Welcome to the Evolving Folks Project’s “Evolved Man of the Week” profile. Each week, we will highlight an individual who embodies what it means to be an evolved person, famous and non-famous alike. The world needs to know their stories and deeds. This week’s honor goes to the American academic, sociologist, veteran, and activist Dr. Robert D. Bullard.
He was born in Elba, Alabama, in 1946. As class salutatorian in 1964, he graduated from Elba’s Mulberry Heights High School. In 1968, Dr. Bullard graduated from Alabama A&M University in Huntsville with a bachelor’s degree in government, completing his studies. After college, he spent two years in the Marine Corps at an air control station in North Carolina. Dr. Bullard’s M.A. is in sociology from Clark Atlanta University, where he graduated in 1972. Iowa State University awarded Bullard’s Ph.D. in sociology in 1976.
As the first scientist to publish organized research, Dr. Bullard connected race and pollution, using his findings to back a 1979 legal case. He stated, “This was before the days of [geographic information system] mapping, before iPads, iPhones, laptops, and Google existed…This is doing research way back with a hammer and a chisel.”
The Robert D. Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice opened at Texas Southern University in Houston in 2021, and Bullard now serves as its executive director. He has penned 18 books on the subject, and his work ignited a powerful movement. As the father of environmental justice, Dr. Bullard was a well-known advocate. His work has shaped international climate discussions, and the world has embraced his concept, which centers on everyone’s right to a clean environment.
Here is Dr. Bullard in his own words about race and the intersection of environmentalism.
“Racism is deeply ingrained in America’s DNA. Race has always played a significant part in who’s free, who gets educated, and who is a citizen. There was slavery, then emancipation, and Jim Crow segregation, where “separate but equal” was codified. If a Black person, for example, paid the same taxes as a white person, those taxes were not spent in a way that gave them equal protection and treatment.
The Civil Rights Act was wasn’t passed until 1964. Racial redlining drew a line around Black and brown neighborhoods, labeling them as dangerous and undesirable for loans. That prevented our neighborhoods from benefiting from infrastructure such as sewer and water systems.
We’re now seeing the legacies of that racism. Neighborhoods that were redlined 100 years ago are hotter today because of urban heat islands. They have no tree canopy, parks, or green space. They’re more prone to flooding because they lack flood protection. They are more prone to industrial pollution. And we’ve learned that the same neighborhoods were more prone to COVID hospitalizations and deaths. These are all examples of how past racism keeps getting transferred forward: it increases vulnerability.”
Dr. Bullard’s work has changed the world for the better by connecting the dots of racism, pollution, and class. His research and vision have given big greens, climate activists, community organizers, and advocates the tools they need to make change and improve communities to make a healthier population. All people deserve clean air, water, and food. Today, we honor Dr. Robert D. Bullard, our Evolved Man of the Week.
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