Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit

Dr. Josiah Rector explains that since the 1880s a confluence of unregulated industrial capitalism and racist practices in housing and employment in Detroit created pollution and environmental disasters disproportionately affecting the poor, working class, and particularly African Americans. He explores the resulting environmental justice movements in Detroit as residents have fought for clean air, water, and improved public health amid government and corporate divestment and Detroit’s 2013 bankruptcy. Rector is an assistant professor of urban, environmental, and labor history at the University of Houston and author of Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit. Related Resources Toxic Debt: An Environmental Justice History of Detroit Related Collections: Joe Brown Papers Olga Madar Papers Thomas W. Stephens Papers UAW Conservation and Recreation Department Records UAW Foundry and Forge Departments Records UAW Health and Safety Records UAW President’s Office: Douglas Fraser Records UAW President’s Office: Walter P. Reuther Records UAW President’s Office: Leonard Woodcock Records Episode Credits Producers: Dan Golodner and Troy Eller English Interviewee: Josiah Rector Music: Bart Bealmear