Black figures in environmentalism
Environmentalism has a difficult history riddled with injustices, but these members of the Black community have not let that stop them from making their voices heard.
1. Dr. Robert Bullard
Dr. Bullard is known as the father of environmental justice. He has 15+ publications on environmental justice issues, has won multiple awards, and the Sierra Club even named an award after him. He is the director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice, a Texas Southern University center that addresses issues such as systemic racism and structural inequality.
2. Camille T. Dungy
Camille Dungy is an “eco-poet” responsible for Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry. According to its description, “Black Nature is the first anthology to focus on nature writing by African American poets.” In addition to the anthology, Dungy has also published another anthology, four poetry collections and two novels, including Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden. This book metaphorically highlights diversity after growing up in Fort Collins, Colorado, where the city had regulations on what could and could not be planted in one’s garden.
3. George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver was born into slavery but made black history. He earned his Bachelor of Science at what was then the Iowa State Agricultural School, the first-ever African American to do so. From a young age, he helped farmers keep their crops healthy. His work led to many different forms of synthetic materials, along with making crop rotation a mainstream practice.
4. Wangari Maathai
Professor Maathai is the founder of the Green Belt Movement (GBM), a movement based out of Kenya that encourages a holistic approach to sustainability. She is the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. GBM has planted over 51 million trees thanks to her involvement.