EJOHP

Mothers of Environmental Justice

The Environmental Justice Movement was formalized and nationalized in the United States in 1982, representing protests, marches, research, and organizing that were spearheaded in my instances by Black women and women of color.

Like so many movements before it, the Environmental Justice Movement, which drew heavy inspiration and strategy from the Civil Rights Movement before it, also inherited a backbone on the labor and passion of women. They were – are – the organizers, the leaders, the caregivers, the chefs, the bookkeepers, and so much more. And despite there long held position in these movements, there are so many women – elders and youth – who remain under-recognized in this critical work.

The Mothers of Environmental Justice collection focuses on the lived experiences and robust histories of some of the most prominent women-identifying activists in the Environmental Justice Movement. These women are legends in the fight against climate change and for clean water, air, and soil, representing multiple generations of movement leaders and activists.

Note: This collection only represents a small portion of the numerous women who have built the foundations upon which this movement stand. We want to express gratitude to those who shared their time with us as we attempt to bring light to all those amazing individuals leading movement work.

Mothers of the Movement Magazine

Over the course of three semesters, we’ve documented the unparalleled wisdom of the leaders and originators of the Environmental Justice Movement.

Their statements of hope, justice, resilience, and grit were inspiring that we had to immortalize their most critical takeaways and calls to action into physical pages.

The EJ Oral History Proejct presents Mothers of Environmental Justice, a magazine on the Mothers of our modern environmental and liberatory movements.

Coming Spring 2026!

ANGELLA DUNSTON

Public Relations & Community Engagement Director of the Roanoke Cooperative

Youth Protester – 1982 Warren County Protests

Transcript Coming Soon!

DOLLIE BURWELL

The Mother of the Environmental Justice Movement

Central Organizer – 1982 Warren County Protests

Transcript Coming Soon!

DONNA CHAVIS

Climate & Energy Justice Program Manager with Friends of the Earth U.S.

Central Organizer – 1991 First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit

Transcript Coming Soon!

ELIZABETH YEAMPIERRE

Executive Director of UPROSE, Brooklyn’s oldest Latino Community-Based Organization

National Climate & Environmental Justice Organizer

Transcript Coming Soon!

ESTHER CALHOUN

Community Activist & Former President of Black Belt Citizens Fighting for Health & Justice

Transcript Coming Soon!

JACQUELINE PATTERSON

Founder & Executive Director of the Chisholm Legacy Project

Former Director of Environmental & Climate Justice for the NAACP

Transcript Coming Soon!

DR. JOY & JO BANNER

 

Co-Founders of The Descendants Project

Transcript Coming Soon!

KAREN WASHINGTON

Farmer & Food Justice Advocate

Coiner of the term “Food Apartheid”, Co-Founder of Black Urban Growers (BUGS), and Co-Owner of Rise & Root Farm

Transcript Coming Soon!

MARQUETTA DICKENS

Founder & CEO of Freedom.org

Environmental & Climate Justice Activist in Princeville, NC – the first town in the U.S. chartered by formerly enslaved peoples

Transcript Coming Soon!

DR. MILDRED MCCLAIN

Founder & Executive Director of The Harambee House Citizens for Environmental Justice

Transcript Coming Soon!

NAEEMA MUHAMMAD

Senior Advisor (Former Organizing Co-Director) for the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network 

Transcript Coming Soon!

PEGGY SHEPARD

Co-Founder & Executive Director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Transcript Coming Soon!

SUSANA ALMANZA

Co-Founder of People Organized in Defense of Earth and Her Resources (PODER)

Transcript Coming Soon!

VERNICE MILLER-TRAVIS

Co-Founder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice

Contributing Author to Landmark “Toxic Waste & Race Report” of 1987

Transcript Coming Soon!

Oral History Story Map

Over the course of 2025, students at the University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill, translated their deep dive oral history interviews into a story map. This exercise is an attempt to geographically chart the stories, hardships, and lived experiences of our narrators, highlighting the spatial overlap between environmental injustices and visualizing the inherent relationship between movement work, culture, place, and land as highlighted in many of these oral histories. 

Story Map coming in Winter 2025.

Reference Materials

This collection was done in collaboration with The University of North Carolina @ Chapel Hill’s Global Environmental Justice course. In collaboration with course faculty and drawing from previous oral history instruction, we developed a syllabus designed to bring students up to speed on environmental justice as a discipline as well as community engagement and oral history. 

The following are the syllabi and interview guides used to instruct student interviewers. For additional reference materials from previous iterations of the project, please see our Media & Resources page.

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