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Photo by Frans van Heerden via Pexels

Author

People for Community Recovery

Grades

6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th

Subjects

Social Studies, Civics, History, English Language Arts, Health

Resource Types

  • Articles and Websites
  • Interactive Media

Regional Focus

North America, United States, USA - South, USA - Midwest, Louisiana, Illinois

Hazel M. Johnson's Legacy

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Synopsis
  • This interactive timeline is a biography of Hazel M Johnson and her many years of research and organizing to help protect her community from environmental pollution and housing segregation.
  • Students will learn about Hazel's life, her birth in Cancer Alley of New Orleans, her efforts in the environmental justice movement in South Chicago, and her remarkable accomplishments.
Teaching Tips

Positives

  • This resource is incredibly informative and engaging. Students will enjoy learning about Hazel M. Johnson's story.
  • The biography is broken down into manageable chunks, each with its own photo.

Additional Prerequisites

  • Students should have some understanding of environmental justice before reading this resource.

Differentiation

  • Connections can be made in health classes discussing the ways in which people and communities are impacted by environmental pollution. 
  • This resource would make an excellent introduction to the concepts of activism or environmental justice. Go through the timeline together as a class, pausing to discuss the main points and make connections. 
  • Once students have learned about Hazel M. Johnson's legacy, challenge them to learn about other environmental justice activists and report their learning to the class. 
Scientist Notes
This website from People for Community Recovery discusses the history of one of the first environmental justice crusaders, Hazel M. Johnson. The site provides historical background and personal experiences that caused Hazel to start PCR. This website we be a great addition to a classroom discussing environmental justice / racism and the roots of the movement.
Standards

This resource addresses the listed standards. To fully meet standards, search for more related resources.

  • Social Studies
    • U.S. History: America in the World - Civics, Government, and Human Rights
      • 6.1.8.CivicsPI.3.c: Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
  • English Language Arts
    • Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
      • RI.IT.6.3 Analyze how a particular text’s (e.g., article, brochure, technical manual, procedural text) structure unfolds by using textual evidence to describe how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text.
      • RI.IT.11–12.3 Analyze the impact of an author's choices as they develop ideas throughout the text regarding a complex set of ideas or sequence of events, and explain how specific individuals, ideas, or events interact and develop.
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