All Things Outdoors Forum

Resource Overview: The “Big Medicine: The Yorks Story Expedition,” led by The Joy Trip Project, is a storytelling initiative that retraces the journey of York, an enslaved African American who was a vital member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. This expedition brings York’s story to the forefront, highlighting his contributions and the unique challenges he faced as one of the earliest Black explorers in American history. By revisiting his path, the project emphasizes the need for inclusive historical narratives that recognize the contributions of all communities. Through physical journeying, community-based storytelling, and public engagement, “Big Medicine” challenges conventional narratives of American exploration, promoting a more comprehensive understanding of the nation’s past. The expedition encourages people from all backgrounds to connect with these untold stories and reflect on how inclusivity can shape future outdoor spaces. Resource Link: Big Medicine: Lessons from The York's Story Expedition Discussion Questions: 1. What can be learned in retracing the paths or stories of our ancestors? How do journeys like York’s offer insights into our history, and how can they help us understand diverse perspectives that may have been overlooked in traditional narratives? 2. How can we apply that to approaches in increasing inclusivity outdoors? In what ways can we use these historical reflections to shape a more inclusive and welcoming outdoor culture? How can projects like “Big Medicine” inspire practical steps toward greater diversity in outdoor spaces and activities? Share Your Thoughts: We invite you to join the conversation and share your insights. Have you encountered similar projects that connect history and outdoor inclusivity? How might we use the lessons of the past to create a more inclusive outdoor future?

Check out this 30 minute discussion with US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore. on the Inclusive Outdoors Resource Hub. and comment your thoughts on this thread. Key Points from the discussion: 1. Commitment to DEI: Chief Randy Moore emphasizes the US Forest Service's dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in outdoor recreation. 2. Inclusive Spaces: The agency aims to create inclusive environments in national forests, addressing historical disparities in access. 3. Community Engagement: Collaborative partnerships and active listening to communities' needs are central to the Forest Service's approach. 4. Reimagining Outdoor Recreation: Efforts are underway to reimagine outdoor recreation, ensuring that all individuals feel welcome in public lands. 5. Balanced Approaches: Chief Moore stresses the importance of balanced approaches that accommodate diverse recreational preferences while preserving natural ecosystems. 6. Continued Collaboration: The interview underscores the need for ongoing collaboration among stakeholders to achieve the shared goal of inclusive outdoor spaces. What role do you think leaders at land & water management agencies play in making the outdoors more inclusive?

https://resourcehub.togetheroutdoors.com/resource-detail-page?recordId=recqVFcM1M7w5FprR By Jennifer Schuessler Published Sept. 20, 2021Updated Sept. 22, 2021 The Rosie the Riveter / World War II Home Front National Historical Park, which sprawls across the former shipyards in Richmond, Calif., on the northeast edge of San Francisco Bay, tells the enormous story of the largest wartime mobilization in American history and the sweeping social changes it sparked. Visitors can climb aboard an enormous Victory ship, one of more than 700 vessels produced in Richmond — and, in the gift shop, pick up swag emblazoned with the iconic image of the red-kerchiefed Rosie herself, arm flexed up with “We Can Do It!” bravado. But for many, the park is synonymous with another woman: Betty. Betty Reid Soskin, who turns 100 on Sept. 22, is the oldest active ranger in the National Park Service. Over the past decade and a half, she has become both an icon of the service and an unlikely celebrity, drawing overflow crowds to talks and a steady stream of media interviewers eager for the eloquent words of an indomitable 5 feet 3 inch great-grandmother once described by a colleague as “sort of like Bette Davis, Angela Davis and Yoda all rolled into one.” She has been photographed by Annie Leibovitz, interviewed by Anderson Cooper and invited to the Obama White House (where she introduced the president at the Christmas tree lighting in 2015). And as she approaches her centennial birthday, she has, to put it mildly, persisted. She suffered a stroke in 2019, but has since resumed her ranger talks (by videoconference), and even narrated a commercial for The North Face clothing company that dropped in July. President Barack Obama greeted Betty Reid Soskin, a ranger in the National Park Service, at a Christmas tree lighting in Washington in 2015.Credit...Paul Morigi/Getty Images Watch even a brief online clip of one of her ranger talks, with her gentle but uncompromising tell-it-like-it-is style, and you understand her appeal. But Ms. Soskin herself still seems a bit bewildered by “all that,” as she put it during a recent interview, gesturing toward a wall covered with framed citations and honors in her comfortably overstuffed apartment in the Richmond hills. “I don’t have any sense of being that important,” she said, adjusting her tiny frame in a huge armchair. The only thing she has ever tried to do, she said, is “tell the truth.” Ms. Soskin became a park ranger in her 80s, almost by accident. In 2000, she was working as a field representative for a California state legislator who asked her to sit in on early planning meetings for the park, which had just been authorized by Congress. At the first meeting, she blurted out that she had a “love-hate relationship” with the Rosie the Riveter icon, which she saw as telling a white woman’s story. The half-million Black women who worked in home-front jobs included some who worked as welders and riveters, but Ms. Soskin’s experience was different. During the war, she worked as a file clerk in a segregated unit of the historically all-white Boilermakers union, which had resisted demands to allow full membership to Black workers. At a later meeting, as she looked at the historical structures that would anchor the park, like the housing and child-care centers that supported the shipyard workers, Ms. Soskin — the only person of color in the room, as she recalls — saw places of segregation. What part of the park would tell her story? “What gets remembered depends on who is in the room doing the remembering” — it’s something of a mantra for Ms. Soskin, who stayed in that room, and at that park, and kept talking: first as a community liaison, then as a seasonal tour guide and, since 2007, as a full-time interpretive ranger. In that role, she speaks not to the experience of Rosie the Riveter, but to her own experience. “When I became a ranger,” she said, “I was taking back my own history.” Today the park tells the story not only of women who went into “men’s jobs” to support the war effort but also of Mexican American braceros, the Japanese American flower growers of Richmond who were sent to internment camps and the boxcar “Indian Village” set up to house newly arrived railway workers from the New Mexican pueblos... Keep Reading at: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/20/us/betty-reid-soskin-100.html