Mariama White-Hammond is a pastor and founder of the New Roots African Methodist Episcopal Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
14 Facts About Mariama White-Hammond
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Mariama White-Hammond is the older of two children; her sister is Adiya White-Hammond.
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Mariama White-Hammond grew up in the Grove Hall neighborhood of Dorchester, in Boston, Massachusetts.
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Mariama White-Hammond attended the Winsor School, a private college preparatory school in Boston's Fenway, and then Stanford University, where she studied human rights law and international relations.
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In 2001, Mariama White-Hammond became the director of Project HIP-HOP, a community nonprofit that focuses on social justice arts programming for youth of color in Boston.
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In eleven years with the organization, Mariama White-Hammond saw first-hand the challenges faced by inner city youth, as two of her students were shot and killed, and another three injured.
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The service trip served as a catalyst for Mariama White-Hammond to begin making connections between environmental concerns and racial and economic justice.
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Mariama White-Hammond became active in local politics, serving as in 2006 as a ward captain for Deval Patrick's re-election campaign for governor.
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Mariama White-Hammond was ordained in the African Episcopal Methodist Church prior to her graduation, in April 2016.
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Mariama White-Hammond serves as a Fellow of the Green Justice Coalition, working on environmental activism in communities of color.
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Mariama White-Hammond was appointed to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healy's Racial Justice and Equity Council in 2016.
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Mariama White-Hammond lobbied against a natural gas pipeline that was scheduled to be placed in the West Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, and was arrested in a demonstration against the pipeline in 2017, along with 22 other activists, including Karenna Gore, the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore.
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In January 2017, Mariama White-Hammond served as the Master of Ceremonies for Boston's Women's March, which was estimated to be the largest protest ever held on Boston Common.
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In June 2020, Mariama White-Hammond preached at a clergy-organized memorial service held at Bethel AME Church, remembering the lives of three African-Americans who had been killed in spring 2020: George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.