Join us for the launch of We Are Each Other's Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers, Land, and Legacy with author Natalie Baszile in conversation with farmer and activist Karen Washington.

This program is co-presented by California African American Museum (CAAM)

In this impressive anthology, Natalie Baszile brings together essays, poems, photographs, quotes, conversations, and first-person stories to examine black people’s connection to the American land from Emancipation to today. In the 1920s, there were over one million black farmers; today there are just 45,000. Baszile explores this crisis, through the farmers’ personal experiences.

In their own words, middle aged and elderly black farmers explain why they continue to farm despite systemic discrimination and land loss. The "Returning Generation"—young farmers, who are building upon the legacy of their ancestors, talk about the challenges they face as they seek to redress issues of food justice, food sovereignty, and reparations.

‍We Are Each Other's Harvest is available at the MoAD Bookstore.

Natalie Baszile is the author of Queen Sugar, which has been adapted for a fifth television season co-produced by Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey. Queen Sugar was named one of the San Francisco Chronicle’s Best Books of 2014, and nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Natalie has had residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, Virginia Center for the Arts, Hedgebrook, and the Djerassi Resident Arts Program where she received the SFFILM and the Bonnie Rattner Fellowships.

Her non-fiction work has appeared in Lenny Letter, The Bitter Southerner, O, The Oprah Magazine, The Rumpus.net and a number of anthologies.

Karen Washington is a farmer and activist. She is Co-owner/Farmer at Rise & Root Farm in Chester New York. An activist, food advocate; in 2021, Co-Founded Black Urban Growers (BUGS) an organization supporting growers in both urban and rural settings.

In 2012, Ebony Magazine voted her one of their 100 most influential African Americans in the country and in 2014 was the recipient of the James Beard Leadership Award. Recently in 2020 Essence Magazine named Karen one of their Essential Heroes recipient.

Karen serves on the boards of the New York Botanical, Soul Fire Farm, the Mary Mitchell Center, Black Farmer Fund, and Farm School NYC.

‍This program is co-presented by California African American Museum (CAAM)