Black Agrarianism: The Significance of African American Landownership in the Rural South

Abstract

Agrarianism is important in the American mythos. Land represents both a set of values and a store of wealth. In this article, we ask how land matters in the lives of rural, southern, Black farmland owners. Drawing on 34 interviews, we argue that, since the end of slavery, land has continued to operate as a site of racialized exclusion. Local white elites limit Black farmers’ access to landownership through discriminatory lending practices. At the same time, Black farmland owners articulate an ethos in which land is a source of freedom, pride, and belonging. This we term “Black agrarianism.” They cultivate resistance to the legacies of slavery and sharecropping and contemporary practices of social closure. These Black farmland owners, then, view land as protection from white domination. Thus, we demonstrate how landownership is a site for the re‐creation of racial hierarchy in the contemporary period while also offering the potential for resistance and emancipation.

"Being Stewards of Land is Our Legacy": Exploring the Lived Experiences of Young Black Farmers

“…Much like the older generations, these young black farmers tended to farm on smaller parcels of land and engage in more diversified production compared to their white peers (Brown & Larson, 1979;Pennick et al, 2007;USDA NASS, 2014b). Landownership as a source of power and self-sufficiency emerged as a theme from this study, which is consistent with previous literature (Dyer et al, 2009;Hinson & Robinson, 2008;Quisumbing King et al, 2018). Notions of connection to land, independence, and selfsufficiency as food-producing citizens track with ideals held by black agrarians.…”

“…For people in rural communities, landownership evokes a certain degree of autonomy and independence (Mooney, 1988;Quisumbing King, Wood, Gilbert, & Sinkewicz, 2018). This sentiment holds equally true for African Americans, whose lives and property for so many years were not their own.…”

“…Instead, there remained a deep-seated yet often overlooked foundational agrarian ideology that underpinned the African American struggle for land acquisition in the United States. Though it shares its roots with the ideals of democratic agrarianism, 'black agrarianism' is something uniquely African American; it has sprung from an opposition to the racist systems of oppression that have permeated rural communities since the first slave was brought to America's shores (Quisumbing King et al, 2018;Reid, 2012). Indeed, there is a long and proud history of black involvement and production in agriculture in the U.S. (Finney, 2014).…”

“…Because black agrarianism is rooted in the collective experiences of slavery, white supremacy, and systematic discrimination, it has developed into an ideology that not only advocates for the virtues of hard work and self-sufficiency, but it is also a form of territorial liberation. Black landownership and an agrarian lifestyle are means to escape the white-dominated system and affirm one's political and civil rights (Quisumbing King et al, 2018;Reid, 2012). According to Katrina Quisumbing King et al (2018), black agrarianism is "an emancipatory thrust," and it is related to other projects of social justice, including Black Populism and the civil rights movement.…”

“…Black landownership and an agrarian lifestyle are means to escape the white-dominated system and affirm one's political and civil rights (Quisumbing King et al, 2018;Reid, 2012). According to Katrina Quisumbing King et al (2018), black agrarianism is "an emancipatory thrust," and it is related to other projects of social justice, including Black Populism and the civil rights movement. It is through a framework of black agrarianism that we may begin to examine the current state of African Americans in agriculture.…”