‘A Love Letter to Future Generations’

Hosted by Evan Kleiman Sep. 17, 2021 Food & Drink

Natalie Baszile established the Black Harvest Fund at the San Francisco Foundation which distributes grants to certified non-profits that advance the work of Black farmers and farmers of color.

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Credits

Host:

Evan Kleiman

Producers:

Laryl Garcia, Gillian Ferguson

Amplifying Black farmers’ voices in a new book of essays, narratives, and poems

In the years following enslavement, there were nearly one million Black farmers in America. Today, there are approximately 45,000. The legacy of the African American farmer...

7 min

Explaining the broken promises of ‘freedom dues’

To understand the current climate of race relations in America is to understand a period of history between 1619, when the first Africans arrived in Virginia, and 1640.

10 min

How Black farmers experience economic discrimination at the hands of the USDA

Generations of Black farmers have fallen victim to discriminatory practices employed against them by the US Department of Agriculture and the Farm Service Administration.

13 min

Curing tobacco: one man’s accidental innovation becomes another’s livelihood

Just a few decades ago, tobacco provided a secure income for Southern farmers. But when the tobacco buyout came, many Black farmers were cut out of the deal.

13 min

A grandmother’s life in Louisiana: ‘We were poor but we were never hungry’

Natalie Baszile recounts a visit with Miss Rose, the affectionate moniker of her grandmother, and the elder’s two-day train ride from Louisiana to Los Angeles.

5 min

‘A Love Letter to Future Generations’

Natalie Baszile established the Black Harvest Fund at the San Francisco Foundation which distributes grants to certified non-profits that advance the work of Black farmers...

8 min