#hazel johnson

[forever70s]

Hazel M. Johnson, environmental activist based in Chicago, circa late 1970s / early 1980s. Many refer to the late Mrs. Johnson as the "mother of environmental justice".

[protoslacker]

Much of our work was centered in response to police and carceral violence in various forms. Still, we’ve always seen the notion of environmental justice as a central part of what liberation looks like, and while doing our research, we started to see the name Hazel Johnson many, many times. Clearly, she was this looming figure with such a legacy and impact that was, in many ways, a compass or a North Star for the dynamic work of environmental justice today. And so it was from that place of wanting to know more about the history of Chicago, the history of social movements, and seeing that there was a significant figure that was so under-documented. Her life is so important to the work that’s happening now.

Damon Williams in interview with Adam Mahoney at Capital B. In Chicago, Environmental Justice Was Birthed by a Black Woman. A New Podcast Tells Her Story.

An audio docuseries about Hazel Johnson recognizes the community organizer's importance in developing the growing movement.

Help This Garden Grow

[goodblacknews]

Remembering Activist Hazel M. Johnson, the "Mother of Environmental Justice," on #EarthDay

Remembering Activist Hazel M. Johnson, the “Mother of Environmental Justice,” on #EarthDay

[Photo: Hazel M. Johnson via peopleforcommunityrecovery.org] by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson) Today, GBN celebrates Hazel M. Johnson, the community activist who sought to clean up the “Toxic Doughnut” that encircled her community on the South Side of Chicago, and in the process became known as the “Mother of Environmental Justice.” To read about Johnson, read on. To hear about her,…

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[profeminist]

The "mother of environmental justice," Hazel Johnson, could get a postage stamp to honor her work cleaning up the South Side. https://buff.ly/356DTh2

Block Club Chicago

‘Mother Of Environmental Justice’ Hazel Johnson Could Get Postage Stamp To Honor Work Cleaning Up South Side

“A beloved Chicago activist is one step closer to receiving her due, several years after her death. Hazel M. Johnson spent half of her life fighting for environmental justice on the South Side from her home in the Chicago Housing Authority’s Altgeld Gardens, a five-minute walk from the street that now bears her name.

Earlier this month, Rep. Bobby Rush introduced two bills that would posthumously honor Johnson with a Congressional Gold Medal and a commemorative postage stamp.“

[silver-stargazing]

lgbtincomics pride month challenge: bi/pan characters

↳ Hazel Johnson from Bingo Love

[representativecharacters]

Character: Hazel Johnson (right) 

From: Bingo Love 

Representation: Black, wlw 

Their Importance: It is still unfortunately rare to see a black LGBT+ person in the media, let alone someone who is elderly, get a happy ending. Hazel Johnson is important for providing this much needed representation. Almost 50 years after being forced into a marriage, Hazel reunites with her high school sweetheart and one true love, Mari McCray. Not only are both women in their late 60s-early 70s, the comic also makes clear that their relationship and eventual marriage is deeply intimate on both a romantic and sexual level. 

It is important to have representation like this as it provides a promising example to LGBT+ youth that they can be bi or pan or queer into old age. It's also significant for people who are closer in age to Hazel to see representation that more closely matches them and their experiences. Representation of black women who were forced to remain in the closet due to societal and familial pressure and of women who raised families and had grandchildren and lived an entire lifetime before they could openly be themselves are very meaningful to see.

Issues: Hazel says she's bisexual, then pansexual, and finally that she's queer all within the same monologue. It is never clarified which label she specifically identifies with.

Thanks to @silver-stargazing for the write-up!

[blackqueercharacters]

Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray

The characters are featured in Tee Franklin’s 80-plus-page graphic novel, Bingo Love. The comic depicts a romance between two black women that begins at a bingo hall in 1963 and spans decades after.  

[odinsblog]