Black & Brown Faces in America's Wild Places (20th Anniversary Edition): African Americans Making Nature & the Environment Part of Their Everyday Lives 2nd Edition

Dudley Edmondson has worked for more than 30 years as a photographer, capturing nature and wildlife subjects around the country for natural history publications in the US and Europe. Dudley proudly carries on a family tradition started by his great-grandfather Monteith Vance, a portrait photographer issued a photography license by the state of North Carolina in 1919.

Dudley began work on Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places in an attempt to find other African Americans around the nation who shared his love for nature and the outdoors. He found several, many of whom he now considers friends. Not until 2005 had he ever been on an outdoor adventure entirely in the company of African Americans; it was a life-affirming experience that he will never forget.

“Nature, without question, is for everyone. It knows no race, creed, or gender and is cheaper than any therapist you could ever hire.”

Cheryl Armstrong
President and CEO, James P. Beckwourth Mountain Club
Denver, Colorado

The James P. Beckwourth Mountain Club was named after a famous biracial African American, James Pierson Beckwourth. He was a true legend of the West.

He was born in 1798 in Fredericksburg County, Virginia, to a white plantation owner and one of his African American female slaves. They moved to Missouri when Jim was about six years old because they wanted to stay together, and it was easier to do that there than it was in Virginia. Beckwourth was raised in Missouri. He was taught to read, as were all of his siblings. He was apprenticed to a blacksmith so he would have a trade. Around 23 years of age, he was fortunate enough to meet General William Ashley, who founded the Rocky Mountain Fur Trading Company. Beckwourth joined the company as a hunter, and over his long fascinating life, he was, among other things, a frontiersman and an exceptional explorer. In 1850, he discovered a pass over the Sierra Nevada Mountains that would lead pioneers into the Sacramento Valley of California.

He also saved the life of General Zachary Taylor, who later became President of the United States. Beckwourth was also war chief of the Crow Indian nation. He was adopted into the tribe, and he pretty much lived with the Crow for many years. He spoke a multitude of Native American dialects and was fluent in English, Spanish, and French. He was also one of the co-founders of the city of Pueblo, Colorado. Our organization named itself in honor of Jim Beckwourth because of his contributions to the West and also because he was a real trailblazer and adventurous guy. We like to think that we honor some of that spirit of adventure and his legacy in our organization.

Childhood Experiences and Turning Points in Nature

I was born in Detroit, Michigan. My father’s side of the family was one of the original Black families in Michigan. They founded the first Episcopal churches. My childhood was pretty unusual for African Americans at the time. My father was a doctor, and his father was a doctor and medical school professor, and education had gone on and been a tradition in my family for generations and generations. I guess you could say I had a very affluent childhood.

We had a house in Detroit where my father practiced medicine and proudly served inner-city residents. He also had a home in Canada, across the river, right on Lake St. Clair. So I grew up canoeing, swimming, and hunting in the summer. I fished and explored the woods around our home in Canada. My father had a boat, and we got to water ski and do all of the traditional water sports. We would ice skate on the lake in the winter.

I grew up being a very athletic girl. I loved sports and the outdoors and being in the woods, immersed in nature. I loved being under the open night sky more than anything—it was good for the soul then, and it is good for the soul now.

What I Do in the Outdoors

I have been involved with the Beckwourth Club since I moved to Denver in 1995. In 1998, we started a formal program called the Beckwourth Outdoor Education Center, specifically to take urban youth into the outdoors for hiking, fishing, camping, backpacking, snowshoeing, whitewater rafting, canoeing, and kayaking. We teach them mapping and compass skills, as well as self-arrest training and leadership skills.

The reason we started the Beckwourth Mountain Club (it was formed in 1993) was because of our passion to bring the outdoors to inner-city youth and residents. The organization is run by a terrific group of almost 60 volunteers, predominantly people of color. They act as mentors, chaperones, hike leaders, instructors, and historical reenactors. They mentor not only the young kids in the organization, but also the adults who come to our center who are new to the outdoors.

The membership is open to everyone and is about 65 percent African American, 25 percent Latino, and the remaining is mixed race, multirace, Asian, Anglo, and all combinations thereof. Membership is for families, singles, and seniors. We do outdoor activities every single weekend, from easy day hikes to climbs of Colorado’s peaks. We also do upscale trips, such as orca watching on the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state, and trips to national parks such as Acadia in Maine and Yellowstone in Wyoming. The idea is to make these national parks and wilderness areas available to a broader population.

I also do a great deal of fundraising. That’s my job—I am the money beggar! I am the grant writer and public relations person. I travel around the country heading up panel discussions and workshops, doing presentations on our program. I guess you could say I wear about 15 different hats around here.

I spent many years in the legal profession, but eight years ago I was able to break away and do what I truly love and have a passion for. There is no comparison to running this organization and being in the legal profession, but I would not do anything else even if you gave me a million dollars. I enjoy running this organization and doing what we do for the community.

Heroes and Mentors

The most important mentor in my life was my father. I guess you could describe him as a Black Ernest Hemingway. He was a big game hunter and trophy fisherman; he was way ahead of his time. We traveled all around the world during my childhood and did outdoor activities as far back as I can remember.

We would travel to Mexico for fishing and traveled to different countries around the world visiting historic places, climbing the pyramids in Mexico—you name it, we did it. My father traveled to Africa quite a bit in the late 1950s as a big game hunter; he would go on safari there. He also wrote and was a civil and women’s rights leader and a great speaker too. I had a great mentor in my father.

Minorities in Our Wild Places

I don’t think that African Americans and other people of color spend enough time in the outdoors. The reason, I believe, is because they just don’t have the opportunities and access to do so. Getting into the outdoors oftentimes requires transportation, and many urban residents do not have reliable transportation. Another factor is that it takes a certain amount of know-how and equipment to do these things. Many of them simply cannot afford it, nor do they have the skill sets to be able to safely do things like camp or backpack. In order to get that knowledge, they need access to a program or organization like the Beckwourth Mountain Club.

Youth and Wilderness

One of the rewarding parts of running the Beckwourth outdoor and youth program here is experiencing firsthand the joy and awe of children who come through our program. This is Denver, and we come very close to the front range of the Rocky Mountains, with its alpine lakes and flower-filled meadows within an hour or so of the city. However, 87 percent of the children who come through our program, although born and raised in Denver, have never been to the mountains and seen this breathtaking scenery. Most of them have never experienced what it is like to climb along a mountain trail or have never been camping. Oftentimes when they first have this experience of an overnight of camping or seeing the night sky away from the city, the looks on their faces are truly remarkable.

This is a long-term mentoring program that is not just a one-time camp-out or one-week trip; kids can sign up in our program as early as age 8 and remain in our program until they are age 18, and even after that they can come back and work as part-time program assistants and also as youth leaders. A big part of the program is to not only introduce urban youth to the outdoors, but to seek youths who really enjoy the outdoors, key in on those particular kids and encourage them to pursue careers in natural resources fields. We help young people with career prep, college scholarships, and summer internships with national partners such as the Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the US Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, and others who are interested in diversifying their workforce…