The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund is the largest & oldest Black-led cooperative org that focuses on preventing Black land loss & building cooperatively-owned businesses since 1967. Support the continued efforts by giving https://gf.me/u/ybuuzc 

“We believe all land matters, but we especially want to say Black land matters. It matters to us in the South, it matters to our communities, it matters to this work, & it should matter to this world.” Cornelius Blanding, Executive Director of the FSC/LAF

African Americans have an extensive relationship with the land and agricultural labor. Enslaved Africans had their own understandings/knowledge of land and agricultural labor prior to their forced migration to the Americas #BlackLandMatters #BlackFarmersMatter #Blktwitterstorians

“Through their knowledge of African crops & their agricultural prowess, enslaved Africans supported the development of cash crops & commodities such as sugar, coffee, chocolate, & rice, as well as subsistence crops” (Freedom Farmers - Monica M. White) #Blktwitterstorians

“A spiritual orientation toward the local landscape defined the herbal practice of enslaved communities…As they gathered, administered & taught about botanical medicines, enslaved African Americans enacted a relationship with the land that was both practical and spiritual” Fett

Further, land ownership by African Americans led to economic empowerment and some sense of autonomy. Black land control has been essential to the Black freedom movement from maroon communities to freedmen’s settlements/towns to owning one’s home #BlackLandMatters

Additionally, Stephanie M. H. Camp’s use of “rival geographies” with plantations showcases how enslaved people used mobility on lands they did not necessarily own or have full autonomy on to resist their enslavement through mobility and seeking pleasure #Blktwitterstorians

Despite a rich history, many people associate negative connotations to African Americans & agricultural labor largely due to the history of enslavement, exploitation through systems like sharecropping, lack of opportunities in other fields & the devaluing of agricultural skills.

As the Civil Rights-Black Power Movements advocated for Black freedom, economic justice was also a key component. For many African Americans, especially those in rural locales, agricultural labor & other labor associated with the land were essential to their livelihood & survival

Well known farmers such as Fannie Lou Hamer and Esau Jenkins and lesser known farmers in other locales were crucial to the successes of the Civil Rights Movement as organizers, funders of the movement & ordinary people who challenged white supremacist norms and laws.

John Zippert Interview - Black Farmers and the Civil Rights Movement Part 1 @JZippert

John Zippert Interview - Black Farmers and the Civil Rights Movement Part 2 @JZippert

But as @ProfJeffries notes in Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights and Black power in Alabama’s Black Belt, “(Black) landownership neither conferred the right to vote nor trumped Jim Crow customs. It also failed to shield Black farmers from white violence…”

“…In fact, landownership often increased the likelihood of becoming a target of racial terrorism because economic independence undermined white authority. ‘The more a Negro owned, the more humble he had to act in order to keep in the good graces of white people (Benjamin Mays)’”

“Black land ownership was at its peak in 1910, when 218,00 Black farmers cared for more than 15 million acres in the South. However, by the turn of the century, there were only roughly 18,000 Black farmers owning about 2.3 million acres” Cornelius Blanding https://www.clarionledger.com/story/opinion/columnists/2016/02/29/blanding-black-lands-matter/81104020/

In Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance & the Black Freedom Movement, Monica M. White connects mid-to-late twentieth century Black agriculture cooperatives to precursor organizations such as the Colored Farmers Alliance, UNIA, Poor People’s Campaign & the Black Panther Party

Black farming cooperatives have existed since the late 19th century. It is in that tradition that the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund was created in 1967. The FSC was founded by 22 cooperatives representing 9 southern states https://nesawg.org/news/model-network-federation-of-southern-cooperatives

FSC/LAF has spent over 5 decades advocating for, training & organizing farmers & working against land dispossession through economic cooperatives, credit unions, landholding expansion & support. Also, FSC develops & advocates for necessary public policies

Early founders of the FSC (Charles Prejean, Gonze Lee Twitty, Lewis Black, Wendell Paris, Shirley Sherrod, Charles Sherrod, John Zippert, Carol Zippert, etc.) had ties to Civil Rights Movement organizations such as CORE, SCLC, NAACP and SNCC @KosherSoul

In 1973 the Federation opened the Rural Training & Research Center in Epes, Alabama along with the Panola Land Buying Association. The Center provides information, skills, and awareness to help members and constituents to build strong rural communities on its 1,300-acre campus.

“the assistance [FSC] provided to Black co-ops & self-help efforts, along w/ the political activism it generated, helped sustain the struggle for social justice in the plantation counties. Families that may have left the land & migrated away saw other alternatives & chose to stay

becoming active participants in the electoral process & reform efforts. As the concerted efforts of opponents to destroy the org. suggested, the FSC’s activities threatened existing power relationships & had the potential to significantly improve conditions for rural poor people”

“FSC’s vision was all-inclusive, eventually providing support in all of the areas that a cooperative might need: health care, education, food and nutrition, overall wellness, community centers, senior centers, and housing.” @thegardengriot Monica M. White

Under the leadership of Ralph Paige, who served as the executive director, FSC/LAF along with other organizations successfully won a class action lawsuit ($1.0+ billion settlement) for thousands of Black farmers against the USDA for discrimination https://www.blackfarmercase.com/Background.aspx 

Please support the efforts of @Federation1967 The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund by donating to https://gf.me/u/ybuuzc  and for more information on the FSC/LAF visit https://www.federation.coop/  https://blog.notbemoved.com/tagged/Federation-of-Southern-Cooperatives