The Problem
Planter Girl was created to be a space where stories from Black Women can be shared in ways that are community-led, rooted in science and education. Too often, Black women's stories are extracted, interpreted by outsiders, and then sold back to us in forms that do not fully reflect us. Many young Black Women Scholars have been a part of harmful dynamics like this as researchers in higher education and there aren't many frameworks that are created to make environmental education safe and ethical. We are responding to this structure by answering the question education for whom? Young Black brilliant women should not have to undergo race and gender based harm to claim they are educated. Through Planter Girl, we have established an alternative approach that uses storytelling, science communication and creative media to help underrepresented women see themselves in the environment.
