Was John Muir racist?

John Muir’s Sierra Club and Its Eugenicist Founders

John Muir’s name graces parks and trails across America, but his legacy hides a dark side. The famed naturalist called Native Americans “dirty savages” and used racial slurs for Black Americans.

When he founded the Sierra Club in 1892, he filled it with men like Joseph LeConte, a Confederate veteran who pushed racist theories, and David Starr Jordan, who later championed forced sterilization laws.

For decades, the Club stayed an elite white group that kept others out. In 2020, the Sierra Club finally owned up to this troubled past.

The John Muir National Historic Site offers a chance to see where this complex history began.

Wisconsin Shaped Muir’s Early Views

John Muir grew up in Wisconsin during the 1850s and 1860s when scientific racism was popular. His college teachers taught that different races had biological differences.

In 1867, Muir walked a thousand miles from Indiana to the Gulf of Mexico, going through Southern states after the Civil War. He met freed slaves and wrote about them in his journals.

His Travel Journals Reveal Offensive Language

Muir’s personal journals from his 1867 Southern trip contain shocking words about Black Americans. He often used slurs like “Sambo” when talking about Black people he met.

His early California writings showed similar bias toward Native Americans, calling them “dirty savages” and primitive. Letters to his family used racist terms that white people thought were normal back then.

Muir Erased Native Americans From Their Own Land

When Muir explored the Sierra Nevada in the 1870s, he met Miwok and Paiute tribes who had lived there for thousands of years.

Instead of respecting their connection to the land, he called them “lazy savages” who couldn’t truly enjoy nature’s beauty.

Muir wrote as if he was the first person to really discover Yosemite, ignoring the Native peoples who called it home for generations.

His popular writings spread the myth that wilderness areas were “untouched” lands waiting for white people to find them.

He Buddied Up With a Confederate Professor

Muir became good friends with Joseph LeConte in the 1880s, a University of California professor with troubling views.

LeConte fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and later wrote books claiming Black Americans were less intelligent than whites.

He used these ideas to support segregation and taking away Black citizens’ voting rights. Muir didn’t seem bothered by these views and stayed friends with LeConte.

Their social circle included other scholars who pushed similar racist theories.

The Sierra Club Started As An Elite White Men’s Club

On May 28, 1892, Muir started the Sierra Club with 27 charter members who were almost all rich white men. Joseph LeConte, the Confederate veteran and racial theorist, was on the first board of directors.

Stanford’s President Brought Eugenics To The Club

David Starr Jordan, Stanford University’s first president, joined Sierra Club leadership while Muir was president.

Jordan became a key figure in America’s eugenics movement, which tried to “improve” humanity by stopping certain groups from having children.

He pushed for laws forcing sterilization on people deemed “unfit” – mostly targeting Black, Latino, Native American, and poor women. The Sierra Club welcomed his leadership despite these views.

Museum Director Osborn Shared Muir’s Racial Theories

Henry Fairfield Osborn ran the American Museum of Natural History and New York Zoological Society while staying friends with Muir. Their letters show shared worries about racial “purity” and immigration.

Osborn openly linked conservation to keeping the “superior” white race pure. He argued that protecting nature and protecting white dominance were connected goals.

After Muir died in 1914, Osborn helped start the American Eugenics Society, which pushed policies stopping “inferior” people from having children.

His Books Spread Racist Ideas To Millions

Between 1901 and 1911, Muir wrote several bestsellers including “Our National Parks” and “My First Summer in the Sierra.”

These books contained many racist descriptions of Native Americans as primitive people who couldn’t properly value wilderness.

He portrayed Native peoples as problems for conservation rather than as the original land caretakers. Millions of Americans read these books, soaking up these biased views along with Muir’s calls for nature protection.

His writing helped make conservation a white-dominated movement.

Club Outings Excluded People Of Color For Decades

The Sierra Club’s trips, meetings, and social events stayed almost completely white during Muir’s life and for decades after.

The club made no effort to include Black Americans, Native Americans, or other people of color in their conservation work or wilderness trips.

High membership costs, social connections, and the club’s culture created a whites-only space. This exclusion wasn’t an accident but showed the founders’ beliefs about who belonged in their movement.

Muir’s Legacy Created Lasting Environmental Racism

The Sierra Club continued operating as an exclusive white organization for decades after Muir died.

His vision of conservation excluded Indigenous knowledge and needs while promoting wilderness as a playground for wealthy whites.

This approach created lasting patterns of environmental racism where parks and protected areas benefited white communities while displacing or restricting access for communities of color.

The conservation movement Muir helped create developed without meaningful inclusion of diverse voices. In July 2020, Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune finally acknowledged this troubling legacy.

Visiting John Muir National Historic Site

You can visit the site for free at 4202 Alhambra Avenue in Martinez, California. The visitor center opens daily from 10 AM to 5 PM, with a lunch break from noon to 1 PM. Plan about two hours for your visit.

Start at the visitor center to watch the 20-minute movie about Muir’s life. Then explore his Victorian home and walk through the fruit orchards he once managed.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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