Femme Heroes

At Fellowship for Liberated Futures, we recognize that the well-being of Black women and femmes is directly linked to the health of our communities and ecosystems. Throughout history, leaders like Wangari Maathai have shown that environmental justice is not separate from human dignity. Her life and work reflect a clear truth: caring for the earth is a path toward collective liberation.

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004, was a pioneering environmentalist and the founder of the Green Belt Movement in 1977. She mobilized women in Kenya to plant trees, fight deforestation, and advocate for democracy and environmental justice. Her movement was not just about trees; it was about reclaiming power in the face of environmental destruction and political repression.

The Green Belt Movement addressed immediate needs like soil erosion, food insecurity, and water scarcity while advancing broader goals of community autonomy and political participation. Maathai understood that ecological degradation is often rooted in systemic injustice. She insisted that environmental solutions must be tied to human rights, particularly the rights of women and rural communities who are often the most affected by climate collapse.

Through her leadership, over 51 million trees were planted across Kenya (Little Sun). Each tree stood as a symbol of resistance and resilience. Wangari’s work created not only greener landscapes but stronger, more self-determined communities. Her activism led to policy changes, greater democratic participation, and a growing recognition of the importance of grassroots organizing in global environmental efforts.

By connecting environmental health with social justice, Maathai shifted the global conversation about conservation. She challenged the idea that environmentalism was a distant concern for the privileged. For her, protecting the land was inseparable from protecting livelihoods, cultural identity, and freedom.

Wangari Maathai’s legacy continues to shape environmental movements across the world. She showed that sustainable change begins in the hands of local people, grounded in care for the earth and for each other. As we build liberated futures, we carry forward her vision of community-driven solutions and her belief in the power of everyday acts to transform the world.

Berta Cáceres

Berta Cáceres carried the memory of her ancestors and the urgency of her people’s survival. As an Afro-Indigenous Lenca leader in Honduras, she stood at the center of a movement to defend the earth against the forces of extraction and displacement. In communities where environmental destruction is tied to violence and erasure, her work revealed that protecting land is about far more than natural resources. It is about preserving ways of life.

Berta Cáceres was an environmental and Indigenous rights activist whose leadership changed the course of resistance movements in Honduras and beyond. As a co-founder of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), she organized her community to resist hydroelectric projects that threatened rivers sacred to the Lenca people.

Her fight against the Agua Zarca Dam project, led by international corporate interests without Indigenous consent, became a defining moment. Through strategic advocacy, legal battles, and international solidarity campaigns, she successfully pressured one of the world’s largest dam builders to withdraw from the project. Cáceres’ activism won her the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 (Goldman Prize Source).

However, her success made her a target. On March 3, 2016, she was assassinated in her home, a tragedy that exposed the lethal risks faced by environmental defenders, particularly women and Indigenous leaders. Her death sparked international outrage and a deeper focus on the connections between environmental exploitation and violence against marginalized communities.

Berta’s work was rooted in the understanding that rivers, forests, and lands are not commodities. They are living systems that sustain cultural identity, community health, and future generations. Her leadership emphasized collective action, the defense of human rights, and the central role Indigenous communities play in shaping sustainable futures.

Berta Cáceres’ legacy lives in the movements she helped build and in the communities that continue to resist extraction across Latin America. She taught that environmental justice is inseparable from Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination. As we honor her life, we remember that fighting for the earth is also fighting for the right to exist, to thrive, and to define one’s own future.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson

Across climate spaces often dominated by exclusion and technocratic thinking, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson brings a different vision, one that centers justice, community, and the wisdom of frontline voices. Her work shows that science and policy must not only be informed by data, but also by the lived experiences of the communities facing the most immediate impacts of climate change.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist, policy expert, and advocate who has shifted the conversation around ocean conservation and climate resilience. As co-founder of Urban Ocean Lab, a think tank focused on coastal cities, she develops policy solutions that prioritize frontline communities who are most vulnerable to rising seas, extreme weather, and environmental neglect.

Her career has consistently bridged disciplines, combining rigorous science with public policy, storytelling, and activism. Dr. Johnson’s leadership challenges traditional frameworks of environmental work by insisting that equity must be foundational, not an afterthought. Her contributions, including her role as co-editor of the acclaimed climate anthology All We Can Save All We Can Save Source, focus on uplifting women and marginalized voices in the climate movement.

Through her work, Dr. Johnson emphasizes that oceans are not just scientific subjects but are vital ecosystems tied to livelihoods, culture, and survival. Her approach builds pathways for communities historically left out of climate decision-making to shape the future of environmental governance.

Beyond research and policy, she advocates for joy, creativity, and rest as essential parts of climate work. Her vision models an approach to climate justice that is practical, deeply human, and fiercely inclusive.

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson reminds us that building climate solutions without justice is no solution at all. She shows that the future of our planet depends not only on science, but on who holds power to shape policy and whose voices are centered. As we move toward a liberated future, we carry forward her call to create climate solutions that are as diverse and resilient as the ecosystems we fight to protect.

Dorothy Mae Richardson

Access to safe, healthy living conditions is a critical part of community well-being. Dorothy Mae Richardson’s life work reminds us that environmental degradation in Black communities is not accidental. It is the result of systemic neglect. She showed what happens when people closest to the harm take action to create lasting change.

Dorothy Mae Richardson was a vital force in Pittsburgh’s fight for environmental and housing justice in the late 20th century. She recognized that poor housing conditions—lead exposure, structural decay, unsafe drinking water—were environmental issues just as much as social ones. Black communities, disproportionately affected by redlining and disinvestment, faced serious health hazards as a result.

Refusing to accept these conditions, Richardson organized her neighbors to advocate for safe, affordable housing. Her work led to the formation of the Neighborhood Housing Services (NHS) movement, which provided residents with access to loans and resources to rehabilitate their own homes rather than be displaced. Her model of community-driven redevelopment became so successful that it served as the blueprint for what would later become NeighborWorks America, a national network supporting affordable housing initiatives (NeighborWorks History Source.)

Dorothy’s activism was grounded in the belief that those who live in a community must be the ones shaping its future. She challenged the idea that redevelopment should come from external forces or financial institutions without resident input. Instead, she pushed for direct investment into communities, fostering local leadership and decision-making power.

Her legacy reveals that environmental justice must include the built environment where people live, raise families, and organize. Housing is not just shelter; it is health, security, and a platform for self-determination.

Dorothy Mae Richardson’s vision lives on through countless communities that have fought back against environmental hazards and economic exclusion. Her work stands as a reminder that climate justice begins with secure, dignified homes. As we move toward liberated futures, we honor leaders like Dorothy who recognized that thriving neighborhoods are a critical foundation for collective liberation.