The Black Constellation — is a creative entity comprised musically of Shabazz Palaces and THEESatisfaction, and visually by artist and director Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes. This is the premiere of their latest short film (Sparkles)…Recollections of the Wraith as part of their larger work, Ode to Octavia.
We really appreciate the lushness and visual images of folks, in nature and on the land. It’s sci-fi, futurist, funky, and so lovely to watch. Enjoy!

Hello Outdoor Afros:
My name is Morgan Powell and this is my fourth blog here at Outdoor Afro.  I’m the founder of Bronx River Sankofa – a documentary series on Cable TV and Facebook featuring African-American environmentalists from New York City’s greenest borough.  This meditation on the sprawling college campus as outdoor museum will be a departure from the more conventional green profiles I am known for.  I hope you enjoy, share and post comments!  This one’s for the historic preservationists out there.  This piece borrows the motto that, “The greenest …

Celebrate our historical connections to nature with this photo from Frances Benjamin Johnston (American, 1864–1952)
1899-1900. Platinum print, 7 1/2 x 9 9/16″ (19 x 24.3 cm). Gift of Lincoln Kirstein to the MOMA
 

Submitted by Morgan Powell, a landscape designer, who edits Bronx River Sankofa on You Tube and Facebook.  He is passionate about New York’s Bronx River and its African American heritage. Here is his third submission in a series to highlight the generous yet delicate resource of the Bronx River and African American engagement with our environment as a whole.
 

This blog will address four decades in the life of a ghetto park’s stages of development. We’ll recognize some of the local leadership whose initiative was founded by a white Catholic activist in …

Created by Lauren Kelley, the animated short Upside was completed while she participated in the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Artist-in-Residence Program (2009-2010).  From her website, “In Upside , bitter sweet pathos is elegantly explored. Told from the vantage point of a child, the main character assesses her family’s lot when frolicking at a pool party that goes awry.” Narrated by Samaya Imani Watson.
Parental Discretion Advised

What intrigued me most about this short clip is its vivid look at an historic social and communal engagement with the outdoors typical of African-American families of all classes.
It …

By Douglas “Birdman” Gray, Outdoor Afro Contributor
Last month’s Bird of the Month was a duck (American Black Duck), and my birding over last month somewhat compels me to remain with this family of birds (anatidae).
As winter is winding down, and temperatures are trending upward, ducks returning north stop at once frozen waters for the feeding opportunities. Just yesterday, while out at Eagle Creek Park here in Central Indiana, I was able to observe rather easily, 14 different species of ducks at the bird sanctuary. I was actually wishing that …

By Tupak Shakur (1971-1996)
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it’s dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.

Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.
Tupac Shakur
We love this poem as it wraps its parable in nature to remind us of what is possible in spite of the odds we sometimes face. Nature is a generous teacher in that it …

Dudley Edmondson, Outdoor Afro guest blogger, photographer, and author of Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places, goes on in this second part to share how he came to photograph African Americans in the outdoors.
Read Part 1
In the four-year process of doing Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places, I have met some pretty cool people who understand what I am talking about. It has clearly changed the direction of my photographic work. I find myself not just interested in the plants and animals that …

Twenty-six African American landscape artists of Florida were known as “The Highwaymen”. These men (and a few women!) painted their native Florida landscape and would evolve to become a social group of itinerant artists who ventured along local Florida highways (hence their name) to sell works to hotels and businesses for $25 a piece.
The original artist, Alfred Hair, was introduced to the art world by white artist A.E. “Bean” Backus in the 1950′s. Bean encouraged Hair to sell his works, which was a very challenging feat for black artists in …