Kellie Ware-Seabron was 31 years old and a mother to two young children when she started law school at Northeastern University in 2015. She wasn’t looking for a large paycheck — but a way to protect her son.

Pitt alumna Kellie Ware-Seabron will lead the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP as its new executive director, the organization announced in a Thursday press release.

Environmental injustice can affect anyone, whether they are an African-American with asthma living in the South Side of Chicago or a low-income white family living near a toxic waste plant. But according...