Safe Spaces for Black and Brown Interpreters
Many Black and Brown interpreters have similar stories about starting off as young people in the field and being the only people of color in the room. At age 22, I began leading cultural history programs at a historic site in Charleston, South Carolina. I worked there part-time for three years before taking my first full-time job as a cultural history interpreter for the county parks. The adjustment was jarring. I went from an all-Black space where everyone actively supported my success to struggling to fit in an interpretive department surrounded by white naturalists and environmental educators. There were many times I was overtly made to feel as though my presence was not wanted.
I remember the white park manager bringing me a printout of a job announcement and encouraging me to apply for a job that I never expressed interest in and had no intention of applying for. It was no secret they hoped to give my position to someone who left the department previously and had been inquiring about coming back—if only they could get me to leave willingly. On another occasion, I led a walk with a group of Black and Brown youth who hadn’t had a lot of experience outdoors. I was wearing the first and only pair of Jordans I ever owned, and a kid commented on them. He was shocked to see me wearing a brand of shoes that he and his peers placed so much value on. They made me relatable, and the students connected with me in a way they weren’t expecting, allowing them to lean into fully embracing an unfamiliar outdoor environment. I remember excitedly sharing my experience with my supervisor after the walk and being mocked. While the white men who could have and should have been my mentors back then probably forgot about those exchanges as soon as they happened, they stuck with me to this day.
Despite working with people who seemed to take pleasure in making me feel unwelcome and seeing me struggle, I learned a lot from being in that space. I have since used my experiences to create the safe space for Black and Brown cultural and natural history interpreters that I so desperately needed as a young person in the form of the Black and Brown Interpreters Network. Our monthly meetups are opportunities for us to get together, learn from one another, fellowship, share our experiences, and encourage each other to keep pursuing our passions in spite of the obstacles we face. For some of us, it's our only safe space. Black and Brown people are history buffs and nature nerds, we are preservationists, living historians, naturalists, environmental educators, members of descendant communities and regional cultures, and, as you will see in the following pages, we bring all these passions and diverse experiences to the interpretive programs we lead.