! 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
Anti-Elegy for the Trees by Ariana Benson
Black Pastoral: Velvet Season by Ariana Benson
Dear Moses Grandy,...Love, the Great Dismal Swamp by Ariana Benson
Hello, the Roses by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
Phusis by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge
Being Property Once Myself by Lucille Clifton
The Earth is a Living Thing by Lucille Clifton
Untitled by Lucille Clifton
We Are Americans Now, We Live In The Tundra by Marilyn Chin
How the Milky Way was Made by Natalie Diaz
My First Black Nature Poem by LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs
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
M Archive: After the End of the World by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Anchorage by Joy Harjo
Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo
Fire by Joy Harjo
My House is the Red Earth by Joy Harjo
Praise the Rain by Joy Harjo
Rabbit Is Up To Tricks by Joy Harjo
Speaking Tree by Joy Harjo
Talking with the Sun by Joy Harjo
Seeds: Stories of Afro Indigenous Resilience by Dominique Hunter (book of poetry)
Magalu by Helene Johnson
Summer Matures by Helene Johnson
Trees at Night by Helene Johnson
Woods & Water by Aaron Kershaw
Joy is the Justice We Give Ourselves by J. Drew Lanham
Love for a Song by J. Drew Lanham
Nature Aria by Yi Lei
Botanical Fanaticism by Thylias Moss
Interpretation of a Poem by Frost by Thylias Moss
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
World of Wonders by Aimee Nezhukumatathil (book of poetry)
Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Forest by Vandana Shiva
Think Like a Tree by Karen Shragg
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
Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech by Wangari Maathai
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
Keepers of the Earth by Michael J. Caduto and Joseph Bruchac
Bravo!: poems about amazing Hispanics by Margarita Engle
Dr. Wangari Maathai plants a forest by Rebel Girls
What Do You Know? by Aracelis Girmay and Ariana Fields
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:
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
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay
As Long as the Grass Grows by Dana Gilio-Whitaker
You're Not Lost if You Can Still See the Truck by Bill Heavey
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
