Seeking Environmental Justice in Philadelphia: Creating a Path for All Voices

Learn about one family’s tireless efforts to improve conditions for residents living next to a polluted former refinery siteand how openly accessible archival practices can help those working towards environmental justice.

This event has already occurred

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October 27, 2022, 6:00pm - 7:30pm
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Biotech Commons-Holman Reading Room
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Open to the Public
Tammy Reeves with bullhorn in front of a small crowd

The Reeves family has worked over generations to ameliorate harms and create opportunities in Grays Ferry, a predominantly Black community directly next to the refinery’s old north yard. As part of their efforts to demand a more just future for their families and community in the wake of the final refinery explosion in 2019, Mr. and Mrs. Charles and Tammy Reeves have partnered with the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities to share their perspectives on living with a refinery through the sharing of oral histories (collected in Schuylkill River & Urban Waters Research Corps Archive's Grays Ferry Oral Histories Project) and through collaboration with visual artist Amy Balkin.

This moderated conversation intends to prompt consideration of how rapid response collection and openly accessible archival practices can support community advocates and environmental justice.

Companion posters will be available at the Biotech Commons and Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center during International Open Access Week from October 24 until October 28.  

Plan Your Visit

This talk will take place in the Holman Reading Room in the Biotech Commons, 3610 Hamilton Walk, Johnson Pavilion, Philadelphia, PA. View PDF map showing entrance.

Members of the University of Pennsylvania community must swipe their PennCard to enter. Other visitors will be asked to show photo ID.

Open Access Week

This event recognizes International Open Access Week October 24-29, which this year has the theme Open for Climate Justice. Tonight's event is sponsored by the Penn Libraries and the Penn Program in Environmental Humanities. 

Image: Tammy Reeves, center. Photo courtesy of Penn Program in Environmental Humanities.