Outdoor Afro Wins a Toyota Together Green Innovation Grant!
Strengthening Outdoor Leadership Skills
Outdoor Afro is SO excited to share with its community the exciting news of winning a Toyota Audubon Together Innovation Green grant of over $17,000 this year to support our Bay Area Outdoor Afro Leadership Team!
As you know, Outdoor Afro celebrates and inspires African-American connections to nature through recreation and conservation activities. Currently, our social media-based effort engages tens of thousands of monthly visitors nationally through trips and online platforms.
But this year, we envisioned a wider scope of Outdoor Afro outreach - one that seeks not just to inspire but increase the environmental educational capacity of a new and diverse leadership pool that can connect their communities to conservation in a culturally relevant way.
For 95 years, The Golden Gate Audubon Society (GGAS) has pursued a two-fold mission of protecting the natural spaces in the San Francisco Bay area and engaging its residents in recognizing the interwoven relationship between a healthy environment and healthy human communities. As a former staff member at GGAS, Rue Mapp is proud to partner again with this respected local environmental organization to help facilitate new community connections to nature.
Under the leadership of Outdoor Afro and Golden Gate Audubon staff, the Innovation Grant-supported “Outdoor Afro Leadership Team” will lead one outdoor trip per quarter beginning in May, 2012. Leaders will be given the tools they need to blog and share stories and photos from each trip through a variety of social media channels. They will also be invited to participate in a monthly conference call to share trip reports and to receive mentoring. Additionally, the team will also engage in fieldwork, such as identifying specific habitats in Bay Area that have high conservation assets to protect and that are also located in close proximity to where diverse communities live. This work will support sustainable recreational enjoyment in the context of environmental education and awareness.
With a commitment from each member of the Bay Area Outdoor Afro Leadership Team to lead four trips per year—with an average of 20 participants per event—we expect to build a community of up to 1,000 participants. The goal is to develop a model of engagement that helps shift cultural thinking and activities toward more meaningful outdoor/nature engagement for diverse audiences, and make more visible and relevant organizations that support linkages between conservation and quality of life for all living species.
CLICK to learn more about Toyota Audubon Together Green Innovation Grants and our fellow grantees!
A Wonderful Week with the Maryland Coastal Bays
Just got back from a terrific stay in Maryland, specifically in the DelMarVa region, presenting at the second annual, Get Out! Get Green! Get Paid! Conference to encourage local youth to consider careers related to the Great Outdoors!
I had the good fortune to work with the dedicated Carrie Samis, who directs the program, and my esteemed co-panelists, Dr. Bert Davis, President, Zoological Society of Milwaukee; Frederick Tutman, Patuxent Riverkeeper; Academy Award winning filmmaker Errol Webber; and Brittany Smith of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Outdoor Afro is proud to partner with the amazing Coastal Steward youth to foster their outdoor leadership, so look out for forthcoming information that shares more of what we plan to accomplish together!
Thanks to everyone, especially the National Parks Service, Maryland Coastal Bays, and EPA for producing such an important event!
For now, here are just a few images that convey the spirit of camaraderie, dedication, and excitement about youth and their families connecting meaningfully to nature:
North Carolina Outdoor Afros!
Check out this trip report of a recent outing lead by Outdoor Afro leader Beky Branagan in her own words.
Our Story
At 9:00 AM on Saturday, June 23rd, we met at the rest station at Umstead State Park, Cary, NC. Four of us attended including myself and my child, Gabby. One of the participants (Brenda) found the trip on the Carey REI web site. YAY REI! We thouroughtly enjoyed ourselves, even my niece the teenager, who said that it was very "relaxing and refreshing."
While it was in the mid 90s and quite humid, we hiked the five miles on the Company Mill trail, enjoying the scenery and each other’s company. We also chatted about other events we might like to do. We finished the hike in about two hours.
What was the most memorable moment of the trip?
The first moments of the trip, when I realized that it was actually happening!
I also recently found out that the entrance that we used, the Reedy Creek entrance, was once the African American portion of the park.
From the State Park website:
"In 1950, more than 1,000 acres of the park were established as a separate park for African-Americans. This area was named Reedy Creek State Park. Crabtree Creek Recreation Area was renamed a few years later after former Governor William Bradley Umstead because of his conservation efforts. In 1966, the Crabtree Creek and Reedy Creek areas were united under the same name; William B. Umstead State Park was open to everyone."
Beky Branagan of North Carolina has an M.S. in Recreation Administration and served as a medic in the US Army Reserve. She volunteers as an Outdoor Skills Facilitator; teaching Girl Scout Leaders about how to take their troops camping.
Read more about the Outdoor Afro Leadership Team!
Thanks REI, the national retail co=operative, and KEEN shoes for outfitting Outdoor Afro leadership!
Gullah/Geechee SEA and ME: Truly a Cultural Journey
Queen Quet is a friend of mine, with whom I have had the privilege to work with since the beginning of Outdoor Afro. I am more than thrilled to finally host her first blog on the site that shares some of the rich history of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. Enter Queen Quet:
"De wata bring we an de wata gwine tek we bak."
De wata may tro bak de chillun ef e ain kno how fa ack!
De chillun na de lun de lil one wha fa do
So, ef hunnuh wan um fa kno, den why don't u?
Disya mi yeddi, so de journee mi tek
Cuz disya culcha got plennee at stake.
Ancestral voices beat against my ear drum as rhythmically as the waves on the Sea Island shore and they beat out the energy within their walks as their souls journey the sands of the sea that we call, "the Middle Passage." On the shoreline, these voices seem to be joined by the echoes of the polyrhythms whose echoes have never stopped passing through the trees. Sometimes, their sounds simply lower a bit and as we feel them and we then call them the summer breeze,
Pausing beneath a Spanish moss covered oak, one cannot miss the sound if your spirit is in tune and when they send you in a direction, it is best that you go. This is something that you learn as you stay in sync with the Gullah/Geechee flow. I noticed more and more our people being pushed from the shoreline. That push was coming from outside and it was by design. So, it was time to bring the children into the circle so that they could hear and see. This circle became the centering point for "Gullah/Geechee SEA and ME."
"Gullah/Geechee SEA and ME" is a TogetherGreen action project that I designed in which SEA stands for "saving environmental actions" and ME stands for "marine education." This year long project will be intergenerational and interactive. So, to engage my initial audience in this journey into environmental education and how it links to our Gullah/Geechee cultural traditions, I decided to bring the youth into the project in the same manner that I would begin-with reading!
250 folks showed up and filled the Colleton Memorial Library in Walterboro, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation to standing room only for the "Summer Reading Program." I presented books that contained information about our waterways and Gullah/Geechee culture as a part of a histo-musical presentation. Within the presentation, I demonstrated how even the youngest (2 year old) and the smallest can do something that collectively adds up to a huge benefit to us all.
I showed everyone how as we walk along our roads to the homes of others or to participate in outdoor activities, we can all carry a plastic bag with us to fill with debris along our way. We can encourage this as a use for the bags that we get when shopping and then make sure that the items therein are properly disposed of so that they do not end up in our ditches and ultimately in our waterways. One small bag a day, could go a LONG way! Everyone saw this and agreed that they would each do this daily throughout the summer.
I then encouraged them to walk to the library or at least walk through it and find books about Gullah/Geechee culture including one of my favorites, "The Water Brought Us" so that they could learn even more about the importance of our culture and the environment in which this culture thrives. I then invited them to come outdoors with me to see our culture alive on Edisto Island, St. Helena, and Hunting Islands as part of "Gullah/Geechee Famlee Days" August 3, 2012 and September 3 (Labor Day) respectively. Those who were interested quickly filled up the sign up sheet.
While preparing for the public "Gullah/Geechee Famlee Days," I held a private one for the "Gullah/Geechee Fishing Association" in order to engage in a learning experience with them and to have the elders of the association begin to transfer more knowledge to the younger generation. We were joined in this by The Nature Conservancy who decided this would be perfect for a photographic documentary. They captured images that truly tell the story of a Gullah/Geechee fishing day-making a cast net, casting for bait, pulling crab traps, fishing, and then cooking the food and eating with the family. Ain be no oda way fa end a tru Gullah/Geechee Famlee Day!
Hearing an 11 year old and an 18 year old both say how much they enjoyed fishing and crabbing was proof that I had gotten in the right boat with this project! They both want to do more crabbing and even want to see how to economically benefit from selling their catch. So, I am sure that these two will remain with the rest of the program and learn the stewardship and balance that needs to be maintained in order for us to continue to have healthy seafood and waterways. As we get more youths to join these two that came on board at the first event, this will then insure that there will continue to be a Gullah/Geechee seafood industry that incorporates Gullah/Geechee traditional methods of sea work.
At the end of the day, I must say, Gawd tenki tenki! Mi gladdee de chillun lun frum de famlee day fa "Gullah/Geechee SEA and ME!"
Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine is a published author, computer scientist, lecturer, mathematician, historian, columnist, preservationist, film consultant, and "The Art-ivist." She is the founder of the premiere advocacy organization for the continuation of Gullah/Geechee culture, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. Queen Quet has not only provided “histo-musical presentations” throughout the world, but was also the first Gullah/Geechee person to speak on behalf of her people before the United Nations in Genevé, Switzerland.
Your Caption Requested
This image was Tweeted to us by @MamaCandTheBoys:
What is your caption for this elegantly beautiful photo? Post it below!
A Week on Venice Beach
By Outdoor Afro Contributor Reginald James
Well, I didn’t really “spend about a week on Venice Beach,” but I always liked that line from Notorious B.I.G.’s “Going Back to Cali.” For me, Venice Beach has always been something of television and Hollywood fame.
But I’ve always been someone who wanted to see things for themselves.
Along with my friend Mary Moran, a Los Angeles native who recently returned to Southern California after going to college in the Bay Area, I went to visit this famed beach.
There is a long pier with scopes that offer views alongside the beach. The beach offers areas for surfing or swimming. Since this trip wasn’t planned, I hadn’t brought swimming shorts or a towel. So I just rolled up my shorts and walked into the water.
The water sparkled in the sunlight. I enjoyed the Pacific Ocean waves crashing against land.
Although my trip was short, I will definitely visit this beach again. Maybe I’ll be one of those buff guys you see lifting weights on Venice Beach.
Reginald James is an OutdoorAfro contributor, and he just returned from Tanzania. Visit his travel blog,www.reginaldtz.com, and make a contribution.
Stay tuned for more of Reginald's outdoor adventures!
Who Says You Need an Afro to Be an Outdoor Afro?
Jared Harris' image was captured in the Johnson Science Tower on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, MS. He is the friend of Outdoor Afro Leadership Team member Nkrumiah Frazier, and like him, is also an avid outdoor enthisiast!
Sci-Fi, Black Men, and Woods, Oh My!
The Abandon is a sci-fi TV series created by Keith Josef. Here’s the skinny: after a possible alien invasion, five black hikers in Upstate New York discover they may be the last humans on Earth and quickly learn the importance of survival, loyalty, and manhood:
However my curiosity quickly gave way to thoughts that ran through my mind like wildfire such as: Is this yet another re-enforcement of black terror in the woods? Will it be a display of buffoonery in nature? I cringed at these thoughts not only for their own sake, but also for the sad awareness of my own conditioning and apprehension regarding of how black people have been portrayed in nature via mainstream images.
I needed to know what was really going on, so I decided to go to the source and ask the film maker himself: Will this film perpetuate stereotypes? Is nature portrayed as scary (again)? Keith replied quickly and thoughtfully - and I was delighted by his responses:
Keith, tell us about your background in nature and the outdoors
I'm originally from southern Ohio so the outdoors has always been a big part of my life. The "woods" was the place I played, communed, got scared, found bugs, stared at tadpoles, searched for snakes, heard voices, saw Big Foot, discovered plantlife, listened to the wind, pretended I was in a 18th century movie about pioneers. Yes, I had a big imagination! I say all of that to say I love the outdoors.
What do you want viewers to come away with after watching the show?
The Abandon will use the woods/outdoors to set the tone of mystery, but my characters are all savvy hikers. They will use intelligence and skill as they survive in the woods. They will learn how to use the outdoors to survive. There is something about the outdoors/woods that is an equalizer, a place where one has to use their wit and trust their instincts. It's a place that helps one relearn the beauty of nature and to respect its power.
The Abandon will use the outdoors to set the tone of mystery and intrigue, but it will also use the outdoors to inspire survival skills.
Check out his clip – then make a donation! They are now in the home stretch of fundraising to produce the show and have tipped over the halfway mark!
Black Folks Don't Camp
Check out the newest installment of the series, Black Folks Don't... by Black Public Media.
Of course, we here at Outdoor Afro know that black people DO camp, and I know some Outdoor Afros will be offended by the title alone. But I invite you all to take it as a funny and irreverent discussion about black people and camping that may inspire conversastions about deepening our collective engagement with nature. Share how you love to camp in the comments below!
Outdoor Afro Obamas
"Hope everyone gets in a little family time this weekend."
- President Obama
How are you connecting with nature and family this weekend?