In collaboration with the Rural Beacon Initiative, this collection represents the collective knowledge and experiences of environmental justice advocates and allies across the region.
The Gulf South has historically sat as a sacrifice zone for legacy pollution from the oil and gas industry. Houston, Texas, now further threatened by climate-caused severe weather, has contended with the cumulative impacts of toxic waste dumps, petrochemical facilities, and displacement from highway construction. In New Orleans, Louisiana the unprecedented destructive Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the subsequent lack of government response, “Cancer Alley” a stretch of petrochemical facilities that results in air pollution that disproportionately impacts low-income and Black communities, and substantial coastal land loss. This mini-collection spotlights the experiences, cultures, and protests of several Gulf South residents and activists.
Union Hill is a community in Buckingham County, Virginia that was settled by formerly enslaved peoples. In 2013, this historically Black community started what would be a 7 year protest against the placement of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) in the middle of their neighborhood. Their consistent protest and advocacy for historical preservation status for the community led to the ACP’s cancellation, a major win for the Environmental Justice Movement. Today, Union Hill continues to fight against industry-caused environmental harm, a collective that refuses to yield to continued government and corporate disenfranchisement.
The U.S. South is a land of fraught histories – longstanding instances of racialized violence as well as some of the deepest foundations of the Civil Rights and Environmental Justice Movements. Today, the South is projected to be hit first and worst by climate impacts: severe weather events, extreme heat, flooding, and more. At the same time, this region – as a result of systemic racism and a history of natural resource exploitation – has seen some of the least community and infrastructure investment in the country. In a world coming out of COVID-19, which has also had devastating impacts across rural communities in the American South, stories and memories of community elders and other first-hand observers of environmental injustice are more critical than ever.
Oral history is characterized as the study and preservation of historical events through the voice and knowledge of recorded individuals. This practice, which has existed as a central means of history-saving for many cultures and communities for generations, has – to an extent – become a complicated and historically extractive academic exercise.
This project is a practice in accessible oral history, utilizing academic and journalistic protocols as well as community storytelling to build something meaningful.
Oral histories are a form of intergenerational wealth. Stories of environmental justice and land history urgently need to be documented, archived, and passed down both for the communities themselves – on their own terms – as well as for advocates of the environment, humanities, medicine, and public policy who seek to promote more equitable policies.
The goal is to build a repository of oral histories that provide evidence of the pervasiveness of environmental injustice and positive land connections in this country, especially in rural Southern and POC communities.
Oral histories are a conversation. The videos shown are unedited and designed to preserve the integrity of the narrator and their story as it was shared with us. If you’d like to learn more about our interview and transcript protocols, check out the “Research” section of our Media & Resources page.
Executive Director for the Southeast Climate & Energy Network
Transcript Coming Soon!
Senior Attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center – NC
Senior Attorney and Leader of the Environmental Justice Initiative at the Southern Environmental Law Center
Transcript Coming Soon!
Co-Founder of Seven Directions of Service & Afro-Indigenous Climate Justice Advocate
Founder & Executive Director of Clean Energy Works
Associate Attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center
Environment and Climate Justice Committee Chair for the Virginia State Conference NAACP
Clinical Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Former Senior Energy Analyst at Appalachian Voices and Researcher at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Transcript Coming Soon!
Director & Lecturing Fellow at Duke’s Environmental Law and Policy Clinic
Associate Professor & Co-Chair of Community Engagement and Environmental Justice at Duke University
Member of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Advisory Board, Department of Environmental Quality
Community Leader – The First Super Neighborhood Council President of the Fifth Ward in Houston, TX
Senior Organizing Representative with Sierra Club’s Environmental Justice and Community Partnership Program
Language Vitality Program Coordinator at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
Executive Director of International Farmers and Ranchers
Founder & Director of the Coalition of Community Organizations
Transcript Coming Soon!
Transcript Coming Soon!
Transcript Coming Soon!