If, in fact the average black person is less likely to go camping than the average white person, I would bet on the urbanization and/or geography. I bet white people from Atlanta don’t camp all that much either. In addition to urbanization, lots of blacks live in the south, where it’s pretty darn hot a lot of the year.
That’s a good point. I’m not exactly sure why either. But my parents and I got onto the topic of it once. (We’re not Indian, but Pakistani, rather.) My mom just said that she really couldn’t think of any friends/relations of ours who would think going camping was fun. It was just…an odd idea of fun.
I’m pretty American, but I also think it’s overrated. I’m not sure if it comes of being brought up by my parents, or because I’m more urban. I think it was monstro who said that wanting to be presentable often clashes with camping. It’s hard to look neat and pressed and put together in the middle of the woods.
Just to throw in a data point, I know a zillion white people who have enormous family reunions. My family is weird because we don’t have them–possibly because there aren’t enough of us? Really, we’d all fit in a living room. But my husband has about 40 cousins on one side and his family has reunions. In a cruel twist of fate, I was first taken to meet his parents at a reunion they were having, so I was overwhelmed with total strangers who were all hoping I would marry their son/nephew/grandson.
Come to think of it, a lot of reunions I know of happen at campgrounds or cabins in the mountains…perhaps this is some cross-cultural juxtaposition or something! 
My Indian female boss (from India not american born) took her family on a camping trip in tahoe and I have to admit that it really weirded me out. I would never imagine that would be something she and her (also Indian but american born) husband would be into.
VCO3 is racist and is going to hell. Just kidding, VCO3, I love you. You know that.
I can only speak for my own white people family, but the reason we don’t have family reunions is, we have weddings instead. There are enough cousins that one of them gets married every summer, so we all converge on wherever the wedding is, and get together there. The only exception I can think of in the past decade or two was the year when Grandpap died, and his funeral served much the same purpose.
But my family is a special case: Most folks, white or black, don’t have the critical mass to keep up that rate of weddings.
The reunions I’ve gone to have always been inside where there is air conditioning and the BBQ has been catered. We don’t seem to have nearly as much fun, but maybe that’s my specific family.
I propose that of all of the people who don’t go camping, most of those are white. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Sure they camp. Camp Pendleton, Camp Lejeune, Camp Red Coud. Plenty of Black men and women. Maybe even some s’mores.
Don’t know about whites in general. Irish family reunions? (shudders). Watch as much of Long Day’s Journey Into Night as you can stand for your answer.
Maybe if they weren’t so loud, they could spend some more time drinking coffee.
Well, my family has family reunions, but only about 15 percent of us are black.
We don’t camp, though, so maybe more of us are black than it appears.
Tris
I don’t think wealth is a huge issue when it comes to camping. You don’t really need a whole lot in the way of expensive gear, many state and federal parks are inexpensive to stay at, and if you’re cooking your own food you’re not spending a whole lot to eat out.
From what I’ve found the biggest factor to whether or not someone will camp has to with whether or not it was a part of their childhood. Most people I know who didn’t camp while growing up have no interest in doing it. I’m sure there’s exceptions but I suspect that this is the most likely reason. Of course that doesn’t really solve the question of why there don’t seem to be as many black campers. In my experience they’re as rare as hens teeth.
Though I find it slightly amusing that fear of racist might be a factor. It reminds me of white people who are scared of going into the inner city for similar reasons.
Marc
There were black guys in my troop in California, and they went camping and everything! My post is my cite.
Tis true. Everyone is afraid of everyone else. Everyone is afraid of sticking out like a sore thumb, doing the “wrong” thing, and running into the “wrong” element.
But I think people attribute this to a class thing not because camping is expensive (it isn’t unless you go whole-hog), but because of the attitudes towards “roughing it” between poor and not-poor. If you’re poor and you’re lucky enough to have some leisure time, you might look forward to comforts that you wouldn’t normally have. Like staying in a nice hotel with cable TV and air conditioning, swimming in a pool, and eating out at a nice restaurant. Camping might be too much like everyday life if your normal life is already kind of “rough”.
I have no idea why this would be. I have noticed intense animal-fear amongst a lot of black people (like my father), and I just don’t understand it.
The two observations that resonate with me are that people who camp tend to have camped as kids and (some unquantified number of) blacks fear hassles of racism.
I suspect that those are mutually reinforcing attitudes. The big push for Americans to camp occurred following WWII (although the tradition goes back much further). Even there, far fewer than half of Americans ever camped more than once. If camping tends to be something that people pick up as kids and carry forward, today’s campers will tend to be those boomers who joined the trend of the 1950s and the children of boomers who inherited the practice through their families. And while it is probably far less true that a black family has any need to be concerned, today, there will be far fewer blacks who “inherited” an interest in camping, since it was, indeed, probably too dangerous or too much of a hassle for black boomers to have participated in that activity in the 1950s and early 1960s. And some number of black people are probably still concerned about the safety of their families while traveling, even if it is actually safer, today.
Regarding picnic family reunions: I recall several family reunions in Garfield Park in Indianapolis in the 1950s when my Dad was the only one who had to drive into Indy (from suburban Detroit) to participate. Then his younger brother also moved out of Indiana and the oldest cousins began to get jobs scattered around the country and the picnic gatherings dropped off, replaced by wedding gatherings (with the “reunion” held at the home of the newlyweds’ parents on Sunday).
Recently, we have begun having sporadic reunions, again, but when we do, we arrange them at places where the various members can opt for either a campsite or a room at a lodge. We simply live in too many scattered cities and states to just pack a basket and some charcoal and head to a park for a gathering. (Deb and I are about the oldest ones who camp and even many of the younger cousins rent rooms–generally if their parents did not get into camping while they were young.)
It is probably wiser to refrain from kidding in that manner in this Forum.
Onomatopoeia, Mosier, and Miller: It would probably also be more appropriate to refrain from commenting on the comments or perceived attitudes of other posters in thius Forum, as well.
[ /Moderating ]
There are many people in these here parts who are poor but they still find time to go camping or even hunting. I still don’t think it’s as much an issue of wealth as it is a question of whether you view it as being something fun to do.
Marc
Back when I lived in the city, I used to go camping a few times every summer. Winter camped a few times too.
I don’t at all any more.
Now I live in the wilderness. My property borders national forest. I guess I don’t see too much point in it any more. I am camping every night, just with a real nice shelter.
My family has done this. We had one at my dad’s place once where we had a gigantic catfish fry for like 100 people. We’ve had them at park pavillions, as well. However, nowadays, many of the folks who would’ve put this kind of thing together, including my dad, are dead. 
Re: blacks fearing animals (like dogs).
Point of speculation #1: Dog ownership among black people is often tied to home security, not the desire for companionship. So they grow up thinking that dogs are something to fear. What we see with blacks is probably due to a combination of urban living combined with socioeconomics. The more money you make, the more likely you’re going to start adopting animals into your house and treating them like family members. Even if a black person is middle class, they are more likely to be only a generation or two removed from poverty than is a white middle-classer. So animalphilia is going to be less likely a part of their makeup.
Point of speculation #2: Maybe the fear of animals has something to do with the way dogs were used against blacks during slavery times. Pattyrollers used dogs to chase down runaways. Dogs were also used to inflict punishment against those who stepped out of line. I don’t know how common pet ownership was among slaves, but I suspect it was low since keepng a non-human mouth around to feed would be a bit insane when you’re living off of crappy rations in a 10 x 10 shack.
About the camping thing: My ex boyfriend’s Jewish parents did not “get” why we liked camping. They specifically said that Jewish folks don’t do that kind of thing. So a distaste for camping is not a black thing.
I’m black, I like camping, and I love animals so much that I became a vet.
End of discussion.
As a black camper who also climbs, rides motorcycles and drinks coffee (sometimes all during the same weekend!), should I turn in my official negro card?