Preserving African-American Land Heritage

Although African-Americans had amassed 15 million acres of land in the South between 1865 and 1919, today 97% of those land assets have been lost. In 1920, African-American farmers controlled approximately 14% of the nation’s farmland, whereas today they control less than 1%. These discouraging statistics are attributable to several factors, including the Great Depression and the Great Migration, and the general decrease in small family farms. Historical racial discrimination in farm loan practices by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and fragmentation of black landownership caused by heirs property (land held in common by the descendants of someone who has died without a will) also both play a part.

Enter the Black Family Land Trust, Inc. to help address this problem. Operating primarily in the Southeast and focusing on Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, BFLT works with black landowners and farmers to preserve their land assets. Founded in 2004 and based in North Carolina, the organization provides education and technical and financial support to landowners, while encouraging them to consider their land heritage in planning for the future. “We’re one of the nation’s only land trusts dedicated to the protection of African-American land and land owned by other historically underserved populations,” says Executive Director Ebonie Alexander. “We use the core principles of land conservation and community economic development to help families understand that land is an asset that needs to be protected. Land is critical to helping stabilize communities by building intergenerational wealth.”

The organization’s approach is a five-part strategy called WRAP, which stands for Wealth Retention and Asset Protection. This comprehensive program is designed to reduce the rate of African-American land loss by educating landowners in five specific areas: clear land ownership, intergenerational land protection and estate planning, easements and other conservation tools, intergenerational financial management and green economies, and 21st century options for land use. BFLT’s “African-American Land Ethic” provides the foundation for its work. This statement calls for a re-examination and self-definition of African-American history and African-Americans’ relationship with the land in the context of their experience in America, while honoring the legacy of the stewards who came before.

Working closely with the USDA and other partner nonprofits, BFLT does extensive community-based outreach, often through churches. “We help people understand that land is a finite, tangible asset and it should generate revenue, even if it’s just enough to pay the taxes,” Alexander explains. “We talk about the importance of a good credit score and explain the importance of a will and estate planning as a way to be proactive.” By telling stories of land loss and striving to engage the entire black community in emphasizing the value of the land, the organization is steadily making an impact. Alexander says BFLT has a tremendous need, however, for matching funds for grants and for the USDA’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program. More financial support would also enable BFLT to develop materials to “meet people where they are.” Often families don’t live on their land, but instead live in cities where the cost of living is lower than in rural America. The pressure to develop the land can be especially great under these circumstances.

One recent success is the Thompson Prawn Farm located in Cedar Grove, North Carolina. Operated by Joe and Geraldine Thompson, this 80-acre farm has recently become home to a thriving aquaculture enterprise. As Alexander describes it, Joe Thompson raised tobacco for 30 years on the land, but following the tobacco buyout he had to discontinue his operation. He wanted to continue farming, so he reinvented himself as an aquaculture farmer raising prawns. In 2012 the BFLT purchased an agricultural conservation easement on 40 acres of the farm where the prawn ponds are located. Now Alexander says, “Joe makes the same or more money as before and it’s a whole lot easier. With proceeds from the easement, he was able to pay off debt and buy more land.” At the closing, Alexander says, Thompson “stood up with tears in his eyes and said he could lay his dead bones down at peace when the time comes knowing his land will always be used to feed people.”

Today Thompson is one of the leading producers of high-quality, farm-raised prawns in the region. He operates three ponds and has plans to become a full-service aquaculture farm, encompassing a hatchery, nursery and processing plant not only for prawns, but also hybrid striped bass.

BFLT has other projects in the works, and Alexander hopes that success stories like this one can soon be shared. As a relatively young organization, BFLT is building its programs and making sure it’s responding to what the community needs. The next generation is an area of particular focus. “With younger people,” Alexander says, “we talk about the two L’s constantly: land and learning. We have to recognize the human atrocities that African-Americans associate with the land, but we can’t let that history define us and prevent us from moving forward to protect our land assets.”

In working with young people, Alexander emphasizes the idea that “there’s nothing you could do that is more entrepreneurial than farming. Everything is in your hands.” She hopes that this appeal to being one’s own boss will also lead to valuing the land as both an asset and a resource to be conserved: “Land is a finite commodity. This is it. And it’s the one thing we all have in common, regardless of race, gender or other dividers. We all need clean air, clean water and food. And where the food comes from is the land. So we’ve got to protect the land.”