Black Farmer Documentary Update

Thanks, friends, for asking about the status of the black farmer documentary. This year has been both a learning experience and a labor of love. Doing research, making contacts, managing the budget, interviewing folks, and watching Shoun Hill and his skills in filming have all been beyond belief.

I have learned that some things, many things, in fact, are beyond  my ability to control. People's schedules, the weather, plane flights, and many other things have been learning experiences.

Our intent is to tell the untold stories of African American farmers who fought against the USDA. Specifically, we are focusing upon those farmers whose stories are untold because they settled their cases administratively, or out of court, prior to the certification of the Pigford Class Action Suit in 1999. This is truly the story of the "Davids versus Goliath." We all know that story.

Shoun and I have now completed one year of the two-year effort. We have interviewed former legal counsel, the attorney who was at the very heartbeat of the movement, three living sons of deceased parents who died prematurely in this fight, and a couple who continue to own their land, as does the family of brothers.

Shoun and I have come face to face with pain and suffering. Another body of research which is yet to be published asserts that the greatest damage is found  in the body, mind, and spirit of the farmer, secondly in his spouse, and thirdly in the lives of the farmer's children. We found this to be so. We listened to and observed both struggle and resilience. We heard stories that they have not shared for quite some time, and other stories that they continue to live out and tell others. We saw both the curiosity of being interviewed as well as the dread and the pain of re-telling the old stories. There has been much laughter and there have been tears shed. The interviews remind me of what I wrote and said back in 1995, "I was not prepared for what I saw, heard, and felt." Stories matter, and the teller of stories matter, and  my commitment remains the same today as then. My commitment, and  Shoun's  commitment is to tell stories in places and spaces that they cannot go or do not want to go. We want to be faithful witnesses and tellers of those impactful stories of farming while black.

More could be said, but this  is intended to be a short summary.

For 2019, our travel and filming schedule will be much more economically costly and complicated. We will  be in several states: Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, and the greater DC area.  We will interview farmers and families, experts in the area of discrimination at the hands of an unwieldy bureaucracy, the USDA and its complicated system that stretches from DC to the local level. We will interview former employees of the USDA and hopefully of the DOJ. These are people who lived through those pivotal days.

Some farmers have passed on into the arms of their maker. Some may actually pass while we are waiting to see them. Some of those who remain with us are increasingly elderly.

We have read a huge number of pages of reports, academic articles, and newspaper articles. They are informative, but there is nothing as moving as hearing stories being told.

Please continue to follow this blog for future updates.

If you'd like to know more about my collaborator, Shoun Hill, please check out his web page or his video.

If you want to know more about what this is all about, please read this article, or this one, or see this man's photography.