African American Heroes of the Great Outdoors

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: United States
Surnames/tags: Black_Heritage Environmentalists Notables

The following Black Americans are heroes of our natural world.

1. Betty Reid Soskin - longest serving NP ranger, singer, activist
2. Jason Brown - former NFL football player; now farmer and food activist.
3. John Francis (1946) founder of Planetwalk. Crossed the US and South America on foot. https://planetwalk.org/about-john/
4. Audrey Peterman - The Center for Humans and Nature - with her husband they work to integrate the great outdoors. https://humansandnature.org/audrey-peterman/
5. Sir Lancelot Garfield Jones (1898 - 1997) - Sold his island paradise to the NPS where it became Biscayne National Park. His father's story:
6. Israel Lafayette Jones: https://www.nps.gov/bisc/learn/historyculture/the-joneses-of-porgy-key.htm
7. Marvyne Elisabeth Betsch (1935-2005) - her mission to preserve and protect American Beach on Amelia Island, Florida
8. Solomon G. Brown (1829-1906) - the first African American employee at the Smithsonian Institution working continuously from 1852 until 1906.
9. Marquetta L. Goodwine aka Queen Quet - Chieftess and Head of State for the Gullah/Geechee Nation on the Sea Islands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquetta_Goodwine
10. Rue Mapp (1971) - founder of Outdoor Afro - reconnecting African Americans with natural spaces. https://ruemapp.com/
11. Shelton Johnson - 30 years as a NP ranger telling the stories of the Buffalo Soldiers. Worked with Ken Burns on his National Parks documentary. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelton_Johnson
12. Theresa Baker - engages communities of color in outdoor spaces through her online campaign, African American Nature and Park Experience. https://www.audubon.org/magazine/summer-2018/teresa-baker-activist-and-hiker-why-kids-are
13. Hattie Carthan (1900-1984) - environmental activist who was instrumental in improving the quality of life of the Brooklyn, New York community of Bedford-Stuyvesant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattie_Carthan
14. Margie Eugene-Richard - environmental justice activist and the first African-American to win the Goldman Environmental Prize for her campaign to relocate people in the community close to a chemical plant in Norco, Louisiana. https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/margie-richard/
15. George Washington Carver - agricultural researcher, he is mostly known today for promoting the peanut, which helped replenish the soil in the impoverished south.
16. Captain Charles Young - the first Black national park superintendent