Danielle Purifoy is a geographer and lawyer whose research focuses on the racial politics of development in Black towns and communities, and their relationship to Black geographic and ecological practices in the U.S. South. She earned her PhD in Environmental Politics and African American Studies at Duke University, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA from Vassar College. Her work is published in various academic and public forums, such as Environmental Planning D: Society and Space, Environmental Sociology, Duke Law and Policy Forum, Southern Cultures, and Environmental Health News. She is the former Race and Place editor for Scalawag, a media organization devoted to Southern storytelling, journalism, and the arts.