BLACK EARTH WISDOM
By Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black
Publisher: HarperCollins Ltd
“I love to think of nature as unlimited broadcasting stations, through which God speaks to us every day, every hour.” ~Dr. George Washington Carver, Tuskegee University, 1887
The Queen Mothers of Kroboland, Ghana admonished their Black American students in disbelief, “Is it true that in the United States, a farmer will put the seed into the ground and not pour any libations, offer any prayers, sing, or dance, and expect that seed to grow?” Met with ashamed silence, they continued, “That is why you are all sick! Because you see the earth as a thing and not a being.”
Ecological humility is part of the cultural heritage of Black people. While our 400+ years immersion in racial capitalism has attempted to squash that connection to the sacred earth, there are those who persist in believing that the land and waters are family members, and who act accordingly. In Black Earth Wisdom, Penniman weaves together the voices of today’s most respected Black environmentalists, those who have cultivated the skill of listening to the lessons that Earth has whispered to them.
In this time, we are acutely aware of the fractures in our system of runaway consumption and corporate insatiability. We feel the hot winds of wildfire, the disruptions of pandemic, and the choked breath of the victims of state violence. We know there is no going back to “normal.” The path forward demands that we take our rightful places as the younger siblings in creation, deferring to the oceans, forests, and mountains as our teachers.
Those whose skin is the color of soil are reviving their ancestral and ancient practice of listening to the Earth to know which way to go. As Dr. Carver explained, “How do I talk to a little flower? Through it I talk to the Infinite. And what is the Infinite? It is that silent, small force… that still small voice.”
Interviewees and contributors include adrienne maree brown, Dr. Ross Gay, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Rue Mapp, Dr. Carolyn Finney, Audrey Peterman, Awise Agbaye Wande Abimbola, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Kendra Pierre-Louis, Latria Graham, Dr. Lauret Savoy, Ira Wallace, Savi Horne, Dr. Claudia Ford, Dr. J. Drew Lanham, Leni Sorensen, Queen Quet, Toshi Reagon, Yeye Luisah Teish, Yonnette Fleming, Naima Penniman, Angelou Ezeilo, James Edward Mills, Teresa Baker, Pandora Thomas, Toi Scott, Aleya Fraser, Chris Bolden-Newsome, Dr. Joshua Bennett, B. Anderson, Chris HIll, Greg Watson, T. Morgan Dixon, Alice Walker, and Enroue Halfkenny.
A big thank you to B. Anderson for creating the Black Earth Wisdom archive and sharing the name with this book.
Follow @black.earth.wisdom for more information.