Black conservationists and avian enthusiasts are challenging the widely held racist stereotype that Black folks and people of color are more suited to urban landscapes than to the fields and forests of the natural world.
A group called BlackAFinSTEMdeclared last week to be the first-ever ‘Black Birders Week,’ a celebration using digital platforms to create virtual events that showcase African Americans working in the natural sciences, and who are lovers of the outdoors.
Tom's guests are Dr. J Drew Lanham, an Alumni Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University. Dr. Lanham is the Poet Laureate of Edgefield, South Carolina and the author of Sparrow Envy -- Poems, and The Home Place -- Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature.
And, Corina Newsome, a field biologist who is pursuing a graduate degree in avian ecology at Georgia Southern University, and a co-founder of Black Birders Week.
