Justin J. Pearson of Memphis is a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. He was elected in 2023, at 28 years old. When a mass shooter killed six people at The Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023, Pearson and two fellow representatives staged a protest on the statehouse floor for common-sense gun legislation. Lawmakers retaliated by expelling Pearson and another representative, but local government panels in Memphis and Nashville reinstated them days later. Pearson again ran for the seat in August and handily won it back.

Pearson graduated from Bowdoin College in 2017 with degrees in government and legal studies as well as education studies. Pearson co-founded Memphis Community Against the Pipeline, now known as Memphis Community Against Pollution. The group defeated a multibillion-dollar crude oil pipeline project that would have risked Memphis’ drinking water and taken property from South Memphis residents. The Sierra Club honored Pearson as its 2023 National Changemaker of the Year, and The Root included him in its list of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans 2023.