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Community gardens have been the focus of social science research in the United States for several decades and the benefits associated with these alternative food spaces has been well documented. More recently, scholars have begun to argue that these benefits are inequitably distributed across society. Largely as a result of the whiteness of these spaces, people of color are less represented in community and benefit less from their presence. Portland, Oregon is recognized as a leader in sustainability, with its abundance of community gardens and urban agriculture. It is also one of the whitest urban cities in the United States. People of color have faced a legacy of oppression and marginalization in Portland, and this is especially true for the black community. Through conducting 17 indepth interviews and spending an extensive amount of time observing community gardens in Portland, this research aims to explore how the whiteness of these spaces functions to marginalize black individuals and contributes to the ongoing oppression of the black community. This research also demonstrates how the black community in Portland engages community gardening in an effort to resist these and broader effects of structural racism. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am truly grateful to my advisor, Doctor Julius McGee. This research would not have been possible without his patience, guidance, and assistance. Additionally, I would like to express my gratitude to my partner and to my family for all of their support and encouragement throughout this project. Most importantly, I would like to thank all of the black community gardeners who shared their time and lives' experiences for this study.

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