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Bert Harris, former president of the East Alabama Museum and the Genealogical Society of East Alabama, plus Jayson and Laura Hill, discuss Opelika's history, tour sites, and other amenities the AHA will enjoy for its April 2025 annual meeting. Transcript of episode: https://tinyurl.com/5a26sz5r Links to items mentioned in the episode: Alabama Historical Association: https://www.alabamahistory.net/ ; Opelika, AL: https://www.opelika-al.gov/ ; Museum of East Alabama: https://eastalabama.org/ ; Treaty of Cusseta, 1832: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/treaty-of-cusseta-1832/ ; Creek Removal: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/creek-indian-removal/ ; Montgomery and West Point Railroad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_and_West_Point_Railroad ; Rousseau's Raid: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/rousseaus-raid/ ; Textile mills: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/textile-industry-in-alabama/ ; Norma Rae: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norma_Rae ; John Herbert Orr: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/john-herbert-orr/ ; Yoholo Micco: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/opothle-yoholo/ ; Booker T. Washington: https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/article/booker-t-washington/ ; Booker T. Whatley, How to Make $100,000 Farming 25 Acres: https://archive.org/details/bookertwhatleysh0000what ; Spring Villa (the Penn Yonge House): https://www.opelika-al.gov/321/Spring-Villa-History ; Salem-Shotwell Bridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem-Shotwell_Covered_Bridge ; Darden House (John Wesley Darden): https://encyclopediaofalabama.org/media/darden-house-in-opelika/ ; Heritage House: https://heritagehouse1913.com/about/ ; Brownfield House: https://auburnopelikaalrealestate.com/brownfield-house-in-opelika-al/ ; John Emerald Distilling Company: https://johnemeralddistilling.com/about/ ; Winston Smith T Hardware and Building Supply: https://www.smithtbuildingsupply.com/ ; Opelika Sportsplex: https://www.opelika-al.gov/391/Opelika-Sportsplex-Aquatics-Center ; Beans Mill: https://stephanielane2012.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/beans-mill/
Through the Portal is a podcast from the Social Justice Portal Project, a national collaborative think tank hosted by the Social Justice Initiative at the University of Illinois Chicago. Each month, grassroots activists and radical scholars will give voice to community struggles, national strategies and sustainable alternatives for the future. The guest speakers, who are also Portal Project participants, explore what it means to walk through the portal of the current moment by centering racial and social justice issues. On the final episode of the series, Dame and Teresa are joined by the brilliant Leah Penniman. A leading voice in the fight for food and land sovereignty for Black farmers and community, Leah is the Co-Director and Farm Manager of Soul Fire Farm, an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm in upstate New York. She talks about the deeply rooted connections between our food systems and incarceration, how Afro-Indigenous planting practices protect and rejuvenate the land, and how the organization has grown from dropping off carrots to hungry neighbors to leading the fight to reimagine our food systems (while still dropping off carrots to neighbors). SHOW NOTES Tiffany LaShae - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/food-sovereignty-education/3d/tiffany-lashae/ Soul Fire farm - https://www.soulfirefarm.org Farming While Black - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/media/farming-while-black/ Baba Curtis Muhammad - https://snccdigital.org/people/curtis-hayes/ Freedom Food Alliance - https://freedomfoodalliance.wordpress.com/ Rev Garrison Frazier - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Frazier Greenwood food blockade - https://www.southernfoodways.org/the-greenwood-food-blockade/ Dr Gail Myers - https://www.drgailmyers.com/ Rhythms of the Land - https://www.rhythmsoftheland.com/ Booker T Whatley - https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/you-can-thank-black-horticulturist-booker-t-whatley-your-csa-180977771/ Kombit (Haitian Work Parties) - http://www.haitiobserver.com/blog/the-agricultural-system-of-kombit-in-haiti.html Phytoremediation - https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-04/documents/a_citizens_guide_to_phytoremediation.pdf Hazel Johnson - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/ Karen Washington - https://www.karenthefarmer.com/about All We Can Save - https://www.allwecansave.earth/ Working the Roots - https://bookshop.org/books/working-the-roots-over-400-years-of-traditional-african-american-healing/9780692857878 Freedom Farmers - https://uncpress.org/book/9781469643700/freedom-farmers/ Black Nature - https://ugapress.org/book/9780820334318/black-nature/ Highlander Center - https://highlandercenter.org/ Reparations map - https://www.soulfirefarm.org/get-involved/reparations/ Learn more about the Portal Project - sjiportalproject.com/ Subscribe to AirGo - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/airgo/id1016530091
In episode 36 of Blackbelt Voices, Adena and Kara continue the conversation about Black food culture – this time from an agricultural angle. Our guest, Gerald Harris, along with his partners Derek Beasley and Gabrielle E.W. Carter (who was featured in the Netflix series High on the Hog as well as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal)started Tall Grass Food Box, a community-supported agricultural model (CSA). Gerald told us about a Tuskegee professor named Booker T. Whatley who many call the godfather of CSA. He is best known for his regenerative farming system, in combination with the direct-marketing concept of a customer harvesting operation known as pick-your-own. Dr. Whatley has been said to be 30 years ahead of his time. Lots of experts in the field still refer to his 10 commandments for small farmers. Gerald also pointed to the 1920 Census, which shows the number of Black farmers in America Peaked at 949,889. In 2019 there were just over 45,000 Black farmers according to figures from the US Department of Agriculture. Tall Grass was born out of the pandemic. So Gerald says they've learned a lot about the CSA business space, who they could trust, and how to help. They have been expanding. Some other positive outcomes include they now have a refrigerated vehicle. Those funds were raised by their community and people who wanted to see them succeed.Thanks to Gerald for being a guest on our podcast. Check out Tall Grass on Facebook or Instagram or send them a note via email: hello@tallgrassnc.com.Season 3 of Blackbelt Voices is brought to you by Southern Bancorp.Southern Bancorp is one of America's oldest and largest community development financial institutions, founded to provide underserved communities with access to capital and the wealth-building tools needed to grow. On the web at BankSouthern.com and SouthernPartners.org.CONNECT WITH BLACKBELT VOICESFollow @BlackbeltVoices on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Share your thoughts about this episode and all things Black + Southern on social media using the hashtag #BlackbeltVoices.CREDITS AND SPECIAL THANKSEdited and produced by: Katrina Dupins and Prentice Dupins Jr.Music: Prentice Dupins Jr.Logo Design: Kara Darling CreativeThe Blackbelt Voices podcast is a production of Blackbelt Media LLC.
Did you know that the roots of regenerative agriculture, organic farming, and the farm-to-table movement grew from the work of Black farmers like Dr. Booker T. Whatley and Dr. George Washington Carver? And yet today, Black farmers are highly underrepresented in farming and farm ownership. While the Black population of the US is approximately 13.4%, Black farmers represent 1.3 % of farmers across the US.In this episode, we had the honor and privilege of speaking with Kiani Conley-Wilson, a grower, activist, and organizer based in Troy, NY. She is passionate about environmental justice, anti-racist/pro-feminist organizing, and the power of food across cultures, economies, and environments. Kiani is the Community Empowerment Coordinator for Soul Fire Farm, which is an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. She also organizes with local organizations to develop people-centered systems and spaces. This is such a powerful conversation and anyone interested in sustainability, environmentalism and low waste living will learn a lot about how to make their advocacy and daily lives more intersectional.Also mentioned in this episode:Film: Sacred CowBook: Farming While BlackQuote: “I'm no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I'm and changing the things I cannot accept" by Angela DavidsLearn more about Soul Fire Farm:Website: https://www.soulfirefarm.org/Instagram: @soulfirefarm Follow Kiani on Instagram: @kiani4troy CONNECT + FOLLOW:Podcast Instagram: @heychange_podcast Anne Therese:Website: https://theclimateoptimist.com/Instagram: @annetheresegennari Robin:Website: https://parentsxplanet.com/Instagram: @robinxshawThis episode is dedicated to the Black Farmer Fund. The Black Farmer Fund supports a thriving, resilient food economy, repairing Black communities' relationship to food and land. Hey Change Podcast listeners, you are invited to join us in supporting the Black Farmer Fund. A donation of any size supports and strengthens the economic infrastructure of Black food businesses and helps to build community power through a reparative capital framework. Go to https://www.blackfarmerfund.org/ and let's support a more fair, equitable and regenerative world by supporting Black farmers today.More resources to check out:https://www.farmingwhileblack.org/https://www.soulfirefarm.org/get-involved/reparations/https://www.oneearth.org/csas-and-regenerative-agricultures-ties-to-black-history/Intro + outro music: No Copyright Music by Sapajou See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Money and profitability are real components of running ANY business. And let me tell you first hand, being a small farmer isn't going to make you a millionaire - but it can be profitable. There are many small farmers making money on small plots of land, thanks in part to this guy. Meet Booker T. Whatley. In this episode of Food, Farm & History, we're talking about a farmer who believed that "smaller was smarter". He was a black farmer from Alabama who studied with Dr. George Washington Carver, and he wrote a book called How to make $100,000 dollars Farming 25 acres With Special Plans for Prospering on 10 to 200 Acres - published in 1987 by the Regenerative Agricultural Association of Rodale Institute. Booker T. Whatley's ideas about how to be a profitable farming operation by focusing on what customers want, cutting out the middlemen/middlewomen, marketing directly to customers, and reducing labor costs by letting customers do the work for you, have been proven time and time again. Pure genius. If you care about building community, reducing food insecurity, creating a thriving local economy and eating clean, healthy food - you'll enjoy learning about this guy! I thank you for listening and sharing this episode with someone you love.
Dymond discusses portraying Marian Anderson at 8 years old in a black history production and then reconciling DAR's history of exclusion to join the DAR as a millennial; being Miss Black Rhode Island USA 2016; connecting with her roots through gardening by planting crops for ancestors and how her cousin Dr. Booker T. Whatley invented the "U Pick Your Own" farming concept; her 5th great uncle Elisha L. Anthony Jr., a free person of color, who served in Louisiana as a Union Army private in the Civil War and his death bed letter; investigating a family rumor of the lynching of 2nd great grandfather John Nelson; serving her community and supporting her alma mater, historically black Hampton University, as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; her mixed race Spanish, Native American and black, Revolutionary War patriot Michael Anthony who served in the first integrated regiment; researching lineage from Revolutionary War ancestor Mingo Pollock; how her ancestry reaffirms her place in America; connecting to ancestors through tombstones and the 1st Rhode Island Regiment monument listing Michael Anthony's service; how as a young black member, Gilmore Girls fans think it is cool and older white women seeing diversity become more open to joining DAR; giving back to the black community as a DAR member of color; serving as the regent (leader) of DAR chapter and meeting members of different races while paging. Read Dymond's biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters