Introduction
With the growing emphasis on environmental destruction, solutions, and inequality in the distribution of resources in mainstream media, students are more fascinated by the history of environmental justice now more than ever. The Junior year IB History of the Americas course that I teach focuses on industrialization, social structure and class, and resistance to imperialism and colonization which all lends itself to an underlying theme of environmentalism particularly in relation to environmental justice and civil and social rights movements. Through this unit, students will be able to explore the intersection between environmental policies and social policies, as well as how they have significantly impacted historically marginalized groups like Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Americans. The vast majority of students who attend San Jose High come from historically marginalized communities and have lived experience in highly segregated regions. Students or their family members have likely experienced the conditions presented in this unit and can not only relate but can also offer insight from their own funds of knowledge.
This unit will explore the connection between racial segregation and the heavily polluted urban communities throughout the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. It will investigate the impact of air pollution on the environments that different groups of people were forced into by economic and political conditions from 1930 to 2000. Students will look specifically into the role of environmental justice as motivation for social movements in these communities across the Americas. This unit will be added to a larger unit on Civil and Social Rights movements in the Americas and will create an additional point of access for the many students who have expressed interest in learning about the environment particularly in regard to topics like pollution, health, and climate change.
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