Dr. Joy Banner is Co-Founder and Co-Director of The Descendants Project, a nonprofit foundation committed to the liberation of the Black descendant community through the dismantling of inequitable and discriminatory economic, environmental, and social systems inherent in the violent legacies of slavery.  As part of this work, Dr. Banner is on the front lines of the struggle against environmental racism in the form of petrochemical plants along Louisiana’s River Road, otherwise known as “Cancer Alley.” After earning a Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, she taught business communications, marketing, and entrepreneurship at the university level where she advanced to Chair of the Management program. Joy is a proud member of the local descendant community with rooted ancestry that can be traced to the 18^th century. 

As Co-Director of The Descendants Project, Joy’s vision spearheaded the acquisition of Woodland Plantation, origin site of the largest slave rebellion in the US and the creation of a Descendant Culture and Education District in the historic Freetown of Wallace.  In partnership with the UNO Midlo Hall Center and the Monument Lab,  Joy is part of the core team leading the design and implementation of The Liberation Labyrinth, a garden space located in Wallace and dedicated to freedom-seeking and environmental connection of historically enslaved people who used Louisiana’s natural landscape to seek liberation. Joy has used her 20+ years in heritage and tourism to champion the preservation of Black historic sites, heritage, and communities. Dr. Banner is the 2023 recipient of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Emerging Leader Award and was recently named 2024 Preservation Action’s Hero of the Quarter.

As part of her environmental work, Joy has testified at the United Nations Convention on the Eradication of Racial Discrimination, the United Nations Global Plastic Treaty, and the Business and Human Rights Working Group about the  extractive “Plantation to Petrochemical Plant” throughline.