Beverly Wright

Beverly Wright is an American environmental justice scholar and the founder of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice at Dillard University. Her research considers the environmental and health inequalities along the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor. Her awards and honors include the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice Achievement Award and a 15th Heinz Award with Special Focus on the Environment.

Early life and education Wright was born in Louisiana, close to a highly polluted area that was known as ‘Cancer Alley’. She has said that these childhood experiences were essential in shaping her research career. Wright studied sociology at Grambling State University. She moved to State University of New York at Buffalo as a graduate student. In an interview with Vice magazine Wright remarked, “All the birds had disappeared except for the crows. Screens on their windows were rusting and falling off in like three months. The air was so corrosive that the paint on their cars was being melted off,”. The DSCEJ is a community–university partnership that investigates the impacts of environmental and health inequality along the Lower Mississippi River Industrial Center, which is so polluted that it became known as Cancer Alley. Her research combined population and demographic data with Toxics Release Inventory reports to better understand the correlations between race and pollution. She has shown that almost 80% of African-Americans live in polluted neighbourhoods. Working with Robert D. Bullard, Wright popularised the Latinx term “the wrong complexion for protection”.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Wright focussed on outreach and training programmes for the African-American community in New Orleans. She has worked to support displaced residents in returning to their homes, working with policy makers to address issues surrounding environmental restoration. Hurricane Katrina's flooding resulted in lead saturation in New Orleans soil. Wright showed that lead exposure was particularly bad in areas where there were significant numbers of Black families.

Wright has worked with Mitch Landrieu on his Sustainable Energy and Environmental Taskforce.

Under the 2020 Biden Administration, Wright was appointed in 2021 to the new White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council (WHEJAC). In the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27), she contributed to creating the first Climate Justice Pavilion to highlight underrepresented voices that face climate change issues at a disproportionate rate. In 2022, Wright testified before Congressional subcommittees on how additional gas and oil fields along the Gulf Coast are harmful to Black and Indigenous Peoples.

Academic service As Wright became more involved with environmental issues she started to realise how underrepresented Black people were at international climate events. With the newly reformed NBEJN Wright has been serving as an advisor for Joe Biden's climate emergency plan alongside Tamara Toles of 350.org. 2008 United States Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Justice Achievement Award 2009 Heinz Award 2010 TheGrio 100 History Makers

Selected publications

Books

Book contributions

Wright, Beverly. “Black New Orleans Before and After Hurricane Katrina,” in Wright, Beverly. “Washed Away by Hurricane Katrina: Rebuilding a ‘New’ New Orleans,” in Wright, Beverly. “Living and Dying in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley,” Chapter 4 in Wright, Beverly. “Just Sustainabilities: Development in an Unequal World,” Pp. 125–145 in Agyeman, J., Bullard, R.D., and Evans, B., Race, Politics, and Pollution: Environmental Justice in the Mississippi River Chemical Corridor, Earthscan Publication, MIT Press, 2003. Bullard, Robert D. and Beverly Wright. “Environmental Justice for All,” Pp. 448–462, xiii, 609, in Understanding Prejudice and Discrimination. Plous, Scott (Ed.), New York, NY, US: McGraw-Hill, 2003.

Peer-reviewed articles

Monographs

Beverly Wright. Congressional Hearing Testimony, Subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health hearing entitled, “Oversight of the EPA’s Environmental Justice Programs." July 25, 2007. Beverly Wright. “Liability and Environmental Laws” Publication: Congressional Testimony Publish date: November 8, 2005. Bullard, Robert D. and Beverly Wright. “The Color of Toxic Debris,” Pp.A9-A11 in The American Prospect – Demos, After Katrina: Redemption & Rebuilding, A report prepared for the Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation at Rutgers University and The McKnight Foundation (March 2009) Bullard, R., P. Mohai, R. Saha, and Wright, B, “Toxic Wastes and Race at Twenty,” United Church of Christ, Cleveland, OH (March 2007). Pastor, M., Bullard, R., Boyce, J., Fothergill, A., Morello-Frosch, R., Wright, B. Pp 20 & 26 “In the Wake of the Storm: Environment, Disaster, and Race after Katrina,” Russell Sage Foundation, NY (May 2006). Wright, B., Sarpong, D., Babefemi, A., “The Socioeconomic Impact of Air Toxics on Disproportionately Exposed Communities,” Deep South Center for Environmental Justice, New Orleans, LA (2001).