Staging Environmental Racism
The Free Southern Theater's Environmental Justice Script and Use of Documentary Theater
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3611281 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Erik Wallenberg (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 108 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 656-681 |
| Publication date | 2023-09-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of African American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1548-1867 • E-ISSN: 2153-5086 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/726673 |
| OpenAlex | W4389991430 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 11 |
The Free Southern Theater, a cultural project started by members of the SNCC and based in the Desire neighborhood of New Orleans, created a play called The Ghetto of Desire in 1966. Highlighting the environmental conditions of the neighborhood, including poor housing, lack of greenspace, and hazards that lurked in the waste dump and Industrial Canal that boxed residents in, this performance identifies environmental racism and environmental justice before they were named as such. Produced from community engagement, the same method that SNCC used to build up local leaders, the Free Southern Theater highlighted the landscape of injustice and gave a forum where residents could articulate their struggles and visions for change. Recorded to be aired nationally on CBS, the Housing Authority of New Orleans had the program blacked out locally. The Free Southern Theater performance is part of the “groundwork” that led to the environmental justice struggles that followed
Economic Justice · Environmental ethics · Environmental justice · Injustice · Media studies · Political science · Racism · Sociology · Vision · American Environmental and Regional History · Anthropology · Environmental Justice and Health Disparities · Law · Race, History, and American Society
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |