A Different Shade of Green: Documenting Environmental Racism and Justice

Abstract

For the past twenty years archivists have been attempting to diversify their collections to include historically excluded groups such as minorities. The environmental justice movement, an attempt by people of color to combat toxic pollution in their neighborhoods, presents a unique opportunity for archivists to achieve this goal by documenting the efforts of these community-based coalitions. This opportunity also offers archivists a chance to reexamine the use and usefulness of "documentation strategies" for filling gaps in collections. This essay argues that instead of"documentation strategies," the profession needs to engage in "documentation advocacy" to secure diverse collections.