Black History Month 2025

Last year, we featured five Black conservationalists, environmentalists, and outdoor leaders for Black History Month. This year, we’re excited to feature more influential Black outdoors folks in addition to authors and organizations who impact the environmental and conservation spaces.

Robinson showing reading to kids from his book. Photo credit to John C. Robinson.

Corina Newsome is a wildlife biologist with a specific focus on avian conservation. She helped organize the first Black Birders Week in 2020 and has a passion for connecting environmental justice and conservation.

John C. Robinson is a professional ornithologist focusing on making birding and other environmental-related activities more accessible for minorities. Robinson published a book called Birding is for Everyone, which explores why so few minorities are in the birding space and how that can change.

Dudley Edmondson is a professional photographer, author, and filmmaker with a special focus on nature and people in the outdoors. He wrote Black & Brown Faces in America’s Wild Places, a book that interviews African American park rangers, biologists, and more.

Photo by Tim Johnson from NPR article on Nelson.

Alexis Nikole Nelson, aka @blackforager on Instagram, is a full-time forager and environmental educator. She has a massive following online and teaches people how to forage in their own backyards and cook delicious meals with what they find.

Carl Anthony founded the organization, Urban Habitat, in 1989 to address environmental injustices in the Bay Area and build advocacy and empowerment among low-income communities. He wrote his memoir, The Earth, the City, and the Hidden Narrative of Race, in 2017 about his childhood, issues of race, and environmental injustice.

This week’s weather makes for some perfect indoor-reading time! Cozy up with a blanket and some tea and check out some of the books listed below:

National Wildlife Federation has a beautiful list of books written by Black authors, which you can view here.
Green Learning also compiled a list of 25 books that you can view here.
California Naturalist has a list of books of all kinds here.

Edmonson bird watches. Photo by Nancy Edmonson and shared in The Nature Conservancy article.

Want to learn more about organizations that are encouraging more Black representation in the outdoor and environmental spaces? Check out the list below:

Follow the work of these organizations and the folks listed above and learn more about Black History Month here!