Melanin Base Camp
Real-Life Adventurers Building a More Inclusive Outdoors
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Beautiful, empowering, and exhilarating, Melanin Base Camp is a celebration of underrepresented BIPOC adventurers that will challenge you to rethink your perceptions of what an outdoorsy individual looks like and inspire you to being your own adventure.
Danielle Williams, skydiver and founder of the online community Melanin Base Camp, profiles dozens of adventurers pushing the boundaries of inclusion and equity in the outdoors. These compelling narratives include a mother whose love of hiking led her to found a nonprofit to expose BIPOC children to the wonders of the outdoors and a mountain biker who, despite at first dealing with unwelcome glances and hostility on trails, went on to become a blogger who writes about justice and diversity in natural spaces.
Also included is a guide to outdoor allyship that explores sometimes challenging topics to help all of us create a more inclusive community, whether you bike, climb, hike, or paddle. Join us as we work together to increase representation and opportunities for people of color in outdoor adventure sports.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The great outdoors should belong to everyone, but as Danielle Williams, the founder of Diversify Outdoors, explores in her eye-opening book, that’s not always the reality. In her effort to make outdoor pursuits more welcoming and accessible, Williams gathers stories from marginalized peers who share her passion for adventure sports and advocacy, highlighting their triumphs as well as their encounters with the “bro culture” on the slopes, trails, and skydiving planes. We hear from people like Ananth Maniam, who helped convince Seattle to offer public transportation to hiking trails; Bethany Lebewitz, who started the nonprofit Brown Girls Climb; and Verna Volker, who uses running to bring attention to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. Williams—an Ivy League graduate, army vet, and Black woman with a disability—also speaks directly to the cisgender, heterosexual, white community in sections she calls “Guides to Outdoor Allyship.” This book is a stellar reminder that access to nature should be a right, not a privilege.
