“Farming While Black" at the Figge Art Museum -- January 26.
Sunday, January 26, 3 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
A lauded selection at 2024 events including the DC Environmental Film Festival, the New York African Film Festival, and SXSW EDU, director Mark Decena's Farming While Black serves as the second presentation in this year's QC Environmental Film Series hosted by River Action, its January 26 presentation at Davenport's Figge Art Museum treating patrons to what Civil Eats deemed "a unique and enthralling perspective on an often overlooked aspect of the American dream.”
Farming While Black is a feature-length documentary that examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots. As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism – agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice. In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact, as each is a leader in sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.
With the project a feature by Kontent Films, FarmingWhileBlackFilm.com states, "We hope that our film not only creates greater support for Soul Fire Farm, Black Dirt Farm Collective, and Rise & Root Farm, but guides folks to reconnect with their agricultural heritage and catalyze the return of 14 million acres of land to Black farmers. Advocating for legislative action is critical to reversing decades of discrimination by the USDA. Black Farmers’ legislative priorities can be found at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. We also want to inspire viewers to support Black and Indigenous farmers through the Black Farmer Fund. Their mission is to nurture black community wealth and health by investing in black agricultural systems in the Northeast. They believe Black farmers, business owners, and land stewards should benefit equitably from financing, intellectual capital, technical assistance, networking, and public policies.
"Another important goal is to uplift and support the growing movement of urban community gardening pioneered by Karen Washington, co-founder of Black Farmer Fund and Black Urban Growers, BUGS. Community gardens are becoming a viable means of addressing issues associated with food access, public health, and environmental sustainability, while promoting social capital and civic engagement. We hope that Farming While Black will educate and inspire the practice of gardening and spur the creation of more urban gardens."
Farming While Black will be shown in the Figge Art Museum's John Deere Auditorium on January 26, admission to the 3 p.m. screening is $7 with students admitted free, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)322-2926 and visiting RiverAction.org/filmseries.
