“I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour.”
~Dr. George Washington Carver, Tuskegee University, 1887
BLACK EARTH WISDOM:
Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists
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By Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black
Publisher: Amistad - HarperCollins Ltd
Check out the Black Earth Wisdom Directory with 100’s of Black environmental organizations and resources.
Mama Ira Wallace
Dr. George Washington Carver
T. Morgan Dixon
Ibrahim Abdul-Matin
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Latria Graham
Dr. Claudia J. Ford
Rue Mapp
Aleya Fraser
Luisah Teish
Dr. Leni Sorensen
Queen Quet
Christopher Bolden-Newsome
Angelou Ezeilo
Greg Watson
The Queen Mothers of Kroboland, Ghana admonished their Black American students in disbelief, “Is it true that in the United States, a farmer will put the seed into the ground and not pour any libations, offer any prayers, sing, or dance, and expect that seed to grow?” Met with ashamed silence, they continued, “That is why you are all sick! Because you see the earth as a thing and not a being.”
Pandora Thomas
James Edward Mills
Teresa Baker
Audrey W Peterman
Dr. Joshua Bennett
Dr. Lauret Savoy
Yonnette Fleming (Farmer Yon)
Dr. Savi Horne
adrienne maree brown
Dr. Carolyn Finney (photo credit: Nicholas Nichols)
Ecological humility is part of the cultural heritage of Black people. While our 400+ years immersion in racial capitalism has attempted to squash that connection to the sacred earth, there are those who persist in believing that the land and waters are family members, and who act accordingly. In Black Earth Wisdom, Penniman weaves together the voices of today’s most respected Black environmentalists, those who have cultivated the skill of listening to the lessons that Earth has whispered to them.
In this time, we are acutely aware of the fractures in our system of runaway consumption and corporate insatiability. We feel the hot winds of wildfire, the disruptions of pandemic, and the choked breath of the victims of state violence. We know there is no going back to “normal.” The path forward demands that we take our rightful places as the younger siblings in creation, deferring to the oceans, forests, and mountains as our teachers.
Those whose skin is the color of soil are reviving their ancestral and ancient practice of listening to the Earth to know which way to go. As Dr. Carver explained, “How do I talk to a little flower? Through it I talk to the Infinite. And what is the Infinite? It is that silent, small force… that still small voice.”
Interviewees & Contributors
Alice Walker • adrienne maree brown • Dr. Ross Gay • Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson •
Rue Mapp • Dr. Carolyn Finney • Audrey Peterman • Awise Agbaye Wande Abimbola •
Kendra Pierre-Louis • Latria Graham • Awo Enroue Onigbonna Sangofemi Halfkenny •
Dr. Lauret Savoy • Ibrahim Abdul-Matin • Savi Horne • Dr. Claudia Ford • Dr. J. Drew
Lanham • Dr. Leni Sorensen • Queen Quet • Toshi Reagon • Yeye Luisah Teish •
Yonnette Fleming • Naima Penniman • Angelou Ezeilo • James Edward Mills • Teresa
Baker • Ira Wallace • Pandora Thomas • Toi Scott • Aleya Fraser • Chris Bolden-
Newsome • Savonella Horne Esq • Dr. Joshua Bennett • B. Anderson • Chris Hill • Greg
Watson • T. Morgan Dixon • Dr. Dorceta Taylor • Colette Pichon Battle Esq • Dillon
Bernard • Sharon Lavigne • and Steve Curwood
A big thank you to B. Anderson for creating the Black Earth Wisdom archive and sharing the name with this book.
BLACK EARTH WISDOM KEYNOTE PRESENTATION LINK (Copyright 2023)