"I grew up on a farm and have been farming all my life. I believe the man upstairs looked over this farm and my family"
March 14, 2006 11:18 AM   Subscribe

 
i wont comment much on the article (which was very thorough), as i had no idea that black farmers were so badly discriminted against, nor do i know nothing about the bureaucracies of the USDA or the agricultural policy at all...living north of the mason-dixon line my whole life...

anyway, i looked at the photographs first (before reading the article), and out of all 42, it was impossible to even curate one that captured most poignantly the beauty, silence and calm, overt frustration, and the love and devotion of the farmers that are tethered to their respective lands. viewing ficara's b&w photo essay drew so many parallels to walker evans' wpa photographs of the depressed south during the 1930s...evocative of the same stillness and magnatism to the objective yield of the land. however, what was most striking to me in ficara's photographs was the diversity of the black farmers...weak/strong, young/old, men/women who were scattered across the south, but shared the same hardship, drought, poverty, and policy discrimination.

unfortunately, this photograph of the abandoned farmhouse may indeed foreshadow the evenutal legacy of black farmers across the united states, and it resonated greatly with me as one of the most eloquent shots.
posted by naxosaxur at 12:59 PM on March 14, 2006


I remember hearing about this on the radio (link includes Juan Williams' introductory essay to Ficara's book, in addition to audio).

Meet Black Farmers
posted by PY at 5:22 PM on March 14, 2006


Great link, thanks matteo. The photos and stories are so striking.

It amazes me that people can still get arrested for a peaceful demonstrations. Why?
posted by funambulist at 3:42 AM on March 15, 2006


« Older Comment is free   |   Maximizing your ROI at Pizza Hut Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments