| Baptized in PCBs: Race, Pollution, and Justice in an All-American Town Contributor(s): Spears, Ellen Griffith (Author) |
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ISBN: 1469627299 ISBN-13: 9781469627298 Publisher: University of North Carolina Press OUR PRICE: $38.00 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: February 2016 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | United States - State & Local - South (al,ar,fl,ga,ky,la,ms,nc,sc,tn,va,wv) - Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection - General - History | African American |
| Dewey: 363.738 |
| LCCN: 013041122 |
| Series: New Directions in Southern Studies |
| Physical Information: 1.3" H x 6.1" W x 9.2" (1.50 lbs) 464 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1990's - Ethnic Orientation - African American - Topical - Ecology - Locality - Anniston, Alabama - Geographic Orientation - Alabama - Ethnic Orientation - Multicultural - Cultural Region - Southeast U.S. - Cultural Region - South |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In the mid-1990s, residents of Anniston, Alabama, began a legal fight against the agrochemical company Monsanto over the dumping of PCBs in the city's historically African American and white working-class west side. Simultaneously, Anniston environmentalists sought to safely eliminate chemical weaponry that had been secretly stockpiled near the city during the Cold War. In this probing work, Ellen Griffith Spears offers a compelling narrative of Anniston's battles for environmental justice, exposing how systemic racial and class inequalities reinforced during the Jim Crow era played out in these intense contemporary social movements. Spears focuses attention on key figures who shaped Anniston--from Monsanto's founders, to white and African American activists, to the ordinary Anniston residents whose lives and health were deeply affected by the town's military-industrial history and the legacy of racism. Situating the personal struggles and triumphs of Anniston residents within a larger national story of regulatory regimes and legal strategies that have affected toxic towns across America, Spears unflinchingly explores the causes and implications of environmental inequalities, showing how civil rights movement activism undergirded Anniston's campaigns for redemption and justice. |
Contributor Bio(s): Spears, Ellen Griffith: - Ellen Griffith Spears is associate professor in New College and the Department of American Studies at the University of Alabama. |