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Preserving the Legacy: Addressing the Decline of Black Farmers in America!

Food is fundamental for survival. Can the African American community be empowered in a nation where none of the farmland is owned or controlled by Blacks?


In the annals of American history, the story of Black farmers stands as a testament to resilience, ingenuity, and perseverance against tremendous odds. However, over the past century, this once vibrant community has faced a stark decline, with the number of Black farmers plummeting from nearly a million in the 1920s to a mere 45,508 a century later.1 Reportedly, 80% of land owned by Black people has been lost since 1910 due to lack of access to legal resources to assure the transference of clear title ownership from one generation to the next.

Social Impact Investing

Consider exploring socially responsible investing options that align with the goals of uplifting the African American community. Social impact investing allows you to generate returns while also creating positive social change. One such example is Ariel Investments, the largest operating Black-owned mutual fund in the U.S. that focuses on providing capital to enable minority-owned businesses to set up their operations and scale, and to improve financial literacy among people of color

Pamela Williams-Phelps

Before You Start Shopping For The Holidays, Check Out Harnessing Black Spending to Uplift The African American Community.

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https://blkbusiness.net/black-spending-power-reaches-1-6-trillion-in-2021/

Knowing how much impact supporting black businesses can make, Dr. Dionne Mahaffey author of 10 Ways To Support Black Businesses During Black Business Month shares that there are a multitude of options to find and support the 2.6 million black-owned businesses in this country.

Pamela Williams-Phelps

1. Supporting Black-Owned Businesses:

One of the most effective ways to harness black spending power is by supporting black-owned businesses. When you choose to spend your money at black-owned establishments, you’re not only stimulating economic growth within the community but also creating job opportunities and fostering entrepreneurship. This can lead to greater economic self-sufficiency.

Author Maggie Anderson in her book, Our Black Year: One Family’s Quest to Buy Black in America’s Racially Divided Economy, concluded that only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to Black-owned businesses.

The Anderson Research asserts that if higher-income Black consumers spent at least $1 out of every $10 with Black-owned businesses, it would generate one million jobs for African Americans!

In a recent FoodTank.com article, Jasmine Ratliff, Co-Executive Director of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance, points to the emergence of black-led food co-ops in Oakland, Dayton, and Brooklyn as a prime demonstration of collective buying power, collective political power, and collective people power. The community members themselves own, manage, support, work at, and govern these cooperatives thus creating their own food sovereignty by defining their own food access and agriculture systems while tackling systemic inequalities.

Admittedly, not all businesses are created equally, and supporting some black-owned establishments is not without its challenges, but hopefully for the reasons presented in this post, it’s worth the effort! Thanks to social media, consumers can minimize risks by perusing the ratings and reviews included on many black search destinations.

Pamela Williams-Phelps