Title: Folk Urban Cultivation in American Cities

Abstract: Urban agriculture has gained significant popularity and legitimacy in the U.S. over the last decade. Yet despite the pervasive public misconception that it is new, there has been a long history of people of color and immigrants growing and sharing food in American cities. Historical local food growing practices among BIPOC communities in U.S. cities have not been systematically documented, but there has been a significant increase in the prominence of younger generation growers. This research aims to understand the aspirations and practices of contemporary urban growers in the context of the history of urban farming among BIPOC communities in the city. The contemporary inquiry component of the project examines the aspirations, practices, and challenges of the new generation of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) urban growers. More specifically, this component examines how the new generation of growers understand the historical precedent of urban folk cultivation and view their practices in connection with their ancestral land, identities, and knowledge. 

Research Objectives & Questions: This project aims to resist cultural erasure by identifying archival and official records that uncover the scope and scale of urban food production. It also seeks to connect contemporary urban growing practices with those of the past. How are BIPOC urban growers today framing their practice in relation to their "lost" connections to the history, land, and people? 

Background: There have always been folks growing food for themselves and their community in most American cities. They were mostly Black and immigrant growers whose ancestors passed on their knowledge for growing and procuring food, for survival and subsistence in the context of discrimination and oppression, but also for demonstrating collective efficacy and preserving cultural heritage. Yet so little of this tradition and legacy has been officially or systematically recorded, in contrast to the widely supported contemporary “urban agricultural” movement, whose most visible leaders are white, college-educated, middle-class urbanites. This owes partially to the termination of the local food provisioning praxis within BIPOC communities sometime during the late 20th century, often resulting in the impression that growing food at a scale is “new.” However, the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Methodology: We will conduct in-depth qualitative interviews with young BIPOC urban growers across the United States to gain insights into how they view their practice in relation to their ancestral heritage, land, and communities. The historical component combines oral history interviews with long-term residents of select U.S. cities and archival research to find evidence of historical local food provisioning practice among BIPOC communities, when this practice declined in prominence (if at all), and why. We plan to search for documentation in local newspapers, federal and local policies, existing oral history collections, as well as business records that would indicate the needs and the capacity of the BIPOC community to feed themselves, and the extent to which such practice had been reported or regulated. 

Potential Impact: This research attempts to uplift the historical practices of BIPOC urban growers that have gone largely overlooked in existing scholarship. Both historic and contemporary challenges such as gentrification and entry barriers to land ownership have created an increasing number of obstacles for BIPOC urban growers. By shedding a light on these realities, this research will inform a more complete picture of urban agriculture as it exists today and in the past.

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