Two Biophilic Giants: A Poem
By Jennifer D. Roberts, DrPH, MPH, University of Maryland School of Public Health
Design by Cecilia Cassidy.
One rose up from slavery in Virginia tobacco fields, to a dominant and oscillating leader of Negro elite,
The other born into New England Talented Tenth pedigree with coloristic privilege and a Back-to-Africa rebellion.
TWO BIOPHILIC GIANTS
Both seeking racial uplift with aching hearts and minds, thickened by call and response souls until….
Agitation clashed accommodation, resistance broke reconciliation, and courage overrode conformity.
TWO BIOPHILIC GIANTS
Taliaferro moved right, worked with his hands, and acquiesced conciliatory segregation as separate fingers,
Burghardt code-switched left, waged battle with the Niagara Movement, a mighty current of unleashed protest.
TWO BIOPHILIC GIANTS
A Progressive Era orator who lived and sermonized nature’s gateway to freedom and existence with no color line,
A problem with the 20th century, his clasher declared, but reconfigured this line with an ecological flair.
TWO BIOPHILIC GIANTS
B pitied the man or woman who never learned to enjoy nature for strength, inspiration and its sweet fragrance,
Philly’s Negro epidemiologist sought twilight land, felt blazing sun glory, and heard the darkwater’s song of children.
TWO BIOPHILIC GIANTS
For Black folk then and now, these men sowed and reaped for equality and freedom from dusk of dawn,
Together, and posthumously, unifying for intersectional liberation=racial justice+environmental justice+health justice.
TWO BIOPHILIC GIANTS
While Booker T. Washington is well known for leveraging the knowledge of nature as a tool and strategy for racial uplift among Black Americans, W.E.B. DuBois, his challenger and critic, is one of the most under-recognized American naturalists. This piece highlights the foundation of Washington’s environmental vision, including a reference to “Getting Down to Mother Earth,” one of his weekly addresses to the Tuskegee Institute’s students and faculty where he states “remember that when we get down to the fundamental principles of truth, nature draws no color line.” Similarly, this poem showcases DuBois’ use of nature in his writings (e.g., ‘Darkwater’), his consistent appreciation and reference to nature (e.g., The Niagara Movement) as well as his role in public health equity (e.g., The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study).
This poem also alludes to the intellectual conflicts and disagreements between Washington and DuBois, but then serves as poetic tale bringing these two esteemed racial, social and environmental justice scholars together in mind and celebration of nature’s healing power. “Two Biophilic Giants” posthumously excavates the unrecognized biophilic unity of these two men and invites the reader to discover the powerful relationship of nature long recognized by Black bodies despite the racist and colonial roots of “wilderness,” forced land labor and other environmental oppressions, traumas and violence.
For further reading about DuBois’ and Washington’s environmental legacy, read Dr. Robert’s article here.