Brandan
Freeman
One doesn’t have to venture far to marvel at the colors of nature. The animals, Michigan’s lakes and rivers, and the leaves in autumn all display a diverse array of beautiful colors, shades, and hues. That same richness of diversity is often absent when observing the people who participate in outdoor recreation.
Brandan is on a mission to change that.
Brandan Freeman is an Outdoor Recreation DEI Consultant from Ann Arbor, Michigan, who is passionate about increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in outdoor spaces. From his passion he founded “Shades of the Outdoors: A BIPOC Outdoor Enthusiast Community.” The community encourages participation in outdoor recreation by hosting a wide range of outdoor events throughout the year, and by engaging with outdoor organizations to challenge them to remove structures that allow inequities to persist.
Brandan is also a husband, father of a very adventurous toddler, and an avid outdoor enthusiast. Hiking, backpacking, and trail running are Brandan’s favorite outdoor activities. His most memorable adventures include backpacking in the wilderness of Alaska’s Denali National Park and hiking the length of Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park.
This fall, Brandan plans on finishing his section hike of Michigan’s “Shore to Shore” trail as well as competing in a 100km trial race in the mountains of Virginia.
Sessions with Brandan
The Outdoors Isn’t Real: Creating an Inclusive Space in the Outdoors
1:45 PM – 2:45 PM
Nature has always existed. The outdoors, however, has not. The outdoors describes how humans interact with nature, and that determination was created. The creation of the outdoors culminated with the signing of the Wilderness Act in 1964. That creation was also intended to exclude BIPOC. Today, over a half century later, outdoor spaces are still not inclusive of people of color.
This session will interrogate the history of the outdoors, illustrate how the outdoors was structured to exclude people of color (to include where parks are located, outdoor rules and regulations, enforcement strategies, and representation), and presents the parallel of BIPOC engagement with the outdoors as a continuation of the march towards Civil Rights.
Room
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