by J. Drew Lanham
In honor of National Bird Day (January 5), we have chosen a remarkable memoir published in 2016 by an African-American birder and naturalist. The Distinguished Professor of Wildlife Ecology at Clemson University, J. Drew Lanham has written a lyrical meditation on nature and belonging and the dangers of being a black man who roams the out of doors. In a chapter entitled “Birding While Black,” he writes “it’s only 8:38 a.m. and I think I might get hanged today.” As a lone black man with binoculars, he risks causing uproars in many South Carolina neighborhoods.
See the Jones Library Antiracism Book List for recommended titles for all ages