The Home Place
How accessibility to the outdoors impacts identity
"I look at maps through this lens– at the places where tolerance seems to thrive, and where hate and racism seem to fester– and think about where I want to be."
Edgefield Elegy
J. Drew Lanham, author of The Home Place, knows firsthand just how intimately connected outdoor experiences are with personal identity. Lanham's memoir explores his upbringing in Edgefield County, South Carolina, and how his experiences growing up in the rural Lanham Home Place forged his life and present work.
The anecdotes of this memoir are incredibly nostalgic, even for those who were not raised in the forested hills of Edgefield. Simply experiencing life as a child, learning difficult lessons and coming to terms with what it truly means to understand something, is nostalgic enough for most readers to relate to. Lanham imbued his memoir with that sense of childlike wonder and thrill of discovery that we all share at that age- a passion that he hopes to emphasize the importance of, especially to appeal to a diverse audience.
At its core, The Home Place is about identity. Lanham's experiences interacting with and learning about his environment helped shape who he became later in life and continue to inspire him to this day. The memoir represents Lanham's hope to encourage more diversity in environmental spaces; especially racial diversity.
Shown to the right is a map of South Carolina overlain with municipal areas (SCDOT 2023) shown in yellow as well as all national, state, regional, county, and local parks (ArcGIS FeatureServer) shown in green.
As you can see, there is not much overlap or proximity between larger park areas and municipal areas, with the exception of Francis Marion National Forest being relatively near Charleston.
"It was home: Edgefield, South Carolina, a small county on the western edge of the Palmetto State."
The Home Place mentions Sumter National Forest, as the author had access to the park due to its intersection with Edgefield County.
Sumter National Forest is also within relatively close proximity to the city of Edgefield itself.
Accessibility
In order to encourage the cultivation of a more diverse environmental hobbyist and career culture, it is necessary to evaluate the initial accessibility of the outdoors. From a geographic standpoint, this can be done by asking two questions.
The first question is: where does the target audience live?
A map of South Carolina by county organized by racial demographic (US Census Bureau 2020) overlain with municipal areas (SCDOT 2023).
As per the legend, darker colored counties indicate a higher population of Black or African American citizens according to the 2020 census.
As you can see, Edgefield County falls into the category with the least number of Black individuals. This was a fact very well known by the Lanham family- and one that impacted the author's upbringing in a relatively isolated location in terms of racial homogeneity.
The second question we can use to evaluate accessibility relates to geographic proximity. How close are Black population centers to dedicated outdoor spaces? To answer this, I utilized U.S. parks data (ArcGIS FeatureServer) in order to evaluate which cities lie within a reasonable distance of different types of parks utilizing GIS software (ArcGIS Pro).
Cities Within 5 Miles of a Local or County Park (Left) Compared With Black and African American Population Demographics by County (Right)
The comparison above showcases which municipal areas fall within 5 miles of a park that has been labeled as a local or county park. This is not accounting for any parks that may not be included in the data source that I utilized, such as smaller public greenspaces. I have shown, in pink, which areas meet these qualifications.
The map to the right is then compared to Black and African American population size, in order to demonstrate accessibility of parks to these populations.
Upon visual analysis, viewers will notice that much of the larger cities with higher numbers of Black population, such as Charleston and Columbia, are almost completely within the 5 mile radius buffers shown on the map to the left. However, there are few municipal districts that completely fall within these radii, as shown on the map to the right. Some cities to the south, such as Bluffton and Hardeeville, do not seem to meet these criteria at all.
Cities Within 10 Miles of a State or National Park (Left) Compared With African American and Black Population Demographics by County (Right)
This set of maps showcases which municipal districts fall within a 10 mile radius of a state or national park. This analysis was accomplished utilizing the same methods as the previous comparison, wherein the results are shown in pink and compared with racial demographics by county in the map on the right. A 10-mile radius was chosen as state and national parks are typically more removed from urban areas, and therefore are often more difficult to get to from an accessibility standpoint.
The visual results of this test are apparent: many of the larger municipal areas, in particular Columbia, do not fall within the range of a state or national park. This is notable for our discussion due to the fact that Richland County, which contains the city of Columbia, has the highest population of Black and African American individuals in the state. Greenville, in Greenville County, also has this deficiency, as well as a higher Black population number.
Identity
The Home Place
Lanham's personal narratives described in his memoir serve as primary literature for proving that growing up with access to outdoor spaces and being encouraged to explore nature allows for a much deeper appreciation for nature than may have otherwise manifested. By identifying where the barriers to accessibility are, such as in this analysis of geographic proximity, it becomes easier to begin lowering those barriers.
"We are ultimately a reflection of the earth that we come up on."
The Home Place is a life history that proves that who we are is not just one thing. J. Drew Lanham is not just a black man, nor is he just an ornithologist. He is both of those things and more. Everyone is a product of their experiences, their upbringing, their interests, and, as Lanham discusses, a product of where they have been raised.
By raising children with more access to the environment and to nature as a whole, it becomes a part of them, just as it became a part of Lanham. This of course extends to discussions of diversity, and how we may be able to enable the outdoors to be a safe space for diversity to flourish, reflected and encouraged by the biodiversity found in nature.
"The wild things and places belong to all of us. [...] Get more people of color 'out there.' Turn oddities into commonplace. The presence of more black birders, wildlife biologists, hunters, hikers, and fisherfolk will say to others that we, too, appreciate the warble of a summer tanager, the incredible instincts of a whitetail buck, and the sound of winds in the tall pines.
One particular chapter of The Home Place serves as a discussion of the importance of accessibility in a racial context. "Birding While Black" underscores Lanham's dialogue with the reader in regards to his racial identity. Leading up to this chapter, the author had discussed how his racial identity impacted his childhood, but "Birding While Black" unveiled the realities of working in an environmental field such as ornithology as a black man in the American South.
Range Maps
And why we should work to improve diversity in outdoor spaces
Joseph Drew Lanham, Ornithologist, Naturalist, and Writer | 2022 MacArthur Fellow
"Having experienced racism overtly, I have to consider that as a threat to my existence just as a bird might consider some predator a threat to its existence."
"Birding While Black" raises the question: if a trained adult who is being paid to do field work cannot do so without being harassed or without fear for their safety, then how can we safely encourage Black children to participate in outdoor experiences?
Unfortunately, there is no clear answer. For Lanham, he describes his strategy of maintaining an awareness of where he is in that moment. He looks at maps through a unique lens, and hopes that his memoir allows its readers to better understand what kinds of challenges he faces in his field as a result of his race.
"Birds have range maps that help us understand where they survive, [...] where they thrive, but also where they are threatened."
This interactive map comes from the Equal Justice Initiative, and showcases the perhaps uncomfortable reality of the history hateful violence towards Black and African American individuals throughout the American South, including in Lanham's very own Edgefield County, South Carolina.
It is of great importance that the history of the very land we attempt to diversity be remembered as land where these tragedies were allowed to occur. It is a part of the natural history of these spaces, just as much as any tree or stream that has stood as a part of the landscape for hundreds of years.
Carolina Chickadee Range Map 2000-2015 (left) Reported Lynchings by States and Counties 1900-1931 (right)
It is very easy to imagine Lanham visualizing a comparison of maps such as the one featured above when thinking about his professional work. In the chapter "Birding While Black", he mentions entirely abandoning an exciting research project due to the fact that the requisite field work would have to be conducted in an area with recent KKK activity.
"As young people of color reconnect with what so many of their ancestors knew- that our connections to the land run deep, like the taproots of mighty oaks; that the land renews and sustains us- maybe things will begin to change."
The first step towards alleviating a problem is acknowledgement and understanding. By maintaining awareness of the very real threats to people of color who are hoping to explore or find work in the outdoors, it becomes tangible. As Lanham says, a large part of the solution is simply numbers. By having more people of color become nature hobbyists or work in outdoor fields, it becomes more commonplace, and therefore safer.
This begins with accessibility, especially for children, as allowing children to explore what land and nature means to them can lead to a lifetime of appreciation and a greater inclination to participate in nature-based activities or careers. The story of J. Drew Lanham proves that this much is true.
