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HUD Accuses City of Chicago of Environmental Racism by Moving Polluters to Black, Latino Neighborhoods
| Brett Chase | Chicago Sun-Times | July 19, 2022
This article reports on federal civil-rights findings related to Chicago's handling of polluting industries, including allegations that polluting activities were shifted away from white neighborhoods and toward Black and Latino communities.
A Sacrifice Zone: Why Did a Chicago Community of Color Get Picked for an Industrial Facility?
| María Inés Zamudio | Injustice Watch | January 28, 2021
This article covers an EPA civil-rights investigation into the relocation of a scrapyard to Southeast Chicago, where residents and advocates argued that Latino and Black communities were being burdened with polluting industrial activity.
Which Came First, People or Pollution? Assessing the Disparate Siting and Post-Siting Demographic Change Hypotheses of Environmental Injustice
| University of Michigan | University of Michigan Record | January 20, 2016
This article summarizes research by Paul Mohai and Robin Saha finding that hazardous waste facilities were more likely to be placed in neighborhoods already containing higher concentrations of minority and low-income residents. The research challenges arguments that communities of color merely moved near existing polluters.
Smells Like Environmental Racism
| Valerie Vande Panne | In These Times | October 25, 2017
This article examines Detroit's trash incinerator and the surrounding neighborhoods affected by odor and air pollution. It reports that nearly 90 percent of those living within a mile of the incinerator were people of color, making the facility a strong example of environmental racism in urban waste infrastructure.
The Blackest City in the US Is Facing an Environmental Justice Nightmare
| Drew Costley | The Guardian | January 9, 2020
This article examines Detroit's environmental justice crisis, including toxic air, lead exposure, water shutoffs, and industrial pollution. It highlights the 48217 ZIP code, a majority-Black area near Marathon's refinery and other industrial sources, as an example of how segregation and pollution intersect.
Environmental Activists Claim Victory After Detroit Incinerator Closes
| Kianga Moore | Truthout | July 13, 2019
This article reports on the closure of Detroit's controversial trash incinerator after years of community organizing. It frames the shutdown as a victory for environmental justice advocates who had long argued that the incinerator harmed nearby low-income and predominantly Black communities.
The Mother of Environmental Justice
| Q Magazine | University of Illinois | May 23, 2018
This article profiles Hazel Johnson of Altgeld Gardens, Chicago, often called the mother of environmental justice. It describes the 'Toxic Doughnut' of landfills, industrial sites, and contaminated areas surrounding a Black public-housing community.
What a Gutted EPA Could Mean for Chicago's 'Toxic Doughnut'
| NRDC | Natural Resources Defense Council | April 17, 2017
This article discusses Altgeld Gardens on Chicago's South Side, a Black community surrounded by toxic sites and industrial pollution. It explains how the neighborhood became a major example of environmental racism and why federal enforcement matters for communities facing cumulative pollution.
Chicago's Toxic Doughnut, USA
| Environmental Justice Atlas | EJAtlas | No date listed
This case profile describes Chicago's 'Toxic Doughnut' around Altgeld Gardens as an early environmental justice struggle. It documents community-led research and organizing against hazardous waste, contaminated land, and industrial pollution in a predominantly Black community.
Community Spotlight: Altgeld Gardens
| Nishant Shah | National Wildlife Federation | November 8, 2024
This article discusses Altgeld Gardens as a Chicago neighborhood shaped by toxic industry, environmental injustice, and the legacy of Hazel Johnson's organizing. It is useful for documenting how community groups continue to address the long-term harms of pollution in a Black neighborhood.
Perceptions of Environmental Health Risks Among Residents in the 'Toxic Doughnut'
| Brandi M. White et al. | Journal of Community Health | 2015
This peer-reviewed article examines residents' perceptions of environmental health risks near Chicago's Altgeld Gardens and surrounding industrial hazards. It is useful for documenting community experiences in one of the best-known environmental justice neighborhoods in the United States.
U.S. Jails Are Frontline Environmental Justice Communities
| Yessenia Funes | Grist | April 15, 2021
This article examines jails as environmental justice sites because incarceration facilities are often located near pollution sources or contribute to local environmental burdens. It is useful for connecting environmental racism, policing, incarceration, and exposure of mostly Black and Latino incarcerated people.
Wealthy Residents of Chicago May Live 30 Years Longer Than Poorer Ones. Can a New Mayor Help Close the Gap?
| Aliya Uteuova | The Guardian | May 20, 2024
This article examines Chicago's environmental racism and health inequality. It discusses how communities of color face disproportionate climate and pollution risks and how city leadership has been pressured to address these long-standing burdens.
After a Hard Year for Environmental Justice, Chicago Groups Try to Rebuild
| Inside Climate News | Inside Climate News | December 27, 2025
This article discusses Chicago environmental justice groups after federal grant cuts and policy rollbacks. It is useful for documenting continuing organizing in neighborhoods burdened by pollution and environmental racism.
Confronting Environmental Racism in the United States
This article explains how environmental decision-making reflects power inequalities and often disadvantages people of color while benefiting corporations and wealthier communities. It is useful as a broad theoretical source on environmental racism and polluter siting.
Approaching Coal-Fired Power Plants and Renewable Energy Through an Environmental Justice Lens
| Nicholas Frischkorn | Chicago-Kent Journal of Environmental and Energy Law | 2021
This law review article connects coal-fired power plant pollution to environmental racism and energy injustice. It discusses communities such as Detroit's 48217 ZIP code, where Black residents face heavy fossil-fuel pollution burdens.
Remedies for Environmental Racism: A View from the Field
| Luke W. Cole | Michigan Law Review | 1992
This law review article discusses legal strategies for communities fighting environmental racism. It is useful as an early source showing how communities of color challenged toxic siting and unequal environmental protection in court and through organizing.
Black, Brown, Poor & Poisoned: Minority Grassroots Environmentalism and the Quest for Eco-Justice
| Michael H. Schill and others | University of Chicago Law Review copy | 1991
This older article discusses grassroots environmental justice organizing among minority and poor communities. It is useful for documenting early recognition that pollution, poverty, race, and toxic siting were intertwined.
5 Things to Know About Communities of Color and Environmental Justice
| Cathleen Kelly and Tracey Ross | Center for American Progress | April 25, 2016
This article provides an overview of environmental justice issues affecting communities of color, including Flint water contamination, air pollution, toxic exposure, and climate vulnerability. It is useful as a broad policy-oriented summary.
In East Chicago, Knowing Your Soil Is Toxic Is Only Half the Battle
| Sasha Lyutse | Natural Resources Defense Council | May 23, 2017
This article examines lead and arsenic contamination in East Chicago, Indiana, including the West Calumet Housing Complex. It is useful for documenting how residents of a low-income community of color discovered they had been living on toxic soil.
HUD Knowingly Poisoned Our Children. This Can Never Happen Again.
| Earthjustice | Earthjustice | April 6, 2021
This article focuses on former West Calumet residents in East Chicago, where public housing was built on contaminated land. It is useful for documenting how federal housing policy and toxic contamination combined to harm low-income Black and Latino families.
Poisonous Homes: The Fight for Environmental Justice in Federally Assisted Housing
| Shriver Center on Poverty Law and Earthjustice | Shriver Center / Earthjustice | June 2020
This report examines federally assisted housing located near hazardous waste sites, including East Chicago's West Calumet Housing Complex. It is useful for documenting how low-income residents and people of color can be exposed to toxic contamination through housing policy.
Blood, Lead & Soil: A Year in East Chicago
| Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations | IPBS | July 26, 2017
This multimedia project documents the East Chicago lead and arsenic contamination crisis. It is useful for showing how residents experienced toxic soil, relocation, public-health fears, and environmental justice failures.
On Poisoned Ground
| Rebecca Burns | The Baffler | 2017
This article examines the East Chicago contamination crisis and the displacement of West Calumet residents. It is useful for documenting how toxic contamination, public housing, race, and government neglect converged in a major environmental justice case.
Marathon Petroleum and Southwest Detroit: The Challenge of Environmental Justice
| Harvard Business School | Harvard Business School | 2023
This case study examines the Marathon Petroleum refinery in Southwest Detroit and the environmental justice issues surrounding it. It is useful for documenting refinery pollution in a largely Black and Latino neighborhood.
Mapping Environmental Justice and Uplifting Community Survival in Southwest Detroit
| Lori Atherton | University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability | July 11, 2023
This article discusses Southwest Detroit's 48217 community, often described as Michigan's most polluted ZIP code. It is useful for documenting how Black and Latino residents have faced decades of refinery, industry, and traffic pollution.
We Fight So Many Battles
| Lisa Berglund | American Planning Association | October 2020
This article examines a Detroit neighborhood shaped by a century of land-use decisions that prioritized industry over public health. It is useful for documenting how zoning, refineries, heavy industry, and race produced long-term environmental injustice.
Toxic Cities: Neoliberalism and Environmental Racism in Flint and Detroit Michigan
| Terressa A. Benz | Critical Sociology | 2019
This scholarly article examines environmental racism in Flint and Detroit, including the Marathon refinery in Detroit. It is useful for connecting lead contamination, refinery pollution, race, and policy choices in Michigan.
Marathon Petroleum Company to Reduce Air Pollution at Detroit Refinery
| U.S. Environmental Protection Agency | EPA | June 9, 2016
This EPA release describes a settlement requiring Marathon Petroleum to reduce air pollution at its Detroit refinery. It is useful for documenting official recognition of refinery emissions at the fence line of a heavily burdened Detroit community.
