HerLegacy
A PODCAST
Welcome
Hi I'm Khalia!
My work as a camp counselor shaped my professional and academic life in ways I never could've imagined it would when I began as a cabin counselor and equestrian instructor at 18 years old. 9 years later my passion for camp has not dimmed in the slightest but shifted to focus more on how I can make camp a more welcoming space for all people. HerLegacy was born out of necessity as a grad school project but also out of my love for the power of community and the Legacy I hope that I left behind when my time at camp ended. HerLegacy is a resource for Black women and girls to learn more about summer camps and ways they can foster their own communities in those spaces.
Who is camp even for?
When you search the words “Summer Camp” online and look at the images, many of them have less than one person of color in the image and oftentimes the non-white person pictured is a staff member. Although there have been shifts made to create a more diverse experience (Hale, 2021), the story often shown can be discouraging for young Black people who may be considering going to camp, as they do not see themselves represented in these photographs. Research has shown that a lack of positive representation in media and advertising can lead to negative social effects and reinforce expectations that influence our social reality (Allen, 2017). Camp should be for everyone, and that's what my goal is with the website. To start moving us towards that space.
Why HerLegacy?
HerLegacy was born out of my own view of what I left behind when my time as a camp counselor ended. Although that chapter of my life came to a close in a way that I wasn't thrilled about I was quickly reminded that my work there still mattered as multiple former campers and coworkers shared with me the impact I'd had on them in my time there. With this website and podcast I seek to honor the experiences of Black women working in the summer camp industry by holding space for their stories and honoring the legacies that they will leave behind just as my girls taught me to honor mine.
The power of Friendship
Through my research I have come to understand the power of friendship with other Black women in a way I didn’t before. Although I knew the importance that Black women had held in my own life, I never stopped to consider the ways in which the same could be true for young Black girls. For many Black women, friendships serve as a place of safety where they can unpack and process their experiences with people who understand the complexities of Black womanhood (Randall, 2023). This made me examine my own time at camp and I realized that when my back was up against the wall it wasn't leadership that I turned to, but my sisters who understood the struggles of being Black in a space that wasn't made for us.
I wish
I wish that when I was a shy, anxious 18 year old girl someone had given me these two letters to read before I committed myself to serving as a cabin counselor for almost 3 months. I don't think it would've deterred me from my plans, but it definitely would've prepared me better for the world I was about to enter into. I hope that by providing them for any other Black woman who is considering camp along with the stories here on HerLegacy, I'm leveling the playing field and letting you in on a side of camp that people don't want you to see.
This letter, written by Danya Randolph, a site coordinator for Camp in The Community, is a powerful look at the realities of what camp life is like for so many Black children but it also calls people to action and urges them to make camps safer and better for our children.
I was deeply moved by this letter written by Shola Jones and Simone Gamble on the Summer Camp Society website dedicated to Black summer camp counselors. It shares things that I wish I had been told before I stepped foot into a camp for my first summer and serves as a reminder that even though camp was not built for us, there is still room for Black people to thrive in that space.