Celebrating Black History Month
In celebrating Black History Month, our team is taking time to reflect on the legacy and impact of Black farmers, gardeners, and activists in creating more sustainable, resilient, and just food systems and foodways. We are thinking about the many people of the African diaspora living on these lands, who are not settlers and were forcibly displaced here. We acknowledge the ways that our current, corporatized food system has its roots in their enslaved labour. Despite and because of this violent history, many Black luminaries have led the way towards justice and the fight for a better tomorrow. Some that we are keeping in mind this month:
- Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights and women’s rights activist and creator of the Freedom Farm Cooperative to increase Black land stewardship
- Booker T. Whatley, agricultural professor and horticulturist, who created the Community Supported Agriculture model that influenced much of our current local food movements
- Georgia Gilmore, whose secret kitchen “fed the civil rights movement”
- George Washington Carver, a scientist and agriculturalist who developed regenerative farming techniques still used by farmers today
- Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, whose Free Breakfast program led the way to the school breakfast and lunch programs we see today
- Leah Penniman, farmer and educator at Soul Fire Farm in New York and author of Farming While Black
Em, our Moss Park Garden Coordinator, says, “As a mixed Black gardener, my history is part of what keeps me coming back to the soil. From West Africa to the American South to Detroit, my ancestors and family have carried seeds and food stories with them, at times braiding them into their hair to ensure their survival. Growing food is not just about ensuring that you and your family can eat better, it’s also about healing the impacts of colonization and slavery, connecting with the land and with the past.”
At Building Roots, we are both celebrating Black history and also acknowledging the ongoing discrepancies in food and health equity for Black residents of our neighbourhood. Black Torontonians are 3.5 times more likely to be food insecure than white households, and there is a staggering lack of access to culturally appropriate food of African and Caribbean origin in Toronto. We are currently planning for garden beds full of crops like okra, callaloo, and scotch bonnet peppers this growing season as a small way to increase this availability for our community. Local urban farmers like Arnest Sebbumba of SARN Farms, Judith Prince of Ubuntu Community Farm, Ujamaa Learning Farm, and Cady and Alvis of Deeper Roots Farm. We are always looking to shift food sovereignty back into the hands of our community, especially those that have faced historic and systemic marginalization. To that end, we will be introducing a new and improved Community Leaders Program this year that empowers Moss Park residents to be stewards at the intersection of people, land, and food. Stay tuned to learn more!
