Free to Be the Best Me
A Juneteenth Reflection on Outdoor Wellness
Freedom anniversaries ask us to look both backward and forward. On June 19th, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, news of liberation finally reached Galveston Bay, Texas. That day, our ancestors stepped into a new reality that was equal parts possibility and uncertainty. Ever since, Black communities have marked Juneteenth with music, food, dance, and celebration.
We’re adding another layer to that tradition: we celebrate by moving our bodies through sunlight, fresh air, and wide open landscapes.
Making Waves: Freedom Flourishes in Community
Juneteenth reminds us that progress has always been powered by people working together. Today, expanding access to water safety and swim education requires that same spirit of collective action.
Making Waves is building a network of Community Collaborators who share our commitment to ensuring that Black children, families, and communities have access to life-saving swim education. Through these partnerships, we can create pathways to confidence, safety, joy, and belonging in and around water.
We’re not talking about one day clinics. Our goal is to connect families with a full beginner swim series that builds skills over time and empowers participants to reclaim freedom in the water.
Do you know a swim school, instructor, community organization, recreation center, or aquatic program that shares this vision? We’d love an introduction. Use the link below to refer to an organization.
If your organization is interested in joining the network, visit the Outdoor Afro app and submit a Swim Partner Application.
Why the Outdoors Matter
Outdoor Afro’s mission of reconnecting Black people with natural spaces springs from lived history. There was a time when forests hid patrolmen, lakeshore parks posted whites-only signs, and hiking gear ads erased faces that looked like ours. Yet our elders found ways to garden, fish, explore and thrive in nature all the same. Today, when we kayak rivers or learn to fish in our communities, we honor their ingenuity and announce, “We belong here.”
That belonging is also supported by decades of research confirming what intuition already knew. There are over 1000 studies on nature’s impact on wellness.
For Outdoor Afro, this matters because many of the wellness challenges facing our communities are connected to chronic illnesses like hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes that disproportionately affect the Black people. Time outdoors is one practical way to support prevention, movement, stress reduction, and overall wellbeing.
Research on green space points in a similar direction. A 2024 systematic review and meta analysis found that greater access to green space was associated with lower odds of diabetes and hypertension. [1] Another large review found that nature exposure is linked with positive outcomes including improved blood pressure, physical activity, mental wellness, sleep, and cognitive function. [2]
The takeaway is simple: being outdoors supports wellness in many ways that don’t have to be complicated. A walk through the neighborhood, time near water, a bike ride, or a community hike can all become part of how we care for our bodies, steady our spirits, and practice freedom in real time.
Simple Ways to Thrive Outdoors
Nowadays, our community seems to be busier than ever, but you can embrace wellbeing through simple daily choices. We turned to Nicole Wilson, an Outdoor Afro Volunteer, to share her expertise by asking what is your NatureRx* and how does it help you feel free, grounded, and well in your body, spirit, and relationship with nature? *NatureRx is your personal prescription for wellness through nature. It can be an outdoor activity, place, or practice that supports your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing.
So let’s enjoy the fresh air as we elevate Juneteenth to more than a date on the calendar and into a season of embodied freedom that lasts all year. Download our app to explore upcoming events. See you on the trail where we are free to be well and free to become our best selves every step of the way.
Sources:
[1] A 2024 systematic review and meta-analysis found that green space access was associated with reduced odds of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and obesity. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10953288 “Association of greenspaces exposure with cardiometabolic …”
[2] A 2021 review in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found evidence linking nature exposure with improved cognitive function, brain activity, blood pressure, mental health, physical activity, and sleep. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8125471 “Associations between Nature Exposure and Health – PMC – NIH”