The first of its kind, Woodlums stands as the only club at USC focused on making nature and mindfulness practices accessible to the Black student community. “The only clubs out here on campus that do [this] are predominantly white, like the university,” said Caleb Flenoury, a computer science major at USC and senior member of Woodlums.
Taylor-Corrine Benton, an undergraduate African American studies major at USC, co-founded the club in the academic year 2022-2023 with fellow student Nia McMillan, in hopes of changing the conversations surrounding mental health, nature, and the Black community.
According to Benton, the acting vice president of Woodlums, she “[started] to become aware of how often the adage of ‘that’s white people shit’ would finish a sentence” when Black children were asked to share their thoughts on hiking and getting out into nature.
Flenoury said that many Black people hold a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to nature, as it once had a hand in helping Black individuals escape enslavement, yet has also been associated with “Black people hanging from trees.”
“I just think that, especially when we take a look at how nature has been associated with Black people in the past, especially in America, I think it’s important for us to understand how to rebuild it and…release a lot of stigmas that we might still have around it,” Flenoury said.
Historically, Black and Brown communities have had less access to nature due to certain systemic environmental racism practices such as redlining neighborhoods to situate these communities closer to industrial development, highways, and oil and gas infrastructure. According to a report drafted by the Hispanic Access Foundation and the Center for American Progress, “communities of color are almost three times more likely than white communities to live in ‘nature deprived’ areas.”
Especially in places such as “Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York, well over 90 percent of people of color live in heavily modified, nature-poor neighborhoods… and less than 15 percent of primarily white communities are so heavily nature deprived,” according to National Geographic.
According to Flenoury, Woodlums’ mission is to get Black people reconnected with these natural green spaces they have been historically and systemically deprived of. “We’re not going to end environmental racism, but we are doing our part in dismantling it by taking Black people, especially Black kids, Black SC… out on restorative and nature-based outings, because that’s the first thing you can do,” Benton said.
Flenoury said, “there’s definitely space for us in nature to claim and I feel like Woodlums is an active step in claiming it.”
Natalia Williams, an undergraduate chemical engineering major at USC and new member of Woodlums, said that the club has helped her find peace of mind by bringing her out of the school and city environment and into a space where she can take a break and breathe.
Flenoury said mindfulness and nature are very connected with each other, as nature provides a way for people to visualize their thoughts and feelings in an understandable way. He said, “it’s the ultimate calmness, just feeling as a part of nature, feeling like a tree, like my leaves are like my thoughts, you just let them fall when they can. You can’t really rip them off. You just let the wind take them.”
To many members, Woodlums has become a place not just to experience nature, but to exercise mindfulness and nurture their mental well-being, practices they had been deprived of in their day-to-day lives before joining the club.
“Getting in touch with nature, getting in touch with anything, to me… that sounds soft. And I feel like masculinity, especially in the Black community, is very hyperbolized, it’s very strong and rigid,” Flenoury said. “I just don’t see many Black men on campus that I know feel like they align with…getting in touch with nature.”
According to the American Psychological Association, “Black men are…more likely than White men to endorse aspects of traditional masculine ideology, such as the need to act tough and in control and to avoid emotional expression” in order to “‘stave off societal pressures and oppression.’”
However, as a queer man, Flenoury said he has felt less pressure to be masculine, as people often expect him to be more feminine. He said that being queer forced him to get in touch with himself and his mental health very early on, as he had to confront the thoughts he had in his head in order to become comfortable in his skin.
Mindfulness looks different to everyone, and everyone’s journey to it is different. Flenoury said he didn’t get into mindfulness until college, during his second semester of freshman year. “I didn’t have that word in my vocabulary. I only got mindfulness [in my vocabulary] within… the past two years,” Benton said.
No matter one’s gender, sexual orientation or experience with mindfulness, Woodlums is a welcoming space for all Black students. The club’s emphasis on mindfulness encourages self-expression and individuality. “When you are in tune with your body, you have more trust within yourself and your authenticity can shine louder,” Benton said.