Danielle Purifoy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She completed a Ph.D in Environmental Politics and African American Studies at Duke University, earned a B.A. in English and Political Science from Vassar College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. Her current research traces the roots of contemporary environmental conditions in the U.S. South, specifically in black towns dating back to the post-Bellum era. She has also written about the legal dimensions of environmental justice and equity in food systems. Ms. Purifoy is the former Race and Place Editor editor at Scalawag, a magazine devoted to Southern politics and culture, and the current Board Chair of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network.