Join a handful of TNFP staff members as we discuss our current read, the newest work of Dr. Monica White, entitled “Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement”.
Grab the book, dive in, and join us for an hour as we talk about this important work. Tallahassee May, long-time Middle Tennessee farmer and TNFP’s Growing Together Manager, will facilitate the discussion.
The Bookshop has agreed to be our local book source for the quarter’s bookclub selection so please consider ordering your copy locally! You can place your order here: https://thebookshopnashville.square.site/product/freedom-farmers/1112
Book Description:
“In May 1967, internationally renowned activist Fannie Lou Hamer purchased forty acres of land in the Mississippi Delta, launching the Freedom Farms Cooperative (FFC). A community-based rural and economic development project, FFC would grow to over 600 acres, offering a means for local sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and domestic workers to pursue community wellness, self-reliance, and political resistance. Life on the cooperative farm presented an alternative to the second wave of northern migration by African Americans--an opportunity to stay in the South, live off the land, and create a healthy community based upon building an alternative food system as a cooperative and collective effort.
Freedom Farmers expands the historical narrative of the black freedom struggle to embrace the work, roles, and contributions of southern black farmers and the organizations they formed. Whereas existing scholarship generally views agriculture as a site of oppression and exploitation of black people, this book reveals agriculture as a site of resistance and provides a historical foundation that adds meaning and context to current conversations around the resurgence of food justice/sovereignty movements in urban spaces like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, and New Orleans.”
To register, please submit your information below. The unique Zoom link will be sent out to all registered participants the day prior to the event.
Please note that the discussion will be held in English and no interpretation is currently planned for this event. If you need accommodations to participate, please reach out to elizabeth@thenashvillefoodproject.org prior to the event.