From highly recognizable, historic names like George Washington Carver to modern day environmentalists like Rue Mapp, persons of color have made significant contributions to the conservation movement.
Historical Figures and Their Contributions
Solomon Brown was the first Black employee of the Smithsonian Institution, holding a number of roles during his 54-year tenure, including preparing maps and drawings for lectures and working in the International Exchange Service. Brown was also self-educated and obtained considerable knowledge in the field of natural history while at the Smithsonian.
Born a slave, George Washington Carver became an agricultural researcher, known for promoting the planting of peanuts, which helped replenish the soil in the impoverished south. He was a leader in educating farmers about crop rotation and yield. He helped found the agricultural school at Alabama’s Tuskegee Institute. Carver’s methods of rotating a variety of crops and turning some cover crops under the soil boosted the land’s productivity.
Cpt. Charles Young was born to parents who escaped enslavement. He was the third African American to graduate from West Point. In 1903, he became the first Black national park superintendent when he and his troops were asked to manage what’s now Sequoia National Park in northern California. At a time when the military supervised all national park activities, Young was sent to Sequoia and General Grant National Parks (now Sequoia and Kings Canyon). His troops built roads that opened up the giant sequoia groves to tourism for the first time, an accomplishment previous superintendents had been unable to complete. Young was the first Black superintendent of a national park.
Hattie Carthan had been interested in trees all her life, but it was her love for her home and her neighbors that sprung her to action. At the age of 71, Hattie founded the Neighborhood Tree Corps to inspire young people to care for and plant trees. She found that simply by planting trees, the attitudes around neighborhoods shifted.
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Modern Environmental Leaders
The great-granddaughter of Florida’s first Black millionaire, A.L. Lewis, gave up a career in the opera to preserve the environment. MaVynee gave away her sizable inheritance to environmental causes.
Dr. Wangari Maathai claimed a number of “firsts” during her lifetime. She was the first African women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, the first person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in the name of environmental efforts, and the first woman from East and Central Africa to receive a doctorate. In 2002, she was elected to the Kenyan parliament with 98% of the vote and served as the Assistant Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife. In 1977, She founded the Green Belt Movement, which introduced the idea of planting trees to help conserve the environment.
After witnessing an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, Dr. John Francis chose to travel the United States for 22 years-without the use of motorized vehicles-to raise awareness for the needs of our environment. Through it all, he earned a Ph.D. John Francis believes the way we treat each other is a mechanism for how we treat the Earth. He became National Geographic Society’s first Education Fellow in 2010.
Rue Mapp grew up in Northern California on a ranch with a lake, spending most of her time enjoying the outdoors with her family. As an adult, she realized how unique her upbringing was compared to other Black Americans and became inspired to create a blog in 2009 dedicated to connecting Black Americans to the outdoors. This blog quickly turned into a non-profit that is now operating nationally as Outdoor Afro. The founder and CEO of Outdoor Afro, Mapp connects diverse communities, especially Black Americans, with the great outdoors. Today, Outdoor Afro provides leadership training and community building, dispels myths about Black people and the outdoors, and generates enthusiasm for nature. She oversees a highly trained, national volunteer leadership team who share opportunities to build a broader community and promote leadership in conservation.
Hazel Johnson was known as the “mother of the environmental justice movement.” After discovering that high cancer rates were linked to environmental causes, Johnson fought to improve living conditions. Johnson went on to found the People for Community Recovery and was committed to environmental change.
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Dr. Robert Bullard has been referred to as the “father of environmental justice” for his outstanding work in the environmental sciences field. Bullard's efforts began with Bean v., a case in which an African American community in Houston rallied against the establishment of a landfill in their neighborhood. He’s since gone on to become an honored activist, author and mentor in environmental justice. His work addresses environmental racism, urban land use, community reinvestment, housing, transportation, climate justice, disasters, and community resilience.
Young Black Environmentalists Inspiring Change
This Black History Month, we recognize four Black environmentalists, under 30 years old, who are inspiring change:
- Leah Thomas: Originally from St. Louis, now resides in Southern California, describes herself as an “intersectional environmental activist” who is exploring the relationship between social justice and environmentalism. Known as Green Girl Leah on social media, she advocates for the voices of people of color to be present in the environmental movement and beyond.
- Mikaela Loach: Born in Jamaica but raised in Great Britain, is the best selling author of It’s Not That Radical: Climate Action to Transform Our World. She is radically opposed to billionaire philanthropists trying to save the planet while still benefiting from the industries which are actively destroying it.
- Genesis Butler: Has been an animal activist since the age of six, but she pivoted to fighting for the environment when she realized the devastating impact that animal agriculture had not just on the animals themselves but also on our planet. She is currently working as an ambassador for EARTHDAY.ORG’s Foodprints for the Future, calling for us all to fight climate change with dietary change.
- Vic Barrett: Message is clear: Climate change isn’t just about temperatures and weather, it’s about people. Motivated by what he experienced firsthand, he became active in the environmental movement at his high school and he hasn’t stopped since.
These climate champions fought first for the rights of their communities. Then, their influence has made waves across the country and around the world. Their vigilance and dedication to fighting for their communities and the environment inspire us every day at EnviroVoters.
| Name | Contribution |
|---|---|
| George Washington Carver | Promoted crop rotation and soil replenishment. |
| Charles Young | First Black national park superintendent, improved park infrastructure. |
| Wangari Maathai | Founded the Green Belt Movement, promoting tree planting and conservation. |
| Robert Bullard | Leading figure in the environmental justice movement. |
| Rue Mapp | Founder of Outdoor Afro, connecting Black Americans with nature. |
Environmental Racism and the Fight for Justice
Looking at environmental justice, we must first address racial injustice. Historically African Americans have suffered disproportionate impacts from pollution, climate change, and lack of access to green space. Environmental racism acknowledges climate change and pollution can have disproportionately harmful social, economic, and public health impacts on marginalized populations. Communities of color are much more likely to be targeted as sites for factories and hazardous waste manufacturing. A landmark study from 1987 discovered that race, not income, was the biggest factor in determining where these sorts of industrial facilities were situated.
White families with under $10,000 in annual income are far less likely to find themselves living next to a plastic factory than a Black family with an income of $50,000. Living near hydraulic fracturing wells, exposure to airborne toxins like benzene as well as harmful gasses like nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, even your proximity to landfills sites - all of these factors increase for non-white families. Which is why it is critically important to acknowledge the unique obstacles faced by these communities and the young environmentalists of color who are fighting to have their voices heard.
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The very first Earth Day back in 1970 was the largest civic demonstration in history, when 20 million people across America demanded action to protect the environment. As influential as that day was, it was not critic-free. Back then, some Black activists felt that it took attention away from the racial injustice movement that was also growing across the nation, and lamented that a new movement was diverting attention away from it. Calls for racial justice and equity have not stopped since then, but now Black environmentalists are making their mark in the ‘green’ movement too, and are finding an important way of dovetailing the two causes.
Black folks’ impact and legacy on the environmental movement are monumental and yet are often under-recognized. That’s why, this Black History Month, we want to shed light on some of the lesser-known Black environmentalists who have had lasting impacts on the environmental justice movement.
We need everyone to join together to fight for the health of our planet and for the survival and health of all the creatures that call Earth home. We need ALL communities to feel welcomed and heard in this powerfully important ‘green’ movement. EARTHDAY.ORG sees you all, we hear you all. We are with you all.
