J. Drew Lanham

The Ornithologist and Wildlife Ecology Professor

A portrait of J. Drew Lanham in one of his favorite environments.

Dr. J. Drew Lanham wrote an essay for a 2013 issue of Orion magazine titled, “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher.” The article quickly led to a short video of the same name, which resonated with black birders throughout the country. Drew wrote essays and poetry for other publications, including Wilderness, Flycatcher, Slate, Newsweek, Vanity Fair, Audubon, and others. In 2018, he was named Poet Laureate of Edgefield, South Carolina, and in 2019, he released a poetry collection, Sparrow Envy—Poems. Drew is the author of the award-winning The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man’s Love Affair with Nature. Drew teaches wildlife ecology and holds an Alumni Distinguished Professorship at Clemson University. In 2012, he was named an Alumni Master Teacher.

The cover of J. Drew Lanham’s memoir, The Home Place.

Joseph Drew Lanham was born in South Carolina in January 1965. He is the second of four children. He has a brother named Jock and two sisters named Jennifer and Julia. On his paternal side, he descends from an enslaved man named Harry, whose owners brought him to Edgefield, South Carolina, in 1790. Drew’s father was James Hoover Lanham, a jack of all trades who taught seventh- and eighth-grade earth science. His mother, Willie May, taught biology and math. Though he did not get to know his grandfather, Joseph Samuel Lanham (affectionately called Daddy Joe), Drew had great respect for him. After Daddy Joe died, Drew divided his time between his grandmother Mamatha’s old house—known as the Ramshackle—and his parents’ ranch, dubbed the Home Place.

Drew grew up surrounded by abundant wildlife, and he read everything he could on the subject. Drew borrowed books from the library, pored through encyclopedias, consulted an almanac, and studied brief field guide descriptions and images. He wrote in his 2016 memoir, The Home Place:

I went back outdoors, where I walked, stalked, and waited to see as many wild things as I could. I collected tadpoles to watch them grow into froglets; I caught butterflies and gazed into their thousand-lensed eyes. Birds were everywhere and as I learned to identify them by sight their songs sunk into my psyche, too. Nature was often the first and last thing on my mind, morning to night.”

Portrait of J. Drew Lanham and his beloved bird, the Prairie Warbler. Illustrated by Daniel J. Middleton.

Drew fostered his love of birds and wildlife through academia. He earned three degrees from the same University, Clemson, in South Carolina. A bachelor’s and master’s in zoology came in 1988 and 1990, respectively, while he obtained his PhD in forest resources in 1997. As a natural progression, Drew joined the Clemson faculty and spent over twenty years structuring and teaching courses, conducting research, and performing outreach. Drew is involved in woodland ecology, forest biodiversity, conservation ornithology, and other passions. He sits on several conservation boards, including Audubon South Carolina, South Carolina Wildlife Federation, the Aldo Leopold Foundation, the American Birding Association, and BirdNote. Drew has mentored over 40 graduate students in his career. And he continues to advocate for diversity in birding and outdoor recreation.

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This article appears in 12 Modern Black Birders.

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