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Shelton Johnson on Buffalo soldiers and old wounds, part 2
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Shelton Johnson speaks about "Gloryland"
When Shelton Johnson, author of the recently published Gloryland, commented that Oprah Winfrey taking a tour of our National Parks would help heal old wounds, he didn't expect to set off any controversy. "History is powerful. What happened yesterday affects today," he stated during my interview with him earlier this month.
Johnson, the charismatic African-American Yosemite Interpretative Ranger who has recently appeared on Ken Burns' The National Parks: America's Best Idea, believes that the facts speak for themselves — that slavery and Jim Crow existed, and that racism has not disappeared.
But things have improved, and Johnson is an agent of change who not only has been able to share what he's learned about the history of the Buffalo soldiers (who helped protect some of our national parks at the beginning of the 20th century), but also has been searching for other ways to share the beauty and transcendence he finds in nature.
For several years, Johnson has been introducing Yosemite's visitors to the story of the Buffalo soldiers by taking on the part of a fictionalized character, Elizy Boman. Worthwhile as that has been, he notes that his audiences are almost entirely White, In fact, he states, "less than 1% of the visitors to Yosemite are Black."
In Gloryland, Johnson has been able to go beyond, and deeper into, the story of the Buffalo soldiers and their contributions to our National Parks. But he says, "I'm afraid that there are people out there who think that my book is 'only' a buffalo soldier book, so they don't hear the message that my book is an exploration of Race and Wilderness, which makes it very unique."
When Johnson was asked if he'd like to be on the Oprah show, he replied in essence, "Who wouldn't?" He said in a S.F. Chronicle interview that if Oprah would tour our National Parks, or Snoop Dogg would spend a night singing by a Yosemite campfire, it would help reconnect a group presently disassociated from the natural world.
Indeed there are many facets to bringing about social change. Johnson says of his novel, "readers will gain an understanding of the complexities of the buffalo soldier story." The book, published by Sierra Club Books, is widely available.
Park ranger asks: Where are the black visitors?
Ranger yearns for more diversity at national parks.
Part one: Shelton Johnson speaks eloquently of Buffalo soldiers.
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