Publishers Weekly
01/11/2021
Novelist Baszile (Queen Sugar) explores the legacy of “Black and brown farmers” in this winning anthology of essays, poems, photographs, and interviews. Analena Hope Hassberg, a professor of ethnic studies at Cal Poly Pomona, examines farming as a “revolutionary act,” noting that enslaved Africans kept small garden plots on U.S. plantations and “often had higher vitamin, mineral, and protein levels than poor whites who also struggled to survive in the face of starvation.” Clif Sutton and his father, Dexter Faison, owners of Straw Hat Farms in Turkey, N.C., discuss their family’s farming legacy and the advantages of passing land from one generation to the next, as opposed to starting from scratch. Novelist and memoirist Clyde Ford details how discrimination against Black landowners by elected farm service committees in the South helped to fuel the civil rights movement, while Jim Embry, founder of Sustainable Communities Network, looks at how Indigenous agricultural traditions and communal structures can help fight climate change and racial inequality. Throughout, poems by Kevin Young, Joy Harjo, and others resonant with the themes discussed. With its attractive presentation and incisive blend of academic, creative, and real-world perspectives, this inspirational survey is a fitting tribute to Black farmers throughout history. Agent: Kim Witherspoon, InkWell Management. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
“We Are Each Other’s Harvest is a groundbreaking and amazing collection of voices that reveal Black people’s devotion to agriculture. Expressing our contributions to the world from ground up, it is a tribute to our ancestors and a gift for us and the future. May these words free our soul indefinitely, while keeping our roots strong.” — Ibram X. Kendi, author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist
"Every page of this poetic assemblage is watermarked with love—the same love for farmers and their painfully forged legacy that birthed the success of Queen Sugar. The love in We Are Each Other’s Harvest also incites a visceral remembering of the rich legacy from which we all come and celebrates the resilience that is our DNA." — Tina Lifford, actress, and author of The Little Book of Big Lies
“Black, brown and tan hands in dark rich loamy soil or in sandy shoals have been a part of the agricultural life of this country since its inception. Yet, all too often, the stories of African American farmers have remained unharvested. In We Are Each Other’s Harvest, Natalie Baszile reaps a bounty of tales and shares them along with photographs, history, poetry, and more. This is a must-have volume for anyone who revers that land and those who work it.” — Jessica B. Harris, Ph.D., Culinary Historian, Professor, and author of My Soul Looks Back
“Journeying from Alaska to Louisiana to Napa Valley, We Are Each Other’s Harvest uplifts the voices of Black farmers, honoring their perseverance and resilience. This insightful, eye-opening collection helps to reimagine what it means to be dedicated to the land.” — Alice Waters, chef, author, food activist, owner of Chez Panisse and founder of The Edible Schoolyard Project
“With stunning color portraits and quotes from iconic writers, leaders, and others interspersed throughout, this well-researched collection is readable (while it requires sitting with some hard truths), informative, and inspiring. Black farming and farmers play a much more significant role in American culture than is typically represented, and this collection brings that information beautifully to the fore, as well as inviting readers to interrogate their own connections to the land and this history.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Novelist Baszile (Queen Sugar) explores the legacy of “Black and brown farmers” in this winning anthology of essays, poems, photographs, and interviews… With its attractive presentation and incisive blend of academic, creative, and real-world perspectives, this inspirational survey is a fitting tribute to Black farmers throughout history.” — Publishers Weekly
“We Are Each Other’s Harvest offers moving, edifying food for thought and will whet your appetite for action.” — BookPage
“In her new anthology, Natalie Baszile examines the relationship between Black farming and American culture through essays, photographs, first-person accounts and more. Together, these pieces dissect the legacy of Black farmers in the U.S. and the impact of land loss and food injustice over generations. In illuminating how these farmers persevered in the face of such challenges, Baszile creates a moving collection about identity, food and community.” — Time magazine
“Baszile’s beautifully produced compendium of essays, poems, and photographs explores Black Americans’ connection to the soil.” — The Boston Globe
"[T]he celebration Natalie Baszile refers to in “We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers Land, and Legacy” is leavened by hard truths and cruelties of efforts to run Black farmers off the land...Baszile has recruited some strong writers to tell their family farming stories of perseverance and a kinship with the land best understood by people who work the rhythms of soil, plants and weather." — Associated Press
“Baszile's collection of essays, poems and family histories pay homage to the Black farmers who tilled North American earth, first under enslavement and then as free people. . . . Baszile brings a personal passion for her theme.” — Shelf Awareness
Booklist (starred review)
With stunning color portraits and quotes from iconic writers, leaders, and others interspersed throughout, this well-researched collection is readable (while it requires sitting with some hard truths), informative, and inspiring. Black farming and farmers play a much more significant role in American culture than is typically represented, and this collection brings that information beautifully to the fore, as well as inviting readers to interrogate their own connections to the land and this history.
BookPage
We Are Each Other’s Harvest offers moving, edifying food for thought and will whet your appetite for action.
Jessica B. Harris
Black, brown and tan hands in dark rich loamy soil or in sandy shoals have been a part of the agricultural life of this country since its inception. Yet, all too often, the stories of African American farmers have remained unharvested. In We Are Each Other’s Harvest, Natalie Baszile reaps a bounty of tales and shares them along with photographs, history, poetry, and more. This is a must-have volume for anyone who revers that land and those who work it.”
Ibram X. Kendi
“We Are Each Other’s Harvest is a groundbreaking and amazing collection of voices that reveal Black people’s devotion to agriculture. Expressing our contributions to the world from ground up, it is a tribute to our ancestors and a gift for us and the future. May these words free our soul indefinitely, while keeping our roots strong.
Alice Waters
Journeying from Alaska to Louisiana to Napa Valley, We Are Each Other’s Harvest uplifts the voices of Black farmers, honoring their perseverance and resilience. This insightful, eye-opening collection helps to reimagine what it means to be dedicated to the land.”
Associated Press
"[T]he celebration Natalie Baszile refers to in “We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Celebrating African American Farmers Land, and Legacy” is leavened by hard truths and cruelties of efforts to run Black farmers off the land...Baszile has recruited some strong writers to tell their family farming stories of perseverance and a kinship with the land best understood by people who work the rhythms of soil, plants and weather."
Tina Lifford
"Every page of this poetic assemblage is watermarked with love—the same love for farmers and their painfully forged legacy that birthed the success of Queen Sugar. The love in We Are Each Other’s Harvest also incites a visceral remembering of the rich legacy from which we all come and celebrates the resilience that is our DNA."
Time magazine
In her new anthology, Natalie Baszile examines the relationship between Black farming and American culture through essays, photographs, first-person accounts and more. Together, these pieces dissect the legacy of Black farmers in the U.S. and the impact of land loss and food injustice over generations. In illuminating how these farmers persevered in the face of such challenges, Baszile creates a moving collection about identity, food and community.
The Boston Globe
Baszile’s beautifully produced compendium of essays, poems, and photographs explores Black Americans’ connection to the soil.
Library Journal
★ 03/01/2021
Proving that Black people have always had a deep connection to the land, writer Baszile (Queen Sugar) elevates the voices of Black farmers and ongoing conversations surrounding food justice, land stewardship, and intergenerational wealth. Through powerful firsthand interviews with Black and Mexican farmers in the Carolinas, Virginia, Louisiana, California, and more, Baszile shows how, for many, farming means freedom. Baszile's compelling narrative excels in telling how growing one's own food has long been critical to Black people's survival, from slavery to the present day. The author also details the increasing number of women farmers, and how Black women are navigating both racism and sexism. Interwoven are contributions from historian Michael W. Twitty and poet Kevin Young, among others. Perhaps the strongest parts of the book are contributions from historian Pete Daniel, on the difficulty of Black farmers to receive assistance from the USDA and the FSA, and author Clyde Ford, on the connection between land and wealth. As Ford writes, "Black landownership has always been an act of defiance and an affirmation of humanity." Vivid photographs by Baszile are a highlight throughout. VERDICT This noteworthy book, the first of its kind, brings an untold history to the forefront and succeeds in showing how land and legacy are interconnected.—Stephanie Sendaula, Library Journal
