Amanda Martin-Hardin

Amanda Martin-Hardin is an environmental historian who studies how racism has impacted access to the outdoors in the twentieth century United States. Her dissertation and book project, titled Greenlining: Civil Rights Struggles Over the Outdoors in the United States, offers a new interpretation of American civil rights that foregrounds battles for environmental equity as central to the movement. Greenlining will be the first project to document “greenlining”–a term she introduces and defines as any attempt to deny people access to outdoor spaces based on their ascribed race. Amanda has published her work in Environmental History, the Washington Post, Environmental History Now, and Zócalo Public Square. She is also the creator of “Everyday Environmentalism,” a podcast that shares conversations about “urban nature” and environmental activism in New York City.

PhD Candidate, History, Columbia University

MA, History, Montana State University

BA, American Studies & Photojournalism, The University of Texas at Austin

“Nature in Black and White: Summer Camps and Racialized Landscapes in the Photography of Gordon Parks,” Environmental History Volume 23, Issue 3 (July 2018): 594-605.

“Central Park’s ‘Gate of Exoneration’ invites reflection on racism in parks,” The Washington Post, December 19, 2022.

“Archives, Images, and Evolving Questions: Mapping the Great Outdoors in Black New York,” Environmental History Now, September 6, 2021.

“‘Sharp and Subversive’ Scenes of Integrated 1940s Summer Camps,” Zócalo Public Square, July 23, 2020.