The loss of black-owned family farmland in America begins in 1865 with the government's failed promise of supplying forty acres and a mule to the newly freed slaves. Since then, black farmers have struggled for survival and fought continuously to acquire and retain ownership of farmland while facing economic and racial barriers along the way.  The black farmer has suffered greatly during his journey to obtain independent land ownership. Their long arduous fight has cost many lives and many farms have been lost along the way.  Documented studies by the US government have confirmed discrimination against black farmers for decades, which had a devastating impact on the black farm community. The landmark Pigford/USDA settlement will not guarantee that black farmers will not face discrimination or racist treatment in the future. Is $50,000 a fair price for decades of suffering, pain, and humiliation across many generations? Farms that have been lost cannot be recovered. Decades of discrimination cannot be undone. But black farmers have proven to be resilient. They have stood the test of time in the face of adversity. The black farmer collectively has come together as a community to take control of their own destiny.
 
Despite incredible odds, black farmers have become independent landowners and established themselves as self-sufficient citizens. Black-owned family farms in America peaked in 1920 at roughly 16 million acres owned by nearly one million black farmers. Today, there are only about 2.2 million acres owned by fewer than 18,000 black farmers nationwide.  The U.S. Census of Agriculture reports only 223 black farmers in the entire state of Maryland in 2007.  Despite the nationwide decline of all farmers, a precious few black farmers in Calvert County, Maryland remain today.  Farming A Legacy takes an intimate look at the black farming way of life that is rapidly disappearing from the American agricultural landscape before it fades into a distant memory.
 
Farming A Legacy is about black farmers in Calvert County who have survived for generations against incredible odds, acquired and accumulated land, and have found ways to continue a family farming legacy born on the backs of their slave ancestors.  These few farmers have been able to maintain their family farms for generations, and are determined to pass their family legacy along to another generation.  Farming A Legacy examines the farmer’s shared love of the land as a way of life and how their stories run parallel just like the rows of tobacco that they once planted together. Will this be the last generation of black farmers in Southern Maryland and the end of more than a century old family tradition of farming?
Farming A Legacy
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Farming A Legacy

The number of black-owned farms peaked in 1920. Experts predict that within the next twenty years, black-owned farms will cease to exist. This p Read More

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