All-Black Everest Team Aims To Diversify Outdoors Industry

DENVER (AP) - A mountaineer from Colorado is planning to lead the first all-Black American expedition to the top of Mount Everest. The Colorado Sun reports Phil Henderson has been on several climbing expeditions in Nepal and South America, and he led an all-Black team to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

For decades, he's been a quiet force in expanding the outdoor industry's reach to overlooked communities. The first American expedition reached the top of the world in 1963, the same year Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. Henderson's nine-person team is hoping to summit Everest next year.

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