When it comes to finding happiness, common practice usually includes some form of physical activity, taking up a creative hobby or fostering meaningful relationships with others. For some Black women specifically, an interest in gardening not only creates a soothing rhythm that promotes joy and satisfaction, but it can also play an important role in restoring a familial legacy of intergenerational healing and growth.
A Black woman’s inherent relationship and proficiency with the land is as deeply ingrained as the ancestral recollection of enslavement and separation. As enslaved African women were brought to the United States, so was the horticultural ingenuity that established the wealth of the nation. For centuries, they’d work the earth, but many of their contributions and experiences were left out of the early history of American agriculture. These discrepancies are also a striking parallel with how, unlike other groups of people, natural resources are not deemed infinite for Black women. Instead, for them, they are materials to be pillaged and misused.
Since the 1970s, the theory of ecofeminism remains a movement that recognizes how the white man’s destruction and exploitation of the natural world is closely aligned to his oppressive and disrespectful treatment of women, Black women especially. Ecofeminists argue that the behavior toward women in society is a likely measure of the treatment of the earth and vice versa; that because we live in a patriarchal and capitalist society, the abuse of women and the destruction of the environment are naturally occurring consequences.
The long history and practice of slave owners ripping Black women from their roots and role as stewards of the land, spaces where they held the most noticeable positions in herbalism, healing rituals and farming practices, had become harmful to both their livelihoods and to the environment. It caused a forced, incessant loosening of the land that resulted in the improper distribution of crops and deprecated time-honored, rural traditions. Scores of land became uninhabitable, contributing to an eventual environmental crisis. In fact, in the early 1900’s, agricultural scientist George Washington Carver warned of these long-term catastrophic prospects; and strongly urged an ethical transition to safer cultivation techniques.
In the last century, the number of self-identified Black American farmers has dwindled. And today, as farming becomes a progressively imperiled profession in this country, they continue to struggle in the face of racist, economic headwinds due in part to the overt discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to a 2017 National Agricultural Statistics Service Census report (it is the latest year the data was recorded), there were 48,697 (or only 1.4%) Black farmers in the United States. They own less land than non-Black farmers and their agricultural sales account for less than 1% of the national total.
Thankfully, a network of Black women gardeners, florists and herbalists are helping to bring us closer to a more thoughtful reality of survival and healing. Through their work, a movement toward a reconnection to the land is growing, and it’s cultivating a fellowship of genuine concern and support for the abuse of women and for the environment.
GirlTrek, a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to encouraging the fitness, health and healing of Black women and girls for well over a decade, has established GirlTrek Gardeners, a subsidiary that promotes wellness through a reconnection to cultivation and the land. With online gardening classes and mentorship programs, they help women and girls return to a place of sustenance and sanctuary while promoting healing from generational trauma and fighting systemic racism.
For herbalist Brianna Cherniak and author and nutritionist Afua Ibomu, herbalism is a way for Black and brown people to reclaim their bodies and ancestry from appropriation by white, western herbalists, many of whom are profiting from Black, Indigenous and Asian practices.
In an interview with Refinery 29, Ibomu illustrates how enslaved Black women used herbalism to uphold their African heritage: “We brought rice from Africa when we were stolen by Europeans and they used our knowledge to start [what would become] the rice trade in the United States. During the enslavement of Africans, Black women would have to cater their cooking styles to European palettes. We used our knowledge of herbs and spices to make their meals taste good.”
As the United States became more industrialized, it prompted the near end of farming fresh foods and herbs. Processed versions took over, which caused a swing from herbalistic traditions. But Cherzniak and Ibomu are committed to using their platforms to make herbalism accessible and dissectable again. Through workshops and online instruction, they stress the importance of understanding the origins and ancestral rituals of each plant, as well as knowing their physical beneficial properties.
As Black women continue to find solitude and stability within the consciousness of the land, they will also continue to summon a movement of economic and social freedom while activating transformational, global change.
To be continued…
