It sure has been a great week to love the outdoors and be African American! Last Friday and today, as I tuned in to Oprah and Gayle to see their adventure in Yosemite National Park, I was completely enamored. Beyond the expected funny quips and comical equipment mishaps, I experienced (as if for the first time) a magical moment: moving images of people who looked like me enjoying a National Park.
The show theme was prompted by Outdoor Afro friend Shelton Johnson by a letter he wrote a couple of years …

A memo from National Parks Director Jonathan B. Jarvis shares:

“On October 29 and November 1, Oprah Winfrey will devote two entire shows to her overnight camping trip in Yosemite National Park earlier this month. Ms. Winfrey’s visit originated with a letter of invitation from Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. While in the park, Shelton shared his Buffalo Soldierpersona – Elizy Bowman – at an evening campfire chat with Ms. Winfrey and others staying at the Lower Pines Campground in Yosemite Valley.
While the shows highlight Ms. Winfrey’s visit to the Mariposa …

Dianne Glave, Atlanta-based environmental author and Outdoor Afro friend, attended the annual Keeping it Wild Gala last night, a fundraiser for the organization that was created in 2005 by several Atlanta citizen-advocates who perceived the need to bring together members of diverse conservation communities to promote stewardship for the natural lands in the area. Following are Dianne’s reflections on the event, originally posted on her fantastic site:

Sometimes  better, sometimes easier, to start with endings than beginnings . . .
I sat in the amphitheater at Zoo Atlanta listening to Shelton Johnson. …

“Each Spring  these sons of slaves hiked hundreds of miles from San Francisco and Monterey to Sequoya, Yosemite and Kings Canyon serving in effect as our country’s first park rangers.” — Jackie Spier

This morning, Congresswoman Jackie Speier (San Francisco/San Mateo County) testified before a Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee.  Speier’s bill, H.R. 4491, authorizes the National Park Service to study the role the African American regiments played in establishing the National Park System and to honor their legacy.”

“I am thrilled to have this opportunity to begin to tell …

I have to disclose up front that I am pretty biased about these three book recommendations because I am privileged to know each of the authors as partners through the development of Outdoor Afro and our shared passion for people of color and the outdoors. But aside from my excitement and gratitude for these folks, they have each produced some pretty extraordinary work well worth buying for your loved ones this holiday season.

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As many of you know, Frank and Audrey Peterman have been at the forefront …

“Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it.”  — Theodore Roosevelt on the Grand Canyon.

The long anticipated Ken Burns film premier is almost one week away. One of the many things to appreciate about this comprehensive work about our National Parks, are the stories of people of color who were an instrumental and unsung presence in park founding and preservation. Here is a clip from the documentary that features Outdoor Afro hero Shelton Johnson, …

Here is a video of the well publicized interview with Shelton Johnson, the only African American Park Ranger in Yosemite. He links the lack of African American participation in the outdoors to the “scars of slavery”. What do you think?

You may also listen to my interview with Shelton on BlogTalkRadio

Today’s fabulous show featured African American Park Ranger Shelton Johnson. Click below to hear the entire show from this week!

Photo courtesy of Dudley Edmondson from his Book Black and Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places