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To whom do we owe the abundance of our lands? Food Justice: Who gets to eat? Conclusions to carry Home Connect and Reflect References
In the vast tapestry of human experience, few relationships are as intimate and profound as those between individuals and the land they inhabit. It's a connection woven throughout history, culture, and identity, shaping narratives and forging bonds that endure through generations. But what does it truly mean to have a relationship with the land? And how does it reflect upon the souls of those who inhabit it? These questions form the bedrock upon which Samm-Art Williams's play, Home, is built. Within its narrative, the land itself emerges as a character, evolving alongside the protagonist, Cephus Miles, as he journeys from the verdant expanses of the South to the stark urban landscapes of the North. In this way, his story mirrors the broader experience of 20th century Black Americans grappling with displacement, oppression, and belonging–the land serving as both witness and participant in their lives. To understand the significance of this narrative, it is essential to unravel the complex history of Black farmers in America—a history marred by exploitation, discrimination, and the relentless pursuit of land, freedom, and the right to self-determination.
A farm in the Carolinas.
A homesteader at Roanoke Farms, North Carolina, in 1938.
Photo by John Vachon, Library of Congress.The land beneath our feet is steeped in blood, sweat, and tears. Growing over the bones of indigenous tribes, the bountiful fields of harvest cherished by rural America owe their abundance to decades of thankless, forced labor performed by Black farmers under the tyranny of white slave owners. As John Francis Ficara and Juan Williams wrote for NPR, “[enslaved] Black labor on Southern plantations formed the backbone of the nation's first economy, an agricultural economy.”
Emancipation did little to change the circumstances of many Black Americans. In 1865, a now infamous war-time order made by General William T. Sherman proclaimed, “freed slave families” would be allotted land “in plots of land no larger than 40 acres.” As reported by Dr. Henry Louis Gates in PBS’s The African Americans, the idea was clearly articulated by Rev. George Frazier, a formerly enslaved minister who was advising Sherman:
The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor … and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare … We want to be placed on land until we are able to buy it and make it our own.
Frazier’s dream didn’t come to pass. Sherman’s order promising land ownership was made moot by post-war legislation focusing on wage work, rather than land ownership.
The passage of Jim Crow laws in the aftermath of the Civil War perpetuated a cycle of disenfranchisement and institutionalized racism, ensuring that Black farmers remained marginalized and vulnerable to exploitation. Without lands to call their own, true freedom remained an elusive dream for many Black Americans. Abolitionist Harriet Tubman's poignant words, “I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom—I was a stranger in a strange land,” echo through the annals of history, encapsulating a sense of displacement and alienation. Deprived of any tools to achieve financial independence, thousands were forced to return to labor under white ranch owners. Alternatively, many Black Americans were coerced into sharecropping: a system of labor exploitation in which white landowners rent their lands to Black farmers in exchange for a share of the crop harvested, entrapping them in cycles of debt.
In the context of Home, Cephus Miles is stripped of his own land during a period in American history Vann Newkirk of The Atlantic identifies as "The Great Land Robbery." Throughout the mid-20th century the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) systematically drove Black farmers from their hard-earned lands by preying on their lack of generational wealth. Due to slavery, most Black American citizens had little-to-no inherited resources to fall back on in times of economic hardship, so when meager seasonal harvests came and went, Black farm owners were often forced to turn to federally-funded loan programs to support their operations. Unlike their white neighbors, Black farmers rarely received these loans. Allocation of USDA funding was determined by locally-elected board officials who were voted into power by their predominantly segregationist Southern constituents. As a result, Black farmers were regularly denied loans to which they were entitled. Unable to financially sustain their properties on their own, many were forced to relinquish the rights to their lands entirely. In conversation with PBS correspondent John Yang, Newkirk mourns not just the economic devastation experienced by Black Americans at the time, but the lasting socio-cultural implications this dispossession perpetuates. He says:
It’s not just [about the] money, not just the access to land, but the ability to put down cultural roots, to have a place to call your own… It's lost when people are forced to move, when they are denied the ability to own the land under their feet. They're denied… their history.
Nevertheless, seeds of resistance took root, embodied in initiatives aimed at reclaiming land, restoring dignity, and fostering community empowerment. In recent years, Black farmers have reframed their skills on the fields as a form of resistance—nourishing and sustaining their communities with locally-grown foods and achieving economic independence. Nationally, organizations such as the Forty-Acre Co-op are making strides to return socio-economic agency back to Black farmers by advocating for and protecting their right to land ownership. The name of the organization is derived from Sherman’s unfulfilled order. Spearheaded by fourth-generation farmer and CEO Angela Dawson, Forty-Acre is the “first national Black farmer co-op since the reconstruction era in the United States.” Dawson was roused to action by her own experience being denied loans for farming infrastructure by the USDA. Her co-op intends to honor the spirit of “forty acres” by providing invaluable aid to socially disadvantaged farmers working to reclaim their farming practice as she once struggled to do so herself. The legacy of Black farmers in America stands as a testament to the enduring struggle for justice and sovereignty.
The Importance of Food Justice
Who gets to eat?
In this same vein, the ongoing fight for food equity occupies a pivotal role in the movement for liberation. Across the nation, people of color bear the brunt of systemic inequities within the food system. The food system, as defined by the University of Oxford’s Future of Food program, is the web of institutions involved in the “production, processing, transport, and consumption” of food. Under our current system, there is inequitable distribution of and accessibility to quality foods. As a result, millions of families of color grapple with hunger, poor nutrition, and a heightened vulnerability to a myriad of diet-related illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.
Throughout history, networks of resistance have been formed by Black people to combat these disparities. FoodPrint, a non-profit subsidiary of the GRACE Communications Foundation dedicated to research and education on food production practices, cites a few examples, including how “enslaved people cultivated crops and food traditions from Africa” to sustain their communities from within. Additionally, scientific figureheads like George Washington Carver contributed their genius to the field of agriculture and nutrition while Southern Black landowners simultaneously “used their land as collateral to post bail for jailed civil rights workers… key to the civil rights movement.” Later, in the 1960s, the Black Panther Party “established more than 60 ‘survival programs’ to meet community needs… [including] a breakfast program that distributed free breakfasts to 20,000 children in 19 cities…” As evidenced by generations of innovation and resistance, land and food production have always been central to the movement for Black liberation.
Presently, New York based organizations like Soul Fire Farms and Project EATS, continue to empower communities and cultivate a future rooted in justice and equality through sustainable and accessible food production. As for what individuals can do in their own communities, The Climate Justice Alliance advocates for able citizens to “invest in localized food and farming systems in [both] urban and rural communities… invest in worker and community-ownership of regional food systems…[and] worker-owned food businesses…” Ultimately, these efforts are meant to give marginalized people a means of both food and land sovereignty that is resilient, regenerative, inclusive, and sustainable. While there is still plenty of work to be done, there is so much hope for our collective futures.
Conclusions to Carry Home
What can we learn from the story of Cephus Miles?
“CEPHUS. I love the land. I love touching the crops. And gently holding each plant in my hand. And feeling the love and care that Grand-Daddy, Uncle and me put into cultivation. When you hold a plant, you can feel the heartbeat of God. I love the land…”
In this excerpt from the play, Cephus shares his reverence for the land with the audience–equivocating nature with God himself. He extends gratitude to those who came before him, demonstrating how his sacred appreciation for the land traces back through generations. As we reflect on the intricate interplay between labor, land, food, and justice, perhaps audiences will experience Home with newfound clarity. Through this production, we can bear witness to the tenacity of the human spirit—imbued with resilience, courage, and an unwavering commitment to forge a brighter tomorrow that reflects the real-life efforts of Black American farmers throughout US history. As we chart our course forward, let us heed their call to action, standing in solidarity with those who strive to reclaim their roots and reforge the narrative of our country to honor the land we call home.
CONNECT AND REFLECT - BEFORE THE SHOW
Imagine you have a garden where anything can grow. It’s the perfect weather and soil for whatever you’d like to grow. What are three plants (they can be flowers, trees, food) that you would plant in your garden? Why those three plants? What is special about those plants that they should grow in your magic garden? If you’re willing, share your imaginary garden with someone near you.
References
“About.” Black Yield Institute, 17 Apr. 2024.
Ficara, John Francis, and Juan Williams. “‘Black Farmers in America.’” NPR, NPR, 22 Feb. 2005.
“Food Justice.” FoodPrint, 28 Feb. 2024.
“Food Sovereignty and Land Sovereignty.” Climate Justice Alliance, 8 July 2020.
Fultonk. “The Truth Behind ‘40 Acres and a Mule’ | African American History Blog | the African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross.” PBS, 18 Sept. 2013.
“Reclamation Farming: Taking Back a Family Legacy.” FarmHer, 19 Oct. 2022.
“Sharecropping.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, n.d.
“What Is the Food System?” Future of Food, n.d.
Williams, Samm-Art. Home. 1979.
Yang, John, and Vann Newkirk. “How Southern Black Farmers Were Forced from Their Land, and Their Heritage.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 13 Aug. 2019.