Black Farmers in America: A Legacy of Hardship and Resilience
Since the end of slavery, Black Americans have been at a systemic disadvantage in nearly every aspect of their lives. With the rampant erasure of Black history and culture, we must acknowledge the past and present of the United States while focusing on the treatment and wellbeing of BIPOC communities into the future. This blog focuses on how systems have negatively affected Black farmers, but if you’d like to learn more about systemic racism as a whole, the ACLU Racial Justice Program is a great resource to dive deep.
In a white-washed history of United States agriculture, European descendants receive the glory for innovative farming practices and sustainable land management. However, if we look a little closer, we see that the history is more Black than white.
So much of what we learn about African Americans in agriculture revolves around slavery, but we ignore how Black farmers paved the way for small-scale farming cooperatives and regenerative agriculture after emancipation. As formerly enslaved people integrated into a deeply racist society during the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877), land ownership was nearly impossible. With no land resettlement legislature from the government, African Americans had little choice but to become wage workers on farms rather than becoming independent farm operators themselves. Low wages and unjust conditions made it so emancipated individuals had to work two, three, ten times as hard to become financially secure.
Because of this, Black farmer-led cooperatives began popping up in the late 1800s, the most known being the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative Union. The Union had over 1 million members at its peak and provided training on farming techniques and discounts on farming implements for Black farmers, giving them a better chance at success. It published a weekly newspaper, The National Alliance, and facilitated social advancement projects, like obtaining loans, crop exchange hubs, home ownership council, and a wage strike. 1
At the turn of the century, Black farmer co-ops continued to support under-resourced communities. During this time, the United States also saw the rise of organic farming, due in large part to the efforts of Dr. George Washington Carver. Through his research on crop rotation, particularly with peanuts, and the effects of nitrogen depletion in soil biology, Dr. Carver became the first agricultural chemist to utilize regenerative agriculture to conserve and rehabilitate land for long-term sustainability. Born into slavery, Dr. Carver also used his knowledge to uplift Black farmers with his mobile classroom, called the Jesup Wagon, where he provided education, tools, seeds, and demonstrations to rural communities beginning in 1906. 2
Dr. Booker T. Whatley, acclaimed horticulturist and fellow founder of regenerative agriculture, also made leaps and bounds in this arena in the 1950s and 60s. He ran a 55-acre hydroponic farm in Japan during the Korean War, which was crucial to providing non-contaminated nutrition for American troops, and as an agriculture professor at Tuskegee University, introduced the concept of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to the nation in the 1960s. 3
Referring to this farmer-consumer agreement as a Clientele Membership Club, Dr. Whatley marketed to the public, collecting a $25 membership fee at the beginning of the year to cover operation overhead. Throughout the season, consumers could self-harvest or pick up their allotment of the local farm’s produce at a fraction of the price of supermarket produce. These CSAs birthed Farm-to-Table sentiments and the notion of Pick-Your-Own (apples, berries, etc.) as a recreational activity for people from the steadily-growing suburbs and cities of America to enjoy a breath of fresh air and a novel experience. 3, 4
Dr George Washington Carver and Dr. Booker T. Whatley paved the way for not only organic and regenerative agriculture, but for Black farmers across the U.S. That being said, the country’s long history of systemic racism has perpetuated vast discrepancies for Black farmers even in recent years. According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, of the 3.4 million farmers in the United States, only 1.4% of those farmers are Black. We see similar disparities across all industries and the only way to make a change is to be actively anti-racist. Society, especially white Americans and other Americans living with privilege, must begin to deeply understand that life so often is, in fact, Black and white and that racial gaps will continue to exist for as long as we allow them to.
Let’s treat 2025 as Black History YEAR by being vocal about systemic racism, supporting Black farmers and Black-owned businesses, and continuing to learn the truth about influential Black Americans throughout history.
Learn more about becoming anti-racist here.
References:
1: Colored Farmers National Alliance and Cooperative Union
2: George Washington Carver - A Pioneer in Science, Sustainability, and Social Change
3: CSAs and regenerative agriculture's ties to Black history
4: Celebrating Black History Month: 8 Contributions of Black Farmers to Regenerative Agriculture
