Ep. 91 - Meet Attorney Sheila Jones, a law professor at Georgetown Law School and a private practice attorney with a 40-year career spanning federal service, private practice, academia, and volunteer service with environmental preservation nonprofits. Sheila's passion is fighting for environmental justice. She was born and raised in the nation's capital during the days of segregation. Living in segregated Washington, DC, she was inspired by her parents' insistence on education as an avenue of achievement for African-Americans in a society that didn't offer equal opportunity. She subsequently joining the ranks of the youth integrating the undergraduate programs at the University of Maryland College Park in 1970. Sheila Jones thought she wanted to be a scientist while growing up. Yet as she came of age in the 1960s, the Civil Rights movement inspired her to instead pursue law, leading her to Harvard and a desire to push for change.

Top Takeaways:

• • The importance that was placed on education in the mid-20^th century for black people to be able to compete for the jobs they desired
  • The expectations that existed of a black woman to be extraordinary in what she studied
  • Learning to acquire knowledge in a very unwelcome environment filled with discrimination
  • The importance of preserving the environment due to the current climate change
  • How climate change impacts our lives and will continue to affect us in the coming years