I think whole bean has found the answer right there. Although you may live next to or near black people, overall they’re 14% of the population so you may expect to only see 14% black campers. Simple statistics.
My gut feeling is that there’s also a concious or subconcious black cultural aversion to camping, so that’s why you don’t see it happening very often. That’s just from my experiences with black friends/family.
I think this is backwards. It’s not “why don’t black people go camping”, it’s “Why in hell do American white people go camping?”
Camping is one of those weird things that we white people think is normal, but actually is waaay out there.
I’m sorry, Dad. Just being glib again.
When most people go “camping” they’re not exactly living the wilds. Most of them are hitting a state or federal camp ground many of which include running water, toilet facilities, and even showers. It’s nice to go out a few days out of the year and spend some time in the woods, on a river, or near a lake of some kind.
We’re also comparing this to people who can afford to go on vacation and stay in places with air conditioning and cable television. So we’re not exactly talking about people living in abject poverty.
Marc
BS. I’m black, I love camping. I have black family members and friends that camp. Your two points are…well, lets say they aren’t reality. Do you know any black people?
Check out the tread in the Pit.
I’m a petty bourgeois, with my BMW and expensive watches. But I’ll take a week in a resort with maids changing the sheets anyday over fighting bugs. To hell with roughing it.
Who’s this we, honey? It’s not like most white people camp, either.
Maybe no one goes camping anymore…
Maybe all the people we see out there camping are…zombies.
You ever gone to a store with a big mirrored wall, and somehow it creates the illusion that there’s a whole nother half of the store with all these people in it? Only one of them looks a lot like you?
I’m another who doesnt get camping for anyone. Hell, it’s why I want to move my coffee shop to coober pedy, I would be perfectly happy to live under ground and never have to face the outdoors again…an underground opal mine would make a fine coffee shop…
I camped as a kid…it was fun until we got the tent set up, and then the ADD kicked in and I wanted a TV or a firearm or something.
All I can say is a lot of society’s complications and pressures can be soothed by hanging out in the woods for a while. For me it addresses a primal need to be back in touch with nature and away from cell phones and (gasp!) the Internet for a while.
Question: do you think some blacks could associate camping with rural outdoorsman culture, instead of the Boy Scout/hiking/LL Bean/REI/EMS image of camping that seems to be prevalent among urban/suburban middle-class whites? While plain old hike-and-pitch-a-tent-in-the-woods camping seems culturally neutral, outdoorsman-style activities – hunting, fishing, shooting, and so on – is strongly associated with what may be seen as (r-word) culture. In that case, I can easily see why blacks would be adverse to camping.
This being Doperland, though, I know that soon black Dopers will check in and say theyand all their family members are avid outdoorsmen, follow dear seasons across various states, bowhunt in a way that would make Ted Nugent proud, make road trips to Bass Pro and Cabela’s, drive Ford F-350 pickup trucks with a leaping bass decal in the back window, and are active members of Ducks Unlimited. 
(Yes, I do know many African-Americans are avid fishers, although I usually see them fishing in more urban areas; not fly fishing, bass fishing and the like)
Well, I DO like to browse in Cabela’s
I’ve been hunting once, froze my ass off in the Minnesnowta woods for 3 days and didn’t see a thing, not my idea of fun.
But to answer your question, I think you are largely correct, based on the reactions of my family and friends when I invite them to go camping.
I think we’ve accidently stumbled upon the answers. While white lower-middle class people go camping for a cheap vacation, black middle class families visit other family members.
So, “Why dont’ lower-middle class white people get along with their relatives?”?
I was done with this thread, but decided to check in again, expecting a train wreck actually. I guess your post deserves a response, elmwood.
My father was in the US Military, so that was probably a factor in my formative experiences, which may have been different than those of children of civilians. I don’t know.
As a kid in the midwest in the '60s I grew up camping. I was in the Boy Scouts for a number of years, making it from Tenderfoot to Eagle. My father served as one of the rotating assistant scout masters when he was home twice a year on leave from Vietnam. I both loved and hated camping. I loved the tasks and challenges. I loved learning how to set up a tent with just a tarp and a hand axe and knife to create tent pegs. I loved (and was amazed when) learning to start a fire without matches. I loved the camporees, and the one jamboree I survived without too horrible a brush with poison sumac, and let’s face it, I loved pleasing my dad…even when he wasn’t there. I hated the cold, the bugs, the wet (did I mention I hated the wet?), and the night.
After losing interest in the scouts in my mid teens I camped a few more times with a cousin my age, but even then I knew the thrill of camping was gone for me. One day, while packing in preparation to head off to college I came across some of my old camping gear and realized it had been two years since I’d camped and, although the feeling of nostalgia and the memories were pleasurable, I had absolutely no desire to actually camp again.
It’s now been a little over 20 years since I’ve gone camping, and although it’s something I’m pretty confident I’ll never do again I can’t deny that the experience helped make me a different person than I otherwise might have been. I learned an appreciation for true self-sufficiency while camping. I learned how to swim while camping. I learned the importance of teamwork, not from school, but from camping.
Contrary to what others have intimated here, even if in jest, at least in my and my counsin’s case, as well as other African American kids we used to camp with, fear of White racists was not a consideration at all in our decisions to camp, or to discontinue the practice. It simply got to a point where we knew we were done with camping as life provided other, newer, more promising adventures.
As far as fishing is concerned, I can’t stand it. My dad used to take me fishing, but the waking up at 4 in the morning to go out and sit in a cold raft, on a cold lake, for hours, waiting for a stupid trout to nibble the nightcrawler or herring on the end of ten pound test (that I had to bait!!) was absolutely not my idea of fun, in fact I found it disgusting. With the smell, the slime, removing the hook, and the gutting…oh, the gutting…I hated catching a fish as much as not catching a fish.
My cousin, on the other hand LOVED fishing and does to this day. He and his friends, some of whom are also African American (GASP!) rent a C-Dory every year and spend just about every weekend on the river snagging the (not so) big ones.
I don’t consider myself an outdoorsman, avid or otherwise, but there are Black people who are, not that you’re saying there are not. My contention is the impetus for recreational practices are almost as much environmential as cultural, so to say something as ridiculous as no Black people camp, as the OP does, is a false assertion, and does nothing to promote the desire for an honest discussion or debate.
I’ll admit that this was in the back of my mind when I started going camping (okay so we rent a cabin instead of living in a tent) in the Adirondacks. We didn’t see any other blacks until we took a trip to Lake George. It’s not that I expected everyone to be racist, but it’s not unheard of for those nutty types to move into the mountains, and I didn’t have any interest in single handedly integrating their town.
Then again, I don’t take trips into the inner city either.
Lower middle class white people get along with their relatives fine. But I think it’s pretty well documented that your average white family has a pretty different structure than your average black family. This affects things like how long guests are welcome, at what “distance” someone is still considered close family, etc.
I think there are a number of potential reasons why this is true.
[broad brush on]
First, demographics, as many have stated. There are fewer of us, period, so you would expect to see a small number of Black folk in most activities compared to White folks.
Second, the urban issue. If many of us live in cities, that’s the world that many of us see. We’re conditioned and normed by our peers and surroundings. What do our neighbors and relatives do to unwind? We’ll do that as well.
Third, the expense. I went camping for the first time in college with (mostly) White friends. I think I had a sleeping bag, but I sure didn’t have anything else. It was a little annoying voluntarily abandoning things I like, such as indoor plumbing, central air, and gas stoves. And while I am not super prissy I don’t like not having access to hot water, soap, clean lavatories, and so on.
Fourth, exposure. I went to a few Cub Scout meetings as a kid in 80s - it was really expensive. Uniforms, Pinewood Derby kits, etc… my parents weren’t convinced I would stay with the program so I didn’t do it. When I went camping as a young adult I certainly found some positives about it, but you don’t know what parts of camping you like and don’t like until you go.
Fifth, stereotypes about camping. There are camp sites that are essentially glorified hotels, and there’s the roughing it type places. Lots of variation in-between. Most non-campers don’t know this and assume it’s wiping your ass with leaves and eating nuts and berries.
Sixth, how people spend their leisure time. Camping is typically done in buddy groups, families, or couple groups. Camping takes planning, someone who is pretty experienced and gung-ho about it (typically), and gear. IOW, it’s a hassle for most of us who don’t camp unless you know the camping evangelist who has everything, will gladly share it, and wants you to go camping! I think these types are usually suburban yuppie types… so you’d have to work with or be friends with one of these guys.
Seventh, Black folks tend to be scared of shit in the woods, myself included. Bats, bears, poison ivy, spiders, mosquitoes, mushrooms, coyotes… I have to hype myself up every time I go hiking to deal with this stuff. As someone mentioned upthread, I think White folks tend to seek thrills in their leisure time. Black folks tend to have plenty of unwarranted thrills in the day-to-day, so when we have free time, it’s more about relaxing and avoiding problems rather than seeking them out and conquering them.
Last, it’s a stereotype that nerdy White folks do it and Black folks don’t. It’s corny, something that Clark Griswold does. Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy have joked about how we don’t camp, so we don’t.
Even though this thread is a few weeks over four years old, can we open it up again? I just found it, and would like to weigh in if it’d be worthwhile…