Detroit’s Jim Dandy Ski Club: Examining the Past, Present and Future of Black Skiing

Did you know that Detroit is home to the oldest Black ski club in the world? The Jim Dandy Ski Club (JDSC) was founded in 1958 by Frank Blount, William Morgan and Reginald Wilson to increase minority participation in skiing and snowboarding.

Only one percent of U.S. ski resort guests identified as Black, according to a 2024 report by the National Ski Areas Association (NSAA), and the latest U.S. National Park Service data showed that barely six percent of visitors were Black. These disparities illustrate why groups like JDSC are an important part of combating racist stereotypes, suggesting that African-Americans aren’t welcome or interested in winter recreation spaces.

Board president Giselle Jackson has been with Jim Dandy for more than 25 years. On MLK weekend in 1996, she accepted an invitation from a family friend to visit Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for skiing. When she joined, there were about 500 active members.

“There were two buses full of people from Detroit, and they called themselves the Jim Dandy Ski Club. It was all love and positivity. Everyone helped everyone out. It felt good to be there. I never left,” she shared.

Since joining, Jackson has also introduced her children and grandchildren to the sport, and they really enjoy it. She feels sharing this pastime with her family is an essential part of preserving Jim Dandy’s legacy, considering the discrimination they faced since the group’s inception, which largely excluded Black people from outdoor leisure spaces.

“They love it, and I hope [they stay] in the club well after I’m gone. I try to teach them why [Jim Dandy] is important to keep it going and why we had to start our own club, because we were not welcome in white clubs or hotels,” Jackson shared. However, even during the times of Jim Crow, Black outdoor enthusiasts persevered and carved out spaces for themselves to participate in winter sports, with Oregon’s Fort Hood being a hotspot.

The earliest documented instance of Black American skiing could be found in the digital archives of EBONY magazine, a premier Black lifestyle publication founded in 1945. An article titled “Skiing: Popular Winter Sport Becoming Favorite With Negro Fans” was featured in the February 1949 issue and talked about how the leisure activity is an emerging interest for black college students.

It featured photos of participants smiling on the slopes and spending time together in resort lounges. The text says that in 1946, over two dozen Black skiers met in Denver to share tips, equipment and personal training. They called themselves “The Ski Lancers” and explored notable winter destinations like Loveland Pass and Winter Park Resort.

In the same article, the EBONY magazine editorial staff shared the findings of a survey they conducted to provide context for the racial power dynamics existing in winter sports spaces. Out of 160 ski lodges and resorts contacted in search of accommodations for a group of Black skiers, only 32 agreed to service the anticipated guests. From Wyoming to Wisconsin, denial letters read “I’m sorry, but we cannot accept negro guests.”

The magazine’s “Resorts That Welcome Negroes” section featured Michigan resorts in Iron Mountain and Ishpeming, where its ski institutions date back to 1887. 13 years later, the same EBONY magazine published an article titled “Detroit Ski Addicts,” which exposed the Jim Dandy Ski Club to a larger audience across the country. The participants compared the experience to flying and described the spiritual feeling they get when gliding through the snow.

“You feel a sense of achievement as well as a great joy in being alive. You have to ski to understand this,” said Maxine Bounter, who was the recording secretary of the club at the time.

The feature article continues to discuss the importance of safety on the slopes and emphasizes how community building is a vital part of the group’s foundation. The groundwork JDSC has done to build an inclusive environment for skiers of color has helped transform ideas about race and belonging in spaces such as ski resorts and national parks.

Providing access to knowledge, materials and a safe communal space was conducive to garnering African-American interest in winter sports. There is no doubt that the organization is a pioneer in establishing outdoor leisure as a place of comfort and solace for Black people.

The club is part of a larger network consisting of Black ski clubs across the country called the National Brotherhood of Snowsports (NBS). The two founders, Ben Finely and Arthur Clay, met at a resort after years of participation in their respective clubs in Los Angeles (Four Seasons West) and Chicago (Sno-Gophers). The creation of a larger coalition was the brainchild of the two, along with members of Jim Dandy, which eventually led to the first Black Summit in Aspen in 1973. The event welcomed more than 300 attendees.

“The NBS [summit] is a yearly event where all of the Black ski clubs around the world meet to fellowship, compete in racing and donate to our youth Black Olympic hopefuls,” President Jackson explains.

The 13 founding clubs were from states such as Washington and California to Ohio and Massachusetts. Although the origin date is noted as Thanksgiving of 1973, the NBS wasn’t officially recognized as a non-profit organization until 1975.

Outside Online’s “Oral History of the National Brotherhood of Skiers” discusses how the organization would go on to develop scholarships for promising winter sport athletes and secure corporate sponsorships from companies such as General Motors and Subaru. These efforts would eventually produce Andre Horton, who became the first Black member of the U.S. Olympic Alpine Team. By 1993, the NBS national conference exceeded 6,000 attendees.

Despite these significant advancements, Black participation in skiing can be used to analyze the social and institutional factors that reinforce winter sports as synonymous with ideas of whiteness and white supremacy. A research study titled “Black Skiing, Everyday Racism, and the Racial Spatiality of Whiteness,” published by the Sage Journal, explores the culture of exclusion and discrimination at America’s ski destinations.

In his findings, sociologist Dr. Anthony Kwame Harrison states: “There are powerful symbolic forces which work to define and maintain skiing and its associated social spaces as essentially White.” Harrison uses the concept of racial spatiality to examine the “gatekeeping” nature of winter resorts.

“Gatekeeping: is the belief that members of a worthy group are entitled to exist in certain social spaces, like the outdoors. It also suggests that the presence of other racial groups causes “problems” or “disruptions” and unfavorable conditions. These ideals are often reinforced by a deliberate effort to make members of marginalized groups feel rejected and unwelcome.

Instances of overt racism are, unfortunately, something Black skiers still encounter on the slopes. JDSC President Jackson talked about a recent incident during a youth outing, “We still have a lot of work to do in this world as far as equality goes. Just last week, we had a group of children on the mountain skiing, and from up above on the chairlift, two white children yelled out, ‘Go home n-ggers!’” She continues by explaining that experiences like these are an opportunity to reiterate to their youth members that they belong. It is such instances that can cause feelings of loneliness and isolation, which seem to be part of every Black ski club’s origin story.

“[We] ensured our children that they had every right to be there as much as the white kids and [encouraged them] not to react. Our children’s group consists of Black, Asian, and White races, and we teach them all the same,” Jackson says.

The latest NSAA data reported 88 percent of ski resort visitors identify as white, suggesting there is still an overwhelming white presence on the slopes and in the professional winter sports world. This is why Dr. Harrison’s reference to whiteness as “the systemic management of a collective advantage” can be used to help understand the barriers that prevent African Americans from skiing.

Dr. Harrison’s study showed that the lack of access to formal training and knowledge–along with the high costs associated with travel, equipment and lodging–acts as a deterrent, blocking minority hopefuls from aspirations to ski long before they begin.

This was even mentioned in the 1962 EBONY Magazine article on the JDSC by acting secretary Maxine Blount. “The thing that held us back was not knowing how to begin. We didn’t know where to go to learn or whether we’d be accepted once we got there,” she said.

Winter sport industry giants understand the negative impact of these racial disparities and have created programs and grants to increase minority participation. The U.S. Ski &Snowboarding Team entered into a four-year partnership with the NBS in hopes of increasing minority representation in the Olympics. Vail Resorts, a major leader in snowsports retail, signed a $9 million partnership grant with the NBS and the Boys & Girls Club to increase access to skiing for minority and inner-city youth. This “Youth Access Grant” provides funding for Jim Dandy’s youth outreach initiative.

Jackson discusses Jim Dandy’s youth program “Epic for Everyone,” and the importance of helping children build a sense of belonging and confidence as they learn the sport. “It is very important to teach our kids at a young age that they can do anything that they want with no boundaries or limitations, such as the color of their skin or their size. Our ‘Epic for Everyone’ program [takes] inner city children that would not normally have the opportunity to afford the luxury of skiing or snowboarding to introduce them to something different,” said Jackson.

In addition to youth outreach, the club is currently sponsoring two Olympic hopefuls: Brian Rice (@flyinbrian_2), a snowboarder from Metro Detroit and Keegan Supple (@kongpad6), a skier from Lincoln, NE. Jackson shares, “They have both been members of [Jim Dandy] for several years.”

Although the club faced a major blow to membership during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jackson shared that numbers are starting to rise again, with more than 300 active members globally. Their annual “BlackOut” at Mt. Brighton, which aims to spark new minority interests in snowsports and attract new youth and young adult members, just celebrated its 17th anniversary. Also, the NBS has grown to more than 50 Black ski clubs across the US.

Jim Dandy Ski Club planted a seed that has seemed to sprout branches globally. Similar interest groups are popping up, trying to increase Black access to the outdoors and adventure sports. Nuban Ski has existed in the United Kingdom for the past 25 years, and Soft Life Ski was founded in 2022 to bring Afro-Caribbean culture to European ski resorts.

Perhaps the tides are slowly but surely changing. Charles “Chuck” Love’s presence at Mt. Holly’s Ski Resort as an instructor can attest to that. He is a member of the Professional Ski Instructors Association with over 40 years of personal experience. He developed an interest in skiing during his childhood and was encouraged by his parents to pursue the sport.

“I’ve been teaching for about four years as an instructor, and I love it. It’s amazing to show someone a new skill and see the look on their face when they’ve accomplished it. Especially when someone goes from the bunny hill to the chair lift of the largest slope by the end of the day, that’s the biggest kick I get out of it,” Love says.

As a Black man living in Holly, MI, where barely one percent of the population is Black, Love understands the importance of Black representation at ski lodges and resorts. Mt. Holly apparently does as well, partnering with YMCA Detroit to bring inner-city youth to the slopes. He often experiences shocked reactions from Black guests while working as an instructor.

“I’m definitely seeing more people of color on the slopes. When I came to the patio area, a random Black woman walked up to me and gave me the biggest hug. She wanted to take a picture with me because she couldn’t believe it was real. It’s all about showing Black excellence,” Love shares jokingly.

The formation of the Jim Dandy Ski Club is an important moment in Black environmental history, and the organization continues to be a major catalyst in increasing African Americans’ access to outdoor sports and leisure. The adventure group is a “melting pot” of varying backgrounds and experiences that strengthens the communal bond between its members. It is a family.

Jackson had a heartfelt message to any potential future members: “The Jim Dandy Ski Club is full of people with all different personalities, backgrounds, professions, and from all walks of life. We accept anyone in our club; you don’t have to be Black. We have non-Black members that fit right in. You just have to respect everyone to the utmost. You will always find someone in this club willing to help you out with anything.”