In 1967, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer switched up her strategy to liberate her community from the poverty that kept them literally starving for justice.
She petitioned for grant support from organizations like Measure for Measure out of Wisconsin to found the Freedom Farm Cooperative. Would it do the work she hoped?
Hamer purchased over 40 acres of farmland, and welcomed all who needed food to cooperatively grow, cultivate, and consume the crops and livestock it produced.
According to LifeAndThyme.com, “Between 1967 and 1976, the FFC provided housing, health care, employment, education, and access to healthy food. Members of the FFC were displaced land/farmworkers, dispossessed of access to land and brushed aside by mechanization.” A beautiful endeavor, yes, but the FFC faced one dire challenge...
The FFC struggled to financially sustain itself without grants or donations.
Meanwhile, some Black families – who had for generations been traumatically forced into farm work – understandably resisted the labor-intense field of agriculture in favor of more industrial city jobs.
Still, Hamer’s Freedom Farm continues to be an inspiring example of how poor Southern Black farmers gained control of their own food supply, liberating themselves while fighting the same racial terrorism as civil rights organizers in urban centers.
Mainstream institutions have always shunned Black folks. On Black History Year’s recent podcast episode, “The Power of Black Cooperative Economics,” Dr. Jessica Gordon-Nembhard discusses this and more, shedding light on how alternative economies may be the key to our liberation.
You can stream Black History Year anywhere you find podcasts. It’s time to free ourselves economically!