UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm is hosting a viewing of the feature-length documentary film Farming While Black. The film examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and discusses the rising generation reclaiming their rightful ownership of land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.
Campus and community members are invited to the free watch party on Tuesday, March 26, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Freeman Auditorium at the HUB-Robeson Center. The Sustainable Food Systems Network (SFSN) and the Student Farm Club are hosting this event.
The film chronicles Leah Penniman, co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, and two other Black farmers' efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Black farmers owned 14% of all American farmland in 1910; as a result of racism, discrimination and dispossession, that number dropped below 2%.
Penniman's Soul Fire Farm cohorts help propel a rising generation to find strength in the deep historical knowledge of African Agrarianism. Penniman's mission in creating Soul Fire Farm was to help end racism in the food system and reclaim her ancestral connection to the land.
The Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, Fulbright Program, Pritzker Environmental Genius Award, James Beard Leadership Award, and more have recognized the work of Penniman and Soul Fire Farm.
"With this film screening, we aim to spark a crucial dialogue by posing the question: 'Can Afro-Indigenous regenerative agricultural practices be the solution to climate change?'" said Sylvie Alexander, the event planner for this screening.
The film aims to create greater support for Afro-Indigenous Food Sovereignty, the ability for tribal nations and communities to feed their own people on their own terms, such as at Soul Fire Farm, Black Dirt Farm Collective, and Rise & Root Farm.
About the Sustainable Food Systems Network at Penn State
The Sustainable Food Systems Network includes the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm at Penn State, the Student Farm Club, the Food Recovery Network, the inter-college Food Systems Minor program, and course-client collaborations. The program aims to develop students' knowledge about sustainable agriculture practices while providing hands-on learning opportunities and positively contributing to the community.
Visit the website for more information about the Dr. Keiko Miwa Ross Student Farm.