, “Jump Rope Girls, 20 Years On,” about the amazing young women they had become.

She directed a multi-media project about three of them: Peachie Navarro, who headed a four-generation household of women; GeeGee Goodwin, who cared for her three young children; and Elbe Vasquez, who ran away from home at 13, gave birth at 15, and raised her daughter and son by herself.

Six award-winning photographers and filmmakers contributed to the project: Nancy Kaye, Peter van Agtmael, Rebecca Norris Webb, Christian Hansen, Carola Mamberto, and André Lambertson.

> Read the New York Times story: “Jump Rope Girls, 20 Years On.”