Full List of Resources

Please enjoy this list of reading resources celebrating People of Color in the environmental field. Texts with available free access online are linked here, and others that are not available online are linked to the Arlington Public Library or places you can purchase. Thank you to the Library for their thoughtful recommendations for this list!

Poems:

• On the Pulse of Morning by Maya Angelou

• An Indian Walks In Me by Marilou Awiakta

• When Earth Becomes An It by Marilou Awiakta

• How the Milky Way was Made by Natalie Diaz

• Nature and Art by Paul Laurence Dunbar

• The Seedling by Paul Laurence Dunbar

• Rainy Day by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

• Sonnet by Alice Moore Dunbar-Nelson

• Black nature: four centuries of African American nature poetry edited by Camille T. Dungy (NPR Story)

• Characteristics of Life by Camille T. Dungy

• Naming what has risen by Camille T. Dungy

• Soil by Camille T. Dungy

• Trophic Cascade by Camille T. Dungy

• A Journey by Nikki Giovanni

• Winter Poem by Nikki Giovanni

• Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves by J. Drew Lanham

• Love for a Song by J. Drew Lanham

• Nature Aria by Yi Lei

• Hummingbird Abcedarian by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

• I Could Be A Whale Shark by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

• Letter to the Northern Lights by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

• Summer Haibun by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

• I Watch by E.J. Wade

• Affrilachia by Frank X. Walker

Essays, Papers and Chapters:

• The world as we knew it: dispatches from a changing climate edited by Amy Brady and Tajja Isen

• On the Interdependence of Urban and Rural Black Folk by Duron Chavis

• Why Does Black Space Matter? by Duron Chavis

• Why a Community Land Trust? by Duron Chavis

• African Diaspora: African American environmental religious ethics and ecowomanism by Melanie Harris

• The Forest Trailblazer by Aaron Kershaw

• My Wild-Like Refuge by J. Drew Lanham

• Indigenous Traditions - North America by Melissa Nelson

• Regenerative by Melissa Nelson

• Planting the Trees of Kenya by Claire Nivola

• Indigeneity by Kyle Powys Whyte

• Indigenous Conservation and the Anthropocene by Kyle Powys Whyte

• Time as Kinship by Kyle Powys Whyte

Articles:

• The Rich Legacy of Dr. Mary Thomas by Jim Cooperman

• What Would Harriet Tubman Do? by Dr. Carolyn Finney

• Save a Tree, Save a Neighborhood: Hattie Carthan, Brooklyn's "Tree Lady" by Amanda Garza

• Living History: learning about the last century from the oldest ranger in the National Park System by Vanessa Hua

• Harriet Tubman, an Unsung Naturalist, Used Owl Calls as a Signal on the Underground Railroad by Allison Keyes

• A Black Woman Who Tried to Survive in the Dark, White Forest by Melody Mobley

• So, You're Non-White and You Really Want to Work for the US Forest Service? by Melody Mobley

• More Than the Birds, Bees, and Trees: A Closer Look at Writing Haibun by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

• A Reflection on Harriet Tubman's Relationship with Nature by Outdoor Afro

• The Life of Wilma Mankiller, First Woman to Server as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation by Saving Places

• Wilma Mankiller Led as the First Woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation by Sarah Ramirez

• There were nearly a million black farmers in 1920. Why have they disappeared? by Summer Sewell

Kids Books:

• George Washington Carver by Tonya Bolden

• Dolores Huerta stands strong: the woman who demanded justice by Marlene Targ Brill

• Side by side: the story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez by Monica Brown

• Bravo!: poems about amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle

• Dr. Wangari Maathai plants a forest by Rebel Girls

• Buzzing with questions: the inquisitive mind of Charles Henry Turner by Janice N. Harrington

• George Washington Carver by Kitson Jazynka

• Seeds of change: planting a path to peace by Jen Cullerton Johnson

• Saving American Beach: the biography of African American environmentalist MaVynee Betsch by Heidi Tyline King

• Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the trees of Kenya by Donna Jo Napoli

• Planting the trees of Kenya: the story of Wangari Maathai by Claire Nivola

• Wangari Maathai: the woman who planted millions of trees by Franck Prevo

• Lola out loud: inspired by the childhood of activist Dolores Huerta by Jennifer Torres

Books:

• Lift every voice: a celebration of Black lives

• Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class, and Environmental Quality by Robert Bullard

• The bone and sinew of the land: America's forgotten black pioneers and the struggle for equality by Anna-Lisa Cox

• 1666: A Novel by Lora Chilton

• Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World edited by Alison H. Deming and Lauret E. Savoy

• Soil by Camille T. Dungy

• Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Dr. Carolyn Finney

• As Long as the Grass Grows by Dana Gilio-Whitaker

• My Work is That of Conservation: An Environmental Biography by Mark D. Hersey

• Wandering in strange lands: a daughter of the great migration reclaims her roots by Morgan Jerkins

• Braiding sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• Braiding sweetgrass for young adults: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• Gathering moss: a natural and cultural history of mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer

• Sparrow Envy: field guide to birds and lesser beasts by J. Drew Lanham

• The home place: memoirs of a colored man's love affair with nature by J. Drew Lanham

• Two trees make a forest: in search of my family's past among Taiwan's mountains and coasts by Jessica J. Lee

• Nature swagger: visions of Black joy in the outdoors by Rue Mapp

• Unbowed: a memoir by Wangari Maathai

• Mankiller Poems: The lost poetry of Wilma Mankiller by Wilma Mankiller

• Nature's allies: eight conservationists who changed our world by Larry Nielsen

• Garbage Wars by David Naguib Pellow

• Total Liberation by David Naguib Pellow

• What is Critical Environmental Justice? by David Naguib Pellow

• Farming while Black: Soul Fire Farm's practical guide to liberation on the land by Leah Penniman

• One Earth: people of color protecting our planet by Anuradha S. Rao

• African American environmental thought: foundations by Kimberly K. Smith

• Bird brother: a falconer's journey and the healing power of wildlife by Rodney Stotts

• The intersectional environmentalist: how to dismantle systems of oppression to protect people + planet by Leah Thomas

• A terrible thing to waste: environmental racism and its assault on the American mind by Harriet A. Washington

• Earth squad: 50 people who are saving the planet by Alexandra Zissu