Black people like nature, too. But you wouldn’t know it from looking at outdoor magazines — at least not before Outdoor Afro got started.
If time and money weren’t an issue, what would you do?
That’s what Rue Mapp’s mentor asked her as she faced the completion of her college degree and an uncertain job market.
I'd probably start a website to reconnect Black people to the outdoors,” Mapp replied, a story she recounts in her new book Nature Swagger. Soon after that, in 2009, she launched the blog Outdoor Afro, which began with stories of her own experiences in nature. It was inspired not just by her own love of the outdoors, but of a desire to increase the visibility of Black people enjoying those spaces.
“From my kitchen table I decided to tell a new story using images — unlike anything I had seen growing up among the glossy outdoor nature publications — of Black people in nature as strong, beautiful and free,” she writes.
The work hit a nerve — and a need.
Since then Outdoor Afro has grown into a powerful not-for-profit organization of outdoor education, recreation and conservation that’s trained more than 100 volunteer leaders who host in-person and online events, including meetup networks in 60 cities and 32 states.
The Revelator spoke with Mapp about what inspired her work, how visual representations of Black people in nature are changing, and what can be done to further that work.
Outdoor Afro: Celebrating Black Joy in Nature • The Revelator
If time and money weren’t an issue, what would you do?
That’s what Rue Mapp’s mentor asked her as she faced the completion of her college degree and an uncertain job market.
I'd probably start a website to reconnect Black people to the outdoors,” Mapp replied, a story she recounts in her new book Nature Swagger. Soon after that, in 2009, she launched the blog Outdoor Afro, which began with stories of her own experiences in nature. It was inspired not just by her own love of the outdoors, but of a desire to increase the visibility of Black people enjoying those spaces.
“From my kitchen table I decided to tell a new story using images — unlike anything I had seen growing up among the glossy outdoor nature publications — of Black people in nature as strong, beautiful and free,” she writes.
The work hit a nerve — and a need.
Since then Outdoor Afro has grown into a powerful not-for-profit organization of outdoor education, recreation and conservation that’s trained more than 100 volunteer leaders who host in-person and online events, including meetup networks in 60 cities and 32 states.
The Revelator spoke with Mapp about what inspired her work, how visual representations of Black people in nature are changing, and what can be done to further that work.
Outdoor Afro: Celebrating Black Joy in Nature • The Revelator