This essay examines the environmental thinking and activism of Malik Rahim, a member of the New Orleans chapter of the Black Panther Party, Green Party political candidate, and co-founder of Common Ground Relief, a grassroots mutual aid organization established in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Rahim’s influences and career help illuminate an alternative history of Black environmentalism whose evolution runs parallel to the mainstream US environmental movement of the 1970s, but also diverges from it in terms of its primary concerns. Drawing from media accounts and extensive oral interviews, the article traces the development of Rahim’s environmental advocacy, locating him in a wider tradition of southern Black environmental justice activism.

Introduction to the Human/Nature issue (vol. 27, no. 1: Spring 2021), guest edited by Andy Horowitz.