Reveal
Farming while black
Reporter John Biewen of Scene on Radio tells the story of one black farm couple who say the USDA treated them unfairly because of their race. (REPEAT)
By Al Letson • • 1 min readPicture an American farmer. Chances are, the farmer you're imagining is white – more than nine out of 10 American farmers today are. But historically, African Americans played a huge role in agriculture. The nation's economy was built largely on black farm labor: in bondage for hundreds of years, followed by a century of sharecropping and tenant farming.
Reveal, reporter John Biewen of Scene on Radio tells the story of one black farm couple who say the USDA treated them unfairly because of their race.
Learn more or listen again to this week's episode, which originally aired on July 1, 2017.
Illustration by Ben Fine for Reveal