Benjamin Chavis coined the term environmental racism in 1987

Evidence

The Rev. Dr. Benjamin Chavis, a well-known civil rights activist in North Carolina and later head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), reportedly coined the phrase “environmental racism” in 1987 as he was preparing to present to the National Press Club a report he authored on toxic waste sites and race in the United States: “[I] was trying to figure out how [I] could adequately describe what was going on. It came to me—environmental racism. [T]hat’s what it is.” The report was the influential study on the siting of hazardous waste facilities that Chavis co-authored with Charles Lee, then with the United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice: Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States. — Richard J. Lazarus, The Making of Environmental Law, 614

Categorization

• DEFINE: Origin story and definition of a term central to the Eco-Justice course.
• ADDENDUM: Could serve the land/place and environmental-justice thread of the polyad across courses.