Grays Ferry & Its Residents
The neighborhood of Grays Ferry is located in this major U.S. city.
What is Philadelphia (South Philly)?
The Tasker Street Homes were built as this type of housing in the 1940s.
What is public housing?
This chronic illness, common among Grays Ferry residents, affects breathing.
What is asthma?
This local group organized protests after the refinery explosion.
What is Philly Thrive?
This Grays Ferry resident grew up in Tasker Street Homes (public housing development), developed asthma at age 8 and later gallbladder cancer.
Who is Kilynn Johnson?
This federal practice graded neighborhoods, marking Black communities as “hazardous” for investment.
What is redlining?
The Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery released this cancer-causing chemical 21 times over the federal limit.
What is benzene?
This professor is known as the “father of environmental justice.”
Bonus: $500 if you know why!
Who is Robert Bullard?
Kilynn Johnson’s illness and experiences highlight this larger issue of environmental inequality.
What is environmental racism?
This government program used redlining maps to decide loan eligibility.
What is the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)?
In 2019, the refinery released over 5,000 pounds of hydrofluoric acid after it exploded. It caused this effect on residents.
What is eyes, nose, and respiratory tract irritations when inhaled in small doses and irregular heartbeat and lung complications when inhaled in large doses?
This North Carolina county became a national EJ milestone after a PCB dumping protest in the late 1970s. It was the first major milestone in the national movement for environmental justice
What is Warren County in North Carolina?
This 76-year-old (in 2020) longtime resident lived in the Tasker Street Homes. Two of her daughters were diagnosed with breast cancer, and then later, one of them was diagnosed with blood cancer as well.
Who is Sylvia Bennet? (Ms. Sylvia to Kilynn)
In 1934, Grays Ferry received this letter grade from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation.
What is a D rating?
Black Philadelphians’ COVID-19 death rate was this much higher than that of white residents.
What is 50% higher?
In 1990, 100+ activists signed letters with this demand to the 10 more prominent environmental groups.
This woman from the Wilson Park housing complex said most of her grandchildren have asthma. Her mother was also diagnosed with cancer.
Who is Carol White?
Redlining and disinvestment led to these three urban consequences.
What are segregation, decay, and disinvestment?
This term was coined to describe the constant cough and runny nose residents experience from pollution.
What is “South Philly Postnasal Drip”?
Rolling back environmental regulations, cutting the agency's budget and staff, and weakening the scientific and research capacity of the EPA of this administration.
Hint: key changes include repealing the Clean Power Plan, rescinding the endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, and weakening vehicle and mercury emissions standards.
What is the 2025 Trump Administration?