Our People
This work explores personal, communal, and activist responses to the disproportionate impacts of environmental racism.
Health
Readings
- Jacobs, Fayola. 2021 “Beyond Social Vulnerability: COVID-19 as a Disaster of Racial Capitalism.” Sociologica, Special Feature “Against ‘Disaster’: Critical Reflections on the Concept,” 15(1). (academic article)
- Parker, Molly. 2019. “Inside Public Housing Where Cockroaches Drop From the Wall and Kids are Getting Sick.” (news article)– https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-public-housing-where-cockroaches-drop-from-the-wall-and-kids-are-getting-sick
- Union of Concerned Scientists & Clean Air Now. (2021). “Environmental Racism in the Heartland: Fighting for Equity and Health in Kansas City” https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/ucs-mr-KC-10.21-Engl-web.pdf
- Taylor, Nateya (2025). “Tainted Waters, Tainted Futures: The Urgent Need for Action on Lead Poisoning in Milwaukee” https://changewire.org/tainted-waters-tainted-futures-the-urgent-need-for-action-on-lead-poisoning-in-milwaukee
Multimedia
- Wisconsin in Black & White (4 part PSB series) https://www.pbs.org/show/wisconsin-in-black-white
- David Pellow lecture for Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability’s Dean Lecture Series (2023) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgHO6n-GoVU
Organizations
- BEAM- Black Emotional & Mental Health Resources
beam.community
BEAM builds eco-systems of care for Black and exploited communities. We train, fund and resource alternative wellness and care systems through a network of therapists, healers, wellness practitioners and community leaders across the world. - Reviving Roots
reviving-roots.com
At Reviving Roots, we’re committed to creating a Black-centered, affirming community that supports mental wellness for individuals, couples, families, and organizations. Together, we’re fostering resilience, sharing knowledge, celebrating joy, and building a legacy of health and empowerment tailored to our community’s needs. - Northside Healing Space
libertychurchmpls.org/northside-healing-space
The Northside Healing Space (NHS) opened in 2007 as a community-driven solution to healing the trauma that exists in North Minneapolis. Our work is rooted in deep community wisdom, ancient healing practices, foundational beliefs of the African American church, and participatory research, along with a deep commitment to planetary health. We are grounded in the knowledge that the voices, experience, wisdom, and leadership of those most impacted by the trauma of racism and poverty will show us the path to healing. For themselves, for their families, and for our community.
Migration & Mobility
Readings
- IRRPP Black Exodus report
- Bruno, T. (2024). “More than just dying: Black life and futurity in the face of state-sanctioned environmental racism.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 42(1), 73-90.
Multimedia
- The Search for Anna & Levi: A Lost History of Black Homesteaders in Leelaneau County (2025) film youtube.com/watch?v=UoZxJavQVbI,
leelanauhistory.org/the-search-for-anna-levi-a-lost-history-of-black-homesteaders-in-leelanau-county
Fellow Projects
- Jane Henderson, “Postcards from the Black Midwest.”
- Sarah Nahar, “Anticolonial Arrivants”
- Onteya Zachary, “Fermenting Our Place”
Activism
Readings
- Lisen Holmstron, Q Magazine, “The Mother of Environmental Justice”
- Azadeh Shahshahani, Boston Review, “Cop Cities in a Militarized World”
- David McDermott Hughes, Boston Review, “A Climate Strategy of Last Resort”
- Stephens, Ronald J. 2004. “Garveyism in Idlewild, 1927 – 1936.” Journal of Black Studies, 34(4): 462-488. (academic article)
- Pellow, David N. 2016. “Toward a Critical Environmental Justice Studies: Black Lives Matter as an Environmental Justice Challenge.” Du Bois Review, 13(2): 221-236 (academic article)
- White, Monica M. 2018. Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement. (book)
- Bullard, Robert (1993). “Anatomy of Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement.” In Confronting Environmental Racism, ed. by R. Bullard. South End Press. Pp. 15-40.
- Kern, Leslie and Caroline Kovesi (2018). “Environmental justice means the right to stay put: Mobilizing against environmental racism, gentrification, and xenophobia in Chicago’s Little Village.” Local Environment 23(9): 952-966.
- Cole, L.W. and Foster. S. R. (2001). From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of the Environmental Justice Movement. New York University Press. (book)
- Pellow, David N. What Is Critical Environmental Justice? Polity Press, 2018. (book)
- What the eyes don’t see: A story of crisis, resistance, and hope in an American city. One World., McKittrick, K., & Woods, C. (Eds.). (2007).
- Pellow, D. N. (2021). Struggles for environmental justice in US prisons and jails. Antipode, 53(1), 56-73
Multimedia
- Help This Garden Grown (podcast)
respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-grow - Rebel Bells (short doc)
queensworldfilmfestival.org/films/rebel-bells