More Black Travelers Hit the Great Outdoors as Camping Activity Jumps
Photo Credit: Outdoor Afro is a leading organization promoting outdoor recreation among black Americans. Outdoor Afro
Skift Take
Black outdoor enthusiasts are camping, hiking, rock climbing, and RVing in greater numbers. But it’s not because white America, which dominates the sector, reached out. Black America made it happen.
Recent gains in outdoor recreation among black travelers help disprove the old stereotype that black Americans don’t camp, hike, or otherwise take these kinds of trips.
“I’m proud to say we have a team of 11 people who right now are in Tanzania, who are on Mount Kilimanjaro,” said Rue Mapp, founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro. This leading nonprofit is dedicated to getting black Americans into nature through advocacy and meet-ups with regional leaders in 30 states, and is nearly a decade old with offices in Oakland, California, and Washington, D.C.
“It’s historic because it’s all African American, from the office to the participants to the leadership in the field,” said Mapp.
The percentage of American campers who are black rose from 6 to 8 percent between 2012 and 2017, now more closely reflecting that 13 percent of the population is black, according to the 2018 North American Camping Report from Kampgrounds of America. In addition, 14 percent of new campers in
