On any given weekend in Atlanta, you might find dozens of Black residents hiking Arabia Mountain, kayaking along the Chattahoochee River, or gathered around a campfire sharing stories. At the center of it all is Taylor Crenshaw and her organization Peace in the Wild, the Atlanta group which she started to get Black people into the outdoors.

“Peace in the Wild reconnects the diaspora to nature — that’s what we do,” Crenshaw said, regarding the work of the Atlanta group.

Transforming how Black people experience the natural world, Crenshaw started the organization in 2021 operating outings in and around Atlanta and aspiring to reach global communities.

The group’s offerings include monthly excursions, skill-building workshops, conservation efforts, and community outreach. From kayaking to forest cleanups and swim lessons to camping retreats, Crenshaw believes that Peace in the Wild presents the outdoors not as an intimidating place but as a space that welcomes every identity, every body, and every backstory.

She said that over the past five years, the organization has hosted around 100 experiences, each one acting as a chance to change how Black people interact with the outdoors. Crenshaw said so far over 5,000 community members have participated in the group’s events.

As a child, Crenshaw was immersed in nature and had a passion for the environment. Growing up in Milwaukee, she was raised by her mother and two grandmothers who kept gardens. She also attended an environmental elementary school. She said she learned how to build greenhouses and to canoe, and she attended summer camps focused on outdoor education.

Yet even those early experiences carried complexity. Attending summer camps, she was often the only Black girl there.

“Being the only Black girl at a summer camp that you’re staying at for about two weeks was just like a slightly traumatizing experience,” she said. “While nothing physically happened to me… it does something to your mental… like I don’t see myself in this space.”

Read the full article about Peace in the Wild by Alyssa Johnson at Capital B News.