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Collecting Oral Histories of Environmental Racism and Injustice (2022-2023)

Scholars have long documented an array of environmental injustices in the American South, including the siting of toxic industrial sites next to poor and Black communities. Yet, despite the growing coverage of environmental justice issues in mainstream media, many stories remain untold. These stories are forms of collective knowledge, an intergenerational wealth that needs to be documented, archived and passed down.

This project team sought to document the history of racial inequities in the American South through an environmental justice lens. Team members created a repository of oral histories that demonstrate the pervasiveness of environmental injustice and racism in the region and help develop a fuller, more racially inclusive context for public discussions of environmental issues and policies. 

The team collected over 45 oral histories from community elders and advocates across the South, including small collections in Piney Woods Free Union in Jamesville, the Union Hill neighborhood in Virginia (which successfully fought against the Atlantic Coast Pipeline) and the Gulf South region. They also created podcast episodes, long-form articles focused on community-identified topics and two mini documentaries.

Timing

Summer 2022 – Spring 2023

Team Outputs

Preserving Voices From the EJ Movement (2023 Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Virtual Showcase)

Collecting Oral Histories of Environmental Racism and Injustice (Nhu Bui, Victoria Ely and Meghna Parameswaran, lightning talk at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, Duke University, April 19, 2023)

Collecting Oral Histories of Environmental Racism and Injustice (Interactive Display presented at Fortin Foundation Bass Connections Showcase, Duke University, April 19, 2023)

Team website including oral histories, podcast episodes, articles and mini documentaries

This Team in the News

Amplifying Stories of Environmental Racism, Resistance in North Carolina

Former MLK colleague commemorates environmental justice movement with NC roots

Bass Connections Teams Share Research Highlights at 2023 Showcase

Graduate and Professional Student Spotlight: Reflections from the Class of 2023

Duke Junior Ariella Chukwuma Awarded Udall Scholarship

See related Story+ project, Collecting Oral Histories of Environmental Racism and Injustice in the American South (2022), and earlier related team, ACRE-Duke Partnership to Improve Sanitation Access in Lowndes County, Alabama (2018-2019).

 

Image: Crossroads Complex (Agriculture is a major part of the Robeson County, North Carolina economy), by Gerry Dincher, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Team Leaders

  • Elizabeth Albright, Nicholas School of the Environment: Environmental Sciences and Policy
  • Wesley Hogan, Arts & Sciences: History, Franklin Humanities Institute
  • Cameron Oglesby, Sanford School of Public Policy–MPP Student
  • Miguel Rojas Sotelo, Center for International and Global Studies: Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
  • Erika Weinthal, Nicholas School of the Environment: Environmental Sciences and Policy

Graduate Team Members

  • Amanda Ostuni, Masters of Public Policy
  • Ryan Parks, Ecotoxicolgy & Envirnmntl Hlth; Earth and Climate Sciences-PHD
  • Dani Sullivan, Masters of Public Policy
  • Maya Wilson, Global Health - MS

Undergraduate Team Members

  • Christina Boxberger, Environmental Sciences (BS)
  • Nhu Bui, Environmental Sci/Policy (AB); English (AB2)
  • Sophia Chimbanda, Program II (AB)
  • Ariel Chukwuma, Environmental Sciences (BS)
  • Megan Corey, History (AB)
  • Victoria Ely, Int Comparative Studies (AB)
  • Tashia Ethridge, African & African Am St (AB)
  • Hattie Halloway, Psychology (AB); Public Policy (AB2)
  • UNC Chapel Hill Student Hester
  • Rachel Kamis, Cultural Anthropology (AB)
  • Meghna Parameswaran, Int Comparative Studies (AB); Environmental Sci/Policy (AB2)
  • Isabel Rewick, Public Policy (AB)
  • Madeline Waterfield, Political Science (AB); German (AB2)
  • Qingyuan Zhang, Interdisciplinary Studies (BA)

Community Team Members

  • William Barber III, Rural Beacon Initiative
  • Catherine Coleman Flowers, Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (ACRE)

Team Contributors

  • Margaret (Lou) Brown, Franklin Humanities Institute