Described as “the backbone of the environmental justice movement,” these women pioneered the work to protect communities Originally published by The 19th This Black History Month, The 19th is telling the untold stories of women, women of color and LGBTQ+ people. Subscribe to their daily newsletter. When Leah Thomas was earning her degree in environmental studies, she found that what she was learning in college and her personal experience did not match up. Thomas, who is Black, noticed that the environmentalists she was studying did not look like her, nor did they look like the Black women she knew to…
Author: Jessica Kutz
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Jessica Kutz is the gender, climate and sustainability reporter for The 19th news. Prior to joining The 19th, she was an editor and reporter at High Country News, a regional nonprofit that covers the Western United States. Her work has been republished in many outlets including The Guardian, Slate, Mother Jones and The Atlantic. She is based in Tucson, Arizona.
In Her Community Outreach Role for the EPA, Rosemary Enobakhare Is Working to Prioritize Communities in Need While “Shining a Light” on Issues Affecting Them Most. Jackson, Mississippi, made national headlines last August when flooding severely damaged its water treatment facility, stopping the flow of water to the city’s 150,000 residents, the majority of whom are Black. But prior to that breaking point, residents had suffered subpar water quality for years. Rosemary Enobakhare grew up under constant boil advisories. “I thought it was a normal thing,” she said. Now, Enobakhare plays an important role in outreach to these very communities…