Our world speaks to us in so many different ways. For some, it speaks in a whisper; for others, it issues a clarion call. Our individual experiences shape what we hear, and how — or even if — we respond. And those responses take countless forms: poetry, art, religion, and scientific inquiry. Quite often, the response generates an outpouring of enthusiastic engagement — and meaningful action.

During Black History Month, we consider the contributions of six African Americans to the world to which we are all connected. Their efforts to build community, to respond from unique places with creativity and passion, help us learn how to share our world with one another.

The bronze facade of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, designed by architect Zena Howard, not only works as a passive climate-control system it creatively draws attention to the contributions of African Americans, enslaved and free who would have been responsible for much of the ironwork in cities like New Orleans, Charleston, and Richmond during the 18th and 19th Centuries. PHOTO_Perkins&Will

Zena Howard, FAIA, LEED AP

Architect, Visionary, Storyteller

PHOTO_Perkins&Will

For Perkins&Will Managing Partner and Architect Zena Howard, project manager for the design of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the built environment can be a framework for sharing stories and strengthening communities. In all her projects, she carefully navigates issues of equity and justice and strives to restore lost cultural connections. She endeavors first to listen and then to harness the power of good design. One recent project, L.A.’s Destination Crenshaw, successfully averted the “cultural erasure” that would have accompanied construction of a new metro line. Instead, Destination Crenshaw will be an outdoor museum of African American art and culture — with its very own metro stop.

PHOTO_Smithsonian Archives

Solomon Brown was the first African American employee at the Smithsonian Institution, more than 150 years before the establishment of the NMAAHC. Hired in 1852 to build exhibit cases, he rose through the ranks, educating himself in the field of natural history, illustrating maps and specimens, giving lectures, and, we love this — writing poetry. By 1870, he had begun to collect the myriad artifacts and specimens, effectively serving as curator, for the institution’s magnificent collections. In his personal time Solomon and his wife organized picnics for their local community, another thing we love!

Rue Mapp

Founder, Outdoor Afro, Speaker, Friend

PHOTO_Bethanie Hines

Rue Mapp believed that, historically, nature wasn’t readily accessible to African Americans. Segregation, racist housing laws, and access often kept them from enjoying urban parks and venturing into forests and mountains. In 2009, she founded Outdoor Afro, an organization that strives to establish and strengthen Black connections to nature through hiking, fishing, swimming, kayaking, gardening — and even scaling Mt. Kilimanjaro. Rue’s about page sounds like she is just the woman to join one of our bike excursions. Not only is she an “inspirational leader, writer, speaker, and public lands champion; she is your solid, fun friend - and good cook! Great cook? Sounds like she should meet our next feature, Michael Twitty!

Michael Twitty

Chef, Author, and Blogger Afroculinaria

PHOTO_Ryan Smith/Sierra Club article

A childhood visit to Colonial Williamsburg stirred interest in traditional cooking for Michael Twitty. Michael has worked to eradicate food injustice and to show how African-American food has shaped American cuisine. Several years ago, he returned to Colonial Williamsburg to establish gardens containing the crops that enslaved people would have grown. More important than the crops they contain, undoubtedly, is the abundance of cultural, scientific, and historical knowledge bound up in the soil. His book The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South was awarded the James Beard Foundation Book of the Year in 2018. Michael also authors the food blog, Afroculinaria. Maybe we can find out when Michael will next be in Williamsburg, and plan a bike and meet?

John Francis

Conservationist, Scholar, Author

PHOTO_Michelle Stocker/The Capital Times

After witnessing an oil spill in San Francisco Bay in 1971, John Francis chose to stop using motor vehicles, and began walking wherever he went. Not long afterwards, he took a vow of silence that lasted seventeen years. After his period of silence ended, he assisted the United States Coast Guard developing more stringent oil spill regulations. Francis, known best as “the Planetwalker,” founded a non-profit environmental awareness organization, received several academic degrees, teaches graduate-level envrionmental classes, and has published two books Planet Walker: 17 years of silence, 22 years of walking and The Ragged Edge of Silence: Finding Peace in a Noisy World. Presently Dr. Francis is visiting associate professor at the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Betty Reid Soskin

Optimist, Historian, National Park Ranger

PHOTO_NATIONAL PARKS SERVICE/INSTAGRAM

The wartime work experience of Betty Reid Soskin guided the planning and development of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park. Soskin added her personal story, which included her experiences with racial segregation and discrimination while working for the U.S. Air Force in 1942. Believing that she had a responsibility to share her story with park visitors, she joined the National Park Service as a ranger (and was still an active ranger at the age of 100, as of this writing). Most Thursdays you can join a virtual talk with Soskin at 2pm. Named a 2018 Woman of the Year in Glamour her interview with journalist Farai Chideya was a beautiful tribute to this inspiring woman who told Chideya her families’ lives “stretch from Dred Scott to Black Lives Matter”.

We are all the better for the dedication these six people have given throughout their lifetimes to help us all connect with our planet and each other.

By Susan Creasey and Anne Poarch