Courage and Action: History's Greatest Black Environmentalists
OSGF
When we think of notable leaders in environmental protection, names like John Muir and Rachel Carson often spring to mind. While these luminaries certainly deserve to be celebrated, there are many lesser-known conservationists and activists who have made monumental contributions to our environment, often working in spite of extreme racism and other obstacles.
In honor of Black History Month, OSGF is highlighting six of history’s most impactful environmentalists - a small selection of the black leaders working in fields related to environmental research and activism - who have changed the way we protect and understand our world, and continue to inspire others to fight for it.
Colonel Charles Young (1864-1922)
Sequoia National Park in California is home to some of the country’s most magnificent trees. And it is because of the efforts of Colonel Charles Young - who became the first black man to serve as superintendent of a national park when he took the helm there in 1903 - that the popular park has been enjoyed and preserved for so many years.
At the turn of the 20th century, guarding and maintaining the United States’ relatively new national parks fell to the U.S. Army. However, due to a lack of funding, working on the parks was often pushed to the back burner, leaving them difficult to traverse and unprotected from poachers and loggers. Young, a West Point Military Academy graduate who was born to enslaved parents in Kentucky, changed that at Sequoia.
Although the colonel and his company of black soldiers were only assigned to the park for a summer, they constructed more trails and roads in several months than other companies had over the course of years, creating a space that would conserve Sequoia’s giant conifers and go on to introduce them to millions of people.
George Washington Carver (1864-1943)
Photo source: USDA National Agricultural Library
One of history’s greatest agricultural researchers, George Washington Carver helped countless farmers conserve their resources and improve the health of their soil and plants through his innovations in crop rotation - practices that were enormously beneficial to both the environment and the struggling agricultural economy in the rural South.
A watercolor depicting a peanut plant, part of the volume “Fruits of Malay Peninsula” from the Oak Spring Garden Library collection.
Born into slavery in Missouri, Carver developed an interest in plants and their habitats early in life by working in his foster mother’s garden. He would later receive a degree in Agriculture and a Masters in Science from Iowa State University (after being rejected from other institutions because of his race,) eventually going on to head the Agriculture Department at Tuskegee University in Alabama. There, his experiments with regenerative agriculture and alternative crops (such as peanuts) earned him worldwide fame. Read more about his work in this blogpost from 2019.
Wangari Maathai (1940-2011)
Photo credit: Oregon State University
Without the work of Kenyan environmental activist and biologist Dr. Wangari Maathai, the natural landscape of the east African country would likely look far different today. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 - a simple concept (encouraging women to plant trees) that had a ripple effect on both local ecology and women’s autonomy. Maathai, a professor Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Nairobi (and the first woman to serve as a professor at that university,) fearlessly led the campaign for decades, despite numerous arrests and threats.
The efforts of environmentalists like Wangari Maathai help to inspire and encourage other tree-planting projects around the world, large and small. Click on the photo to read about out own restoration efforts at OSGF!
Since the Green Belt Movement began, women have planted tens of million trees in Kenya and in other African countries, making significant strides against deforestation and habitat loss, as well as creating sustainable environments for families that support themselves through small agriculture. Maathai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in 2004, becoming the first African woman to receive the prestigious honor.
John Francis (1946-present)
Photo Credit: George Williams, via Flickr
It is easy to feel discouraged and helpless when faced with environmental destruction, which is why the work of activists like Dr. John Francis (known as the Planetwalker) is essential for raising awareness about our place in the natural world, and how our actions affect it.
In 1971, after witnessing a horrific oil spill in the San Francisco Bay, Francis decided to give up riding in motorized vehicles, and then took a vow of silence in order to avoid arguing with others about his decision. For over 20 years (17 of which were spent in silence,) he walked everywhere he went, including treks throughout the U.S. and Latin America, in order to inspire other people to think about the impacts of the petroleum industry. Francis, who has published two books and currently serves as an visiting associate professor of Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, continues to raise consciousness and promote environmental education through his non-profit organization, Planetwalk.
Robert Bullard (1946-present)
Photo credit: Brittani Flowers via Wikimedia Commons
Race and class dictates how severely a community - and all the plant, animal, and human life within it - is affected by pollution and climate change. You’ve likely heard of the environmental justice movement (based on the concept that all people, regardless of race, legal or economic status , have a right to equal protection and enforcement of environmental laws,) but you may not know the name of the man whose research helped to drive it forward.
Dr. Robert Bullard, who is currently a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University, is known as the “father of environmental justice.” He has written eighteen books that address issues of environmental racism, urban land use, environmental disasters, emergency response, and other issues, helping to draw attention to rank injustices and spur efforts to change them. Bullard, who has received numerous environmental awards for his work, continues to make strides towards reducing those disparities through his research and speaking engagements.
Lisa Jackson (1966-present)
In 2008, Lisa Perez Jackson became the first African American to head the Environmental Protection Agency when she was nominated by President Barack Obama. During her six years in the position, Jackson, who grew up in Louisiana and trained as a chemical engineer at Princeton, pushed through some of the toughest regulations regarding air and water pollution the country had seen in decades, including changing emission standards for cars and working to cut C02 emissions from power plants. Her work is remembered today not only for the numerous protective initiatives she passed, but for her outspokenness on issues such as climate change and environmental justice for vulnerable communities.
Jackson currently serves as Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives, where she works to minimize the environmental impacts of one of the world’s biggest companies.
Want to learn more about black individuals who have made significant contributions to fields related to plants, the environment, and the arts? Read about the ground-breaking botanical research of chemist Percy Julian in this 2018 blogpost. Learn about sculptor William Edmondson here (of whom our founder, Bunny Mellon, was a particular fan,) and click here to learn about ceramic artist Dave the Potter and here to learn about poet Phyllis Wheatley.