Firmly Planted: Honoring the Work & Resistance of the Black Woman Farmer

The Farm Alliance of Baltimore invites you to an unforgettable evening at the historic Parkway Theatre on Friday, November 15th from 6:00-10:00PM, honoring and celebrating Black women farmers.

The event begins with a pre-screening reception, followed by screenings of two powerful films, Farming While Black and The Aunties. These films highlight the incredible impact of Black farmers and the fight for Black land sovereignty.

After the screenings, engage in a panel discussion featuring the stars and creators of the films:

• Leah Penniman (Soul Fire Farm)
• Karen Washington (Rise and Root Farm)
• The Aunties: Paulette Greene & Donna Dear (Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms)
• Charlyn Magdaline Griffith-Oro & Jeannine Kayembe-Oro (Directors of The Aunties, Wholistic. Art)
• Blain Snipstal (Black Dirt Farm Collective)
• Mark Decena (Director of Farming While Black, Kontent Films)

Farming While Black – Farming While Black is a feature-length documentary film which examines the historical plight of Black farmers in the United States and the rising generation reclaiming their rightful ownership to land and reconnecting with their ancestral roots.

As the co-founder of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Leah Penniman finds strength in the deep historical knowledge of African agrarianism – agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Influenced and inspired by Karen Washington, a pioneer in urban community gardens in New York City, and fellow farmer and organizer Blain Snipstal, Leah galvanizes around farming as the basis of revolutionary justice.

In 1910, Black farmers owned 14 percent of all American farmland. Over the intervening decades, that number fell below two percent, the result of racism, discrimination, and dispossession. The film chronicles Penniman and two other Black farmers’ efforts to reclaim their agricultural heritage. Collectively, their work has a major impact, as each is a leader in sustainable agriculture and food justice movements.

The Aunties – A short format climate documentary based on the lives of Black farmers Paulette Greene, and Donna Dear, and the legacies of Harriet Tubman and Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms. This film intends to inspire QTBIPOC communities in the climate justice field to continue their work and to bring those witnessing on the sidelines into climate action and activism. We see our protagonists in active stewardship of the land that they have grown alongside for almost 30 years. The film touches on themes of race and gender, offering viewers the opportunity to consider connecting the legacies of enslavement, freedom, and Black eldership.

This event is organized in partnership with:
Soul Fire Farm
Rise and Root Farm
Mt. Pleasant Acres Farms
Wholistic. Art
Kontent Films
Dreaming Out Loud
Black Dirt Farm Collective
good neighbor
exittheapple
SNF Parkway Theater

Thank you to our generous sponsors:
Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Farmer Grant

Want to learn and do more? Take Action.

Here are three ways to help Black farmers regain land and their agricultural heritage:

1. For Black Farmer priorities, visit the Federation of Southern Cooperatives: Federation.Coop/advocacy
2. Fund Black land sovereignty at BlackFarmerFund.org
3. To support Afro-Indigenous Food Sovereignty, visit SoulFireFarm.org, BlackDirtFarmCollective.com, and Rise & Root Farm