Black women’s green blues: songs as black women’s environmental expression and engagement in keeping a black feminist tradition

Purpose Black women have been practically erased from reviews of environmentally-conscious songs. This may result from past findings demonstrating Black women’s disinterest in environmental issues, despite them having increased exposures to environmental degradation and subsequent adverse health outcomes. However, this assertion did not take into account Black women’s standpoints, nor the creative, alternative locations Black women use to express and engage in social issues—songs. Design/methodology/approach In this paper, I utilize Black feminist thought, a critical social theory and its matrix of domination as an analytical framework to understand and analyze Black women’s expression and engagement in environmental issues through song. Sample lyrics from one of the most popular blues songs that focus on an environmental theme is analyzed: Bessie Smith’s “Backwater Blues.” By demonstrating the viability of this strategy, I simultaneously evidence how Smith kept Black feminist thought’s Black women’s blues tradition. Findings This paper explores insights about an alternative location Black women use to express and engage in environmental issues– songs. It suggests that Black feminist thought’s matrix of domination is an effective analytical framework to highlight Black women’s expression and engagement in environmental issues and identify the power structures that shape them. It is also shown that Smith kept Black feminist thought’s Black women’s blues tradition. The environmental and related fields would benefit from incorporating Black feminist thought and creative expressions, such as songs, into the field to expand its thought, approaches and ultimately, its equitable impact. Originality/value This paper builds on and expands existing environmental literature by analyzing Black women’s expression and engagement in environmental issues from a Black women’s standpoint through the use of songs.