A Reflection on Harriet Tubman’s Relationship with Nature
“Looking musingly toward a nearby orchard, Ms. Harriet asked suddenly “Do you like apples?” On being assured that I did, she said “Did you ever plant any apple trees?” With shame, I confessed I had not. “No,” she said “but somebody else planted them. I liked apples when I was young, and I said ‘Someday I’ll plant apples for myself and for other young folks to eat,’ and I guess I done it.”
In 1990, the United States Congress passed a resolution naming March 10 “Harriet Tubman Day.” The date marked the 77th anniversary of Ms. Tubman’s death. On March 10, 2014, Outdoor Afro joined our sisters at GirlTrek to honor Harriet Tubman’s life.
Leading up to the hike, each of us spent time reflecting on Harriet Tubman’s relationship with nature. For me, this assignment re-connected me with cherished memories of my youth. I remembered that as a child I would write stories about Harriet Tubman’s journeys south, imagining her moving through forests, not with fear but with confidence and knowledge of her environment.
I’d conjure up images of her pausing to listen to the trees, watching the movements of the birds, and crossing purposely through rivers. I remembered when my mother took me to see the Jacob Lawrence Series of Narrative Paintings on Harriet Tubman at Hampton University and bought me a print to hang in my bedroom. I would fall asleep staring at this painting of my hero sawing wood, and imagine that she was fashioning a strong walking stick for her next mission. Years later, my mother would send me that painting to hang in my office, as a reminder to dream.
So when GirlTrek and Outdoor Afro came together in Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve, we set our intention to honor Harriet through reflecting on our own associations of Harriet Tubman in nature. GirlTrek, a movement of Black women across the country inspired by Harriet Tubman to make a bold change one step at a time, radiated in their super hero blue. We walked side by side as we made our way past California Bay Laurels, Madrones and Eucalyptus trees. When we crested the Round Top Peak and gazed out at a 360 view which included Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais, and the rolling green hills of the East bay, a feeling of joy rippled through all of us. It reminded us of the happiness that Harriet Tubman’s passengers derived when gazing at the magnificent Niagara Falls, a beautiful natural, symbol that their long journey had come to an end.
Before we began our return trip, we spent time describing Harriet Tubman in one word. The words “brave,” “courageous,” “spiritual,” “strong,” “hero,” and “legend” rang out. In addition, we called her “astronomer,” “forager,” “hiker,” “botanist,” and “birder.” We thought about Harriet in all of those roles as she guided her people through nature. She navigated her way from North to South, taking routes that are still unknown today. Abolitionists, freed Blacks and slaves referred to these paths as the Underground Railroad, and they used railway metaphors as code to discuss escape plans. Slave catchers stated that when Black people were on those trails they seemed to just “disappear underground.”
In fact Black people on the Underground Railroad weren’t traveling via loud machines on trails made of concrete, iron and steel. They quietly hiked on grass, dirt, moss, and through rivers. They relied on the illumination of the moon to light their paths. They foraged for herbal remedies and food. Their leaders, Harriet Tubman and other “conductors,” weren’t steering massive machines and shoveling coal into fires. Instead they were following memorized paths, gazing up at the vast night sky to identify the Big Dipper and the North Star. They studied bird calls and mimicked them to communicate danger and safety. They used their relationship with nature to get them to freedom.
At Outdoor Afro, we often deliberate on the connections our ancestors had to nature, especially when we remember the importance of maintaining our own connections with the outdoors. We take particular pride in the community we build around that intention and we’re so honored to carry our history as we make our way on the trail. We held all of that as the sun set on March 10, and we made our way back to our start. And like Sister Harriet, we left no one behind.
Join us on our next hike!
Ten Backyard Camping Ideas from Outdoor Afro
Camping does not need to be regulated in the backwoods or at a traditional camp site. You can enjoy camping day or night; in your backyard or living room, on your balcony or deck!
- Watch your favorite movie in a tent.
- Enjoy meals outside. And don’t forget the s’mores!
- Bio blitz your yard - identify and count all the plants and wildlife you can see in a day. Bonus: make a map of all you see and share with friends online or upload them to iNaturalist.
- Use all your nature senses! Try focusing on one sense at a time to discover your surroundings. What do you see? Hear? How does it feel to touch? What do you smell? Is there anything tasty in the garden to try or an edible plant nearby?
- Download the Plum Landing Outdoor Family Fun app from PBS Kids and incorporate digital technology into the outdoors. They have great games and engaging videos. You can even see Rue Mapp, CEO of Outdoor Afro, sharing tips here courtesy of PBS Kids.
- Make a nature scrapbook or journal. Try rubbing leaves behind paper with a crayon, draw a sketch of your backyard flowers or wildlife that you might see such as birds and insects.
- Make an outdoor oven that cooks food using sunlight.
- Take story time outside - day or night. A flashlight or candlelight makes listening to stories more fun and exciting.
- Talk about the nature heroes in your family! Maybe it was your granddad who was an avid hunter or fisher, or your grandmother’s garden and the foods that you ate from it. It’s really important to help young people realize that their connections to nature are generational.
- Rediscover hopscotch, jacks, marbles, double dutch, musical chairs and four square. Teach your children how to play.
Bonus Neighborhood Ideas
- Bike and Rollerblade Tag! Be a part of the neighborhood bike & Rollerblade renaissance.
- If you have a dog, they really appreciate extra walks and it’s a great opportunity to observe nature coming alive through the seasons in your neighborhood.
The Good Fight for our Humanity, Mother Earth and our Uni-verse
The Good Fight for our Humanity, Mother Earth and our Uni-verse - Taishya Adams
My earliest childhood memories always involve trees. Big trees. Trees that were three stories tall and imaginably transformed into homes with my family and friends in the trees around me, my community. The outdoors can mean many things to many people. To me, its as expansive as playing golf with my grandpa as a kid to climbing Kilimanjaro last year. It’s connection, it’s adventure, its responsibility. As an Outdoor Afro leader in Colorado, I build on their 10-year legacy of reconnecting black people to the outdoors and our role as leaders in it. I believe that human relationships are at the center of our work towards justice, the foundation each of us can build upon. I will always remember hearing a 6-year-old Outdoor Afro participant yell “believe in yourself” to his grandmother as she carefully scrambled up Red Rocks in Boulder, Colorado. This moment of intergenerational connection was healing for many of us and as COVID-19 has disrupted life as we know it, these connections become even more crucial. Our outdoor community has been transformed into a thriving virtual one where members now meet others across state lines and time zone. Creating a space for healing through sessions on meditation and nature journaling. In addition to connection with each other, Outdoor Afro raises the awareness of our members about the environmental issues impacting their families and communities. Empowering more Black people to become informed and engaged in recognizing the need to protect wildlife and their habitats, promote more equitable access to green spaces in their own communities are a critical part of a healthy human ecosystem.
As an educator, trainer, organizer, collaborator, and leader, I stand firmly at the intersection of education, health, and the environment, to help create a more humane world and sustainable planet. My service journey began with the Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School program in the mid-1990s. Marion Wright Edelman spoke about servant-leadership and believed that in order to be a successful leader, you must learn how to serve. Outdoor Afro also has provided me with opportunities to expand my own civic engagement. In 2019, I was appointed by Colorado Governor Polis to serve on the Colorado Parks and Wildlife commission. As the first black women to serve on the Commission, I believe it is critical to create more culturally and linguistically responsive policies, protocols, and practices. We must unpack our own bias and privilege to collectively address issues of access and representation head on while increasing opportunities for meaningful participation. Giving agency and voice to Coloradans throughout the state and intentionally centering members who have been historically in the margins has been a priority. In addition, I am eager to strengthen bridges across local, state and federal agencies, organizations, communities, and funders.
In my volunteer civic engagement roles on the Commission for Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) and with Outdoor Afro Colorado, I have been able to leverage experiences and expertise gained in the public education sector to drive meaningful change in the environmental space. I look forward to deepening these connections to fight the good fight for our humanity, Mother Earth and our Uni-verse.
Stereotype or Fact? Black People Don’t Camp
For black people, feeling welcome and safe in the outdoors isn't a given. Even without insensitive or ignorant actions from others, everyone feels intimidated about trying something new, especially when none of your friends and families are exploring the outdoors in a recreational way. Outdoor Afro is changing that. The organization creates a space where black people and nature meet. That isn't to say that others aren't welcome, including non-black people like best friends, wives and husbands, but the point is to center the African American experience and create a safe place for black people that hasn't existed on any broad scale before.
That's why Outdoor Afro offers a variety of outings that meet people where they are. That could be as simple as sitting on the grass in the city and taking in a movie, doing yoga in the park, or hiking at an area forest preserve. It's a journey and a continuum. Not everyone wants to climb a mountain, but maybe someone will start down a path and then be surprised by how much they enjoyed it and will want to do more.
Other opportunities for Outdoor Afro participants include visiting and learning about significant places. A walking tour through Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood offers a combination of history, art, and culture related to the Great Migration and a window into a historical hotbed of African American culture. Other outdoor activities simply focus on experiencing joy and trying new things. At times the group may address emotional trauma, like police violence, or center the activity around personal and collective healing.
Building Individual and Community Connections
Christine Meissner got involved with Outdoor Afro in the fall of 2016 in Chicago, her home city. Her passion for hiking and backpacking started in the Peace Corps, living in Macedonia, a mountainous country for two years. Since coming home, she wanted to do more. She liked the organization's message of a multi-generational approach, and after participating in a couple of local events, including a two-day camping event across two of the organization's networks in both Chicago and St. Louis, she was hooked. The community felt safe and she loved that they could enjoy each other's company while celebrating their culture and history.
When one of the founding network leaders in Chicago stepped down, Outdoor Afro put out a call for leaders, Meissner was one of many who applied, and she was selected. "I jumped in," she says. "Being a volunteer leader is not an extra burden or responsibility. It's woven into my everyday life."
Now in her third year as an Outdoor Afro leader, she can see how she's changed and grown by attending the organization’s annual training and professional development and through surmounting challenges outdoors. She sees the same changes in the participants that join her, as they return again and again, doing increasingly difficult hikes or getting involved in activities they wouldn't normally do, like kayaking. She also sees people who join and then start doing the same kinds of things on their own, such as camping, and then they bring more people along.
Promoting Safe and Welcoming Experiences
It’s not only important to inspire connections and leadership in nature among Outdoor Afro participants, it’s also important for the world to expect and welcome African Americans on the trail. This was underscored for Meissner one day as she got ready to lead about a dozen participants on a hike at the Indiana Dunes. Her group was excited to be there, to shed some stress, and enjoy one another while they experienced the glorious world around them. That’s when two people on their return route came off the trail and headed toward them. Rather than offering a simple greeting on the way to the car, the woman seemed affronted and said, “What are you doing here?” Her dogs sniffed the group, upping the sense that this was her territory and their group was somehow trespassing.
This jarring interaction reflects a landslide of traumatic context, history and experiences for black people in American history; the group found themselves ambushed by fear and mistrust, when they’d set out on a mission for joy, some on a hike for the very first time. Meissner took a deep breath and responded. “We’re going hiking, just like you.”
It should go without saying that we all have a right to those universal pleasures and benefits that come when we move our bodies and take in vitamin D. The positive impacts get compounded when we strengthen community bonds. Outdoor Afro outings start with an opening circle that sets the tone where the leader shares the mission of why they are there. At the end, a closing circle gives people the opportunity to talk about what they gained. "Sometimes people share a word, or more, but often what I hear people tell me is that they feel rejuvenated and excited," says Meissner. She also enjoys finding out who's a first-timer and seeing that it’s always a balance of repeat participants and new people coming in, making the family bigger.
This process of showing up means that more people can have a safe, welcoming and meaningful experience in the outdoors. Meissner particularly likes seeing people her parents’ age getting out to hike and going on overnight camping trips even when the message they heard growing up was, "Black people don't camp." The fact that they are out there makes that statement a stereotype rather than a fact. In fact, black people do camp. And because they are doing it, it sends a strong message to younger people that they can too.
Stereotype or Fact? Black People Don’t Camp
For black people, feeling welcome and safe in the outdoors isn't a given. Even without insensitive or ignorant actions from others, everyone feels intimidated about trying something new, especially when none of your friends and families are exploring the outdoors in a recreational way. Outdoor Afro is changing that. The organization creates a space where black people and nature meet. That isn't to say that others aren't welcome, including non-black people like best friends, wives and husbands, but the point is to center the African American experience and create a safe place for black people that hasn't existed on any broad scale before.
That's why Outdoor Afro offers a variety of outings that meet people where they are. That could be as simple as sitting on the grass in the city and taking in a movie, doing yoga in the park, or hiking at an area forest preserve. It's a journey and a continuum. Not everyone wants to climb a mountain, but maybe someone will start down a path and then be surprised by how much they enjoyed it and will want to do more.
Other opportunities for Outdoor Afro participants include visiting and learning about significant places. A walking tour through Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood offers a combination of history, art, and culture related to the Great Migration and a window into a historical hotbed of African American culture. Other outdoor activities simply focus on experiencing joy and trying new things. At times the group may address emotional trauma, like police violence, or center the activity around personal and collective healing.
Building Individual and Community Connections
Christine Meissner got involved with Outdoor Afro in the fall of 2016 in Chicago, her home city. Her passion for hiking and backpacking started in the Peace Corps, living in Macedonia, a mountainous country for two years. Since coming home, she wanted to do more. She liked the organization's message of a multi-generational approach, and after participating in a couple of local events, including a two-day camping event across two of the organization's networks in both Chicago and St. Louis, she was hooked. The community felt safe and she loved that they could enjoy each other's company while celebrating their culture and history.
When one of the founding network leaders in Chicago stepped down, Outdoor Afro put out a call for leaders, Meissner was one of many who applied, and she was selected. "I jumped in," she says. "Being a volunteer leader is not an extra burden or responsibility. It's woven into my everyday life."
Being a volunteer leader is not an extra burden or responsibility. It’s woven into my everyday life.
Now in her third year as an Outdoor Afro leader, she can see how she's changed and grown by attending the organization’s annual training and professional development and through surmounting challenges outdoors. She sees the same changes in the participants that join her, as they return again and again, doing increasingly difficult hikes or getting involved in activities they wouldn't normally do, like kayaking. She also sees people who join and then start doing the same kinds of things on their own, such as camping, and then they bring more people along.
Promoting Safe and Welcoming Experiences
It’s not only important to inspire connections and leadership in nature among Outdoor Afro participants, it’s also important for the world to expect and welcome African Americans on the trail. This was underscored for Meissner one day as she got ready to lead about a dozen participants on a hike at the Indiana Dunes. Her group was excited to be there, to shed some stress, and enjoy one another while they experienced the glorious world around them. That’s when two people on their return route came off the trail and headed toward them. Rather than offering a simple greeting on the way to the car, the woman seemed affronted and said, “What are you doing here?” Her dogs sniffed the group, upping the sense that this was her territory and their group was somehow trespassing.
This jarring interaction reflects a landslide of traumatic context, history and experiences for black people in American history; the group found themselves ambushed by fear and mistrust, when they’d set out on a mission for joy, some on a hike for the very first time. Meissner took a deep breath and responded. “We’re going hiking, just like you.”
It should go without saying that we all have a right to those universal pleasures and benefits that come when we move our bodies and take in vitamin D. The positive impacts get compounded when we strengthen community bonds. Outdoor Afro outings start with an opening circle that sets the tone where the leader shares the mission of why they are there. At the end, a closing circle gives people the opportunity to talk about what they gained. "Sometimes people share a word, or more, but often what I hear people tell me is that they feel rejuvenated and excited," says Meissner. She also enjoys finding out who's a first-timer and seeing that it’s always a balance of repeat participants and new people coming in, making the family bigger.
Sometimes people share a word, or more, but often what I hear people tell me is that they feel rejuvenated and excited.
-Meissner
This process of showing up means that more people can have a safe, welcoming and meaningful experience in the outdoors. Meissner particularly likes seeing people her parents’ age getting out to hike and going on overnight camping trips even when the message they heard growing up was, "Black people don't camp." The fact that they are out there makes that statement a stereotype rather than a fact. In fact, black people do camp. And because they are doing it, it sends a strong message to younger people that they can too.
