As a kid, Chelsea Murphy felt she didn’t belong outside. Now the Leavenworth-based founder of She Colors Nature is making sure her daughters do. The outdoors in America have a long history as an unwelcome place for Black men and women and children of all ages. Decades of violence and intimidation have made activities like hiking and camping, which have become rituals for many families, more complicated for many Black families. This didn't stop the parents of Chelsea Murphy from taking her on camping trips when she was growing up in Tacoma. But Murphy still did not feel an affinity for the outd ..read more

The founder of the Bronze Chapter has thrived in the outdoors all her life. She wants other people of color in the PNW to feel the same way. Denice Rochelle doesn't just want to see more people like herself adventuring outdoors. She wants to see more people like herself leading those adventures.  When she created the Bronze Chapter, Rochelle wanted the nonprofit to create opportunities where people of color could come together and explore new spaces and new challenges. It did that and more.  For this episode of the Out & Back podcast, host Alison Mariella Désir talks with Rochell ..read more

The angler known as The Black Stonefly was raised in the city. But now he's on a mission to get more Black people into the outdoors. Fly fishing changed Giancarlo Lawrence’s life. He says it has healed him and inspired him to become more self-sufficient. And, he says, he believes it can do the same thing for Black people like him, who are currently underrepresented in the sport.  Growing up between the suburban and urban areas of the South Puget Sound region, Lawrence had little exposure to the outdoors growing up. Now his love of fly fishing has led him to more outdoor pursuits – such as ..read more

The Deadstock Run Club is giving people of color in Portland a place to come together, connect and get moving.  As home to one of our most storied track and field destinations, one of the most celebrated runners in American history and arguably the greatest sneaker brand in the world, Oregon is a natural place to start a running club.  That Ian Williams and Amir Armstrong started the Deadstock Run Club out of a coffeeshop in Portland’s Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, then, might not seem too surprising. That is until you consider another, much more disturbing aspect of Oregon histor ..read more

First drawn to the sport for health benefits, athlete Rosalie Fish hit her stride advocating for missing and murdered Indigenous women and two-spirit people. Rosalie Fish is best known for the red handprint often painted on her face. First a runner in high school and now a collegiate athlete at the University of Washington, Fish runs with the handprint to bring visibility to the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Two-Spirit people.  It is a cause that is centuries old and very near to her as a member of the Cowlitz Tribe who grew up on the Muckleshoot reservation. For this ..read more

QPOC Hikers started as a place for people to bond over the outdoors. It’s become so much more.   The outdoors transformed Jas Masionet’s life. But when they went looking for people to join them on outdoor adventures, they ran into a problem. As a non-binary person of color, they had trouble meeting people outside of happy hour meet-ups.  To meet more queer people interested in the outdoors, Masionet started QPOC Hikers in 2019. Now they arrange outdoor events year round, from birding, to hiking, to snowshoeing.  For this episode of the Out & Back podcast, host Alison Ma ..read more

Agriculture is a fraught industry for descendants of enslaved people. Yes Farm is working to move beyond that trauma. The relationship between Black people and agriculture in the United States has long been dominated by one obvious and ominous image: Black Americans working the land as enslaved people.  But a different image is being formed at Yes Farm in Seattle’s Yesler Terrace neighborhood. There, between a construction site and the freeway, the Black Farmers Collective is working to change Black people’s relationship with land and farming.  For this episode of the Out & Back ..read more

Peace Peloton started in Seattle as a single protest ride in 2020. Now it fights for social justice nationwide. Reginald “Doc” Wilson loves his bike. So in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police in May 2020, his bike became a tool to reclaim space and fight for social justice under the name Peace Peloton.  Since the first ride on June 6, 2020, his organization’s rides, markets and barbecues have welcomed cyclists of all skills while seeking to bring economic justice to local businesses that, as he says, happen to be Black. For this episode of the Out & Back podcast, A ..read more

Meet the Club Seattle Runners Division, the group that helped Alison Mariella Desir find her place and her people in the PNW. Housing discrimination and restrictive covenants shaped Seattle in ways that are still being felt today. The most obvious of these is the neighborhood segregation it created and the way that it affected Black people’s ability to purchase homes and acquire wealth. But it also created disparities in health and movement.  Consider Seattle’s Central District. It was once a thriving Black neighborhood because Black people legally couldn't live anywhere else in the city ..read more

Meet host Alison Mariella Désir as she tells her story of reclaiming the outdoors in New York before she and her family moved to the PNW. Désir is a runner, an activist, a mother and an author; a lover of the outdoors; and a student of history. And now, with a new video series and this accompanying podcast, she gets to highlight other BIPOC folks in the Pacific Northwest who are deconstructing historic and modern ideas about who belongs in the outdoors. Along the way, viewers and listeners will meet groups and individuals who are reclaiming the outdoors and encouraging others to get outside wi ..read more