Black Women Are Leading the Way to Energy Justice
By Jacqueline Patterson
Executive Director, The Chisholm Legacy Project
Amy Mays endured repeated electricity shutoffs in her Arizona home, endangering her family with life-threatening temperatures and putting her business at risk. But Amy didn’t just survive, she innovated. Amy turned to solar power, going off-grid to power her home and business. In this way, Amy transformed crisis into opportunity — and she’s not the only one.
Black women across America are showing how bold, transformational leadership advances energy justice for their communities and for so many others. Precisely because of the layered injustices many Black femmes have known — including the disproportionate impacts of the fossil fuel economy on ourselves, our livelihoods, our families and communities — we are best equipped to design and lead solutions that forge a just energy future.