Dr.Erica Holloman-Hill: The Forest Ethnographer
Dr. Erica Holloman Hill—affectionately known as “Dr. E”—is a marine scientist, environmental justice strategist, and community visionary who embodies the heart and intellect of Afro-Indigenous stewardship. Born and raised in Atlanta with ancestral ties across Georgia’s coastal and inland regions, Dr. E brings an unwavering commitment to historically Black and Indigenous communities through a lens of data sovereignty, climate science, and cultural reclamation. She often affirms that “we are the data”—emphasizing that environmental work must be rooted in the lived realities, practices, and wisdom of marginalized communities.
As the founder of WAWA’s Environmental Justice Pillar, Dr. E has reimagined what science and community healing can look like. Her leadership helped launch transformative programs at the Outdoor Activity Center, including the Midwife’s Apothecary, food distribution initiatives, climate equity work, and green space wellness. Whether developing national strategies or rediscovering ancestral creeks with children in West Atlanta, Dr. E stands at the intersection of legacy and liberation.
Dr.Erica Holloman-Hill. From https://cleanwater.org
Forest Ethnography and the Trifecta of Insecurity
West Atlanta Watershed Alliance's environmental education programs at the Outdoor Activity Center engage local youth, ranging from elementary to college-age in service-learning activities and seek to impact the visitor's attitudes and behaviors about nature through interpretive hikes along trails in our 26-acre old-growth forest.
In her oral history interview, Dr. Erica Holloman Hill situates her life and work in the “ordered steps” of ancestral guidance, returning to her Atlanta roots after earning her PhD in Marine Science from the College of William & Mary—where she became the first African American woman to graduate from its School of Marine Science. She speaks about her family’s deep Georgia lineage, tracing her maternal ancestry back to Martha Milner West, born into slavery in the 1800s. For Dr. E, this historical consciousness informs her purpose: connecting environmental data to lived experience, cultural survival, and generational healing.
Dr. E reflects on her childhood adventures in the wild creeks of Cascade, long before formal park infrastructure was in place, and how those early encounters shaped her relationship with land and water. Her work at WAWA builds on this connection. Through the establishment of WAWA’s environmental justice programming—framed around “the trifecta of insecurity” (energy, housing, and food)—she addresses the structural burdens exacerbated by climate change. Dr. E's leadership positioned WAWA as Atlanta’s climate champion within national networks, shifting the narrative from problem-centered advocacy to solution-oriented transformation.
In the interview, Dr. E also emphasizes the importance of forest ethnography—understanding the interconnected development of land and people, especially in Bush Mountain, a place she identifies as a site of Black Native resistance, memory, and knowledge. She underscores the need to reclaim stories lost or obscured in official records and sees community storytelling as essential to any future-forward environmental work. Her journey through marine science, grassroots leadership, and cultural revival reminds us that environmental justice is not only about policy—it’s about remembering who we are and restoring what we’ve always known.