On view May 19, 2023 - January 7, 2024
Women have led the environmental justice movement. Women are often the ones who notice patterns of disease in their communities, fight to protect their families and neighbors, and bear the burden of health disparities. In this exhibition from the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, explore how local women of color draw on a long history of activism and advance environmental justice efforts not only in D.C., but across the country and beyond. Visitors will be inspired as they learn why women have become leaders in the environmental justice movement, which pathways they have taken to arrive there, and how their efforts benefit our local communities and the earth.
Above digital artwork by Amir Khadar has been commissioned as a mural by the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum for the exhibit “To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C.”
To Live and Breathe: Women and Environmental Justice in Washington, D.C.
Photos: Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum, Matailong Du
Building a Movement Sidedoor Podcast
America has a long history of clustering heavy industry and toxic facilities in communities where people of color live. But in the 1980s, a series of events sparked a movement to fight back against these environmental injustices. We trace the history of the environmental justice movement from the farmlands of North Carolina to a watershed moment in the nation's capital.
Guests:
Vernice Miller Travis, environmental justice pioneer; Executive Vice President, Metro Group
Rachel Seidman, curator at the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum
Charles Lee, a founder of the environmental justice movement, senior policy advisor, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights
Podcast available at si.edu/sidedoor or you can listen wherever you get your podcasts!