Poet Gwendolyn Brooks, in honor of activist, actor and musician Paul Robeson, wrote:
“…We are each other's
harvest:
we are each other's
business:
we are each other’s magnitude and bond.”
Those lines inspired the title of a new book out this spring, “We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land and Legacy,” by Natalie Baszile. On the cover is a photograph of Naima and Leah Penniman, of Soul Fire Farm in New York, representing both the history and the future of Black farming in the United States. They are part of a modern movement for food sovereignty as a remedy to injustices Black farmers have suffered from for more than a century.
The book, an anthology of essays, stories and poems from Black farmers, is a great companion to the TTBOOK show we are re-airing this weekend, “Growing Justice.” In this episode, we interview Leah Penniman, Savi Horne, the executive director of the Land Loss Prevention Project, Venice Williams of Alice’s Garden Urban Farm, and historian Marcia Chatelain, author of “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.”
If Baszile’s name sounds familiar, you may have heard of her novel “Queen Sugar,” about a Black woman who inherits a Louisiana sugar cane farm. And, you can see the on-screen version of “Queen Sugar” on OWN, which Oprah Winfrey has turned into a television series, now in its fifth season, with a sixth on the way.
–Shannon