Margie Eugene-Richard (1941-present) is a powerhouse in environmental justice. Her campaign to stop major corporations from polluting her family home led to one of the biggest environmental lawsuits in recent history.
Margie Eugene-Richard (1941-present) is a powerhouse in environmental justice. Her campaign to stop major corporations from polluting her family home led to one of the biggest environmental lawsuits in recent history.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, and Ale Tejeda. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Lindsey Kratochwill. I’m one of the writers and producers behind Womanica, as well as another Wonder Media Network show that features stories of climate change progress and poetry. It’s called As She Rises.
This month, we’re highlighting Eco Warriors: women fighting for conservation and ecological justice.
Today, we’re talking about a powerhouse in environmental justice. Her campaign to stop major corporations from polluting her family home led to one of the biggest environmental lawsuits in recent history. Please welcome Margie Eugene-Richard.
Margie was born on December 21st, 1941, in New Orleans. Her father, Theodore, was a farmer and skilled laborer. Her mother, Mabel, worked at home and as a cook in a local restaurant.
Margie grew up in a rural community called Belltown. It was also known as “Old Diamond,” so-called for the Diamond plantation, which had been the site of one of the largest revolts by enslaved people. In the following decades, the area formed tightly-knit African American communities, including Margie’s family. She and her sister were the fourth generation of their family to grow up on Eugene family farm land. They spent their childhood in fields and orchards filled with fruits and vegetables they’d sell in the French market in New Orleans.
But when Margie was 10, that all changed. The strip of land along the Mississippi River became known as “Cancer Alley.” Shell Oil Company had been constructing oil refineries in the area since the 1920s. In the 1950s, the company boomed, and began buying up property in Belltown. The New Orleans Refining Company owned so much of the area, it eventually became the town’s name: Norco.
Families were faced with a choice to either sell their homes at the extremely low prices Shell offered, or continue living in the increasingly industrial area. Margie’s family stayed.
After graduating high school, she majored in health and physical education at Grambling State University. She then returned to teach at her old high school, married her childhood sweetheart Peter Richard [RI-SHARD], and became a mainstay of the local community. She taught community enrichment courses in everything from substance abuse prevention to parenting And– after divorcing Peter– she mentored others on how to get through the challenges of divorce.
Meanwhile, the refineries had decimated the environmental landscape. They released toxic emissions, and started frequent fires. Residents came down with a variety of severe health problems. More than a third of children in Norco had asthma or bronchitis. Margie’s own sister died at the age of 43 from sarcoidosis, a rare bacterial infection that usually affects one in a thousand people. Margie knew three other neighbors who suffered from the same sickness.
In 1973, a Shell pipeline exploded, killing a woman and teenage boy. In 1988, another major accident killed seven workers and released 159 million pounds of toxins into the air. By this point, Margie had gotten into the habit of sleeping with her clothes on, so she could jump out of bed if an accident happened near her house.
The next year, Margie founded the Concerned Citizens of Norco, or CCN, to act against Shell’s unjust use of the area. They sought financial justice from Shell to relocate the remaining residents of Norco to nearby Wattstown, and pay fair market value for their homes.
The resulting campaign spanned more than 13 years. Margie led the charge with an emphasis on hard science and media attention as the pillars of her organizing. The CCN collaborated with environmentalist groups and released a report. It documented the fact that Shell refineries in Norco emitted more than 2 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the air each year. She also joined forces with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade to help Wattstown residents measure air pollution in their own neighborhood using specially outfitted plastic buckets. And she even installed a web camera on her own home to broadcast the visible emissions from a nearby plant. At one press conference, she invited Shell officials to take a sniff from a “bag of Norco air,” to get a sense of the air quality Norco residents lived with every day.
In 1999, Margie helped found the National Black Environmental Justice Network. She spoke in front of Congress, the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the World Conference Against Racism and the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
In 2000, the CCN’s work finally came to a head. Shell agreed to reduce its emissions by 30 percent, improve its emergency evacuation routes, and pay voluntary relocation costs for residents who lived on the two streets closest to the plant. But Margie wasn’t finished. Soon, Shell conceded to a 5 million dollar community development fund and a full relocation for all four streets in Old Diamond, at 80,000 dollars a lot. The success was one of the first of its kind around Cancer Alley.
Even after the Shell settlement, Margie didn’t back down. She worked with victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to publicize the environmental effects of the disaster.She advised other communities struggling with similar issues, like Port Arthur, Texas, and continued to hold Shell accountable for providing financial compensation to those affected by its pollution worldwide.
Margie is the first African-American recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize. She currently resides in Destrehan, Louisiana, where she continues to serve her community and the environmental justice movement.
Margie is building a profound legacy in environmental justice. She said of her work: “Every time we as Black Americans stand up for what is right, they say it’s for greed of money. It’s a fight for longevity. If we don’t put a face to it, we can’t make change. Truth and justice for the betterment of life, the environment and government is the stairway to upward mobility.”
For more information find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to Jenny and Liz Kaplan for inviting me to guest host.
Talk to you tomorrow!