7:00 pm: The Disconnect between African Americans and the Outdoors
Join us via Zoom for a free keynote presentation with guest speaker, Dudley Edmondson. This presentation begins to connect the dots for audiences to why African Americans and other people of color are under-represented in the outdoors. To do so, we have to look at the nation’s history of slavery, the civil rights movement, and the resulting current social and economic factors that are now part of African American lives.
Dudley Edmondson is well-known as a professional photographer, author, filmmaker, and public speaker. Much of his work centers on the environment and ethnic diversity in the outdoors and he has been one of the first to highlight the involvement of African Americans in the public lands system. Mr. Edmondson has also been immersed in the effort to help the conservation sector become more inclusive.
Unsatisfied with the numbers of people who looked like him among those he encountered in his outdoor pursuits, set out to create a set of outdoor role models for the African American community by writing his landmark book, Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places (AdventureKeen Publications 2006) featuring luminaries in the environmental and outdoor recreation fields.
His latest book entitled “What’s That Flower” A Beginners Guide to Wildflowers by DK Publishing, London, UK was published in 2013
Learn more about his work here.