Want to write a story for the Land, Food, and Freedom Journal? Start here.
We’re thrilled that you’re interested in contributing to our publication. Read on for guidelines with instructions for how to pitch. The journal currently accepts pitches on a rolling basis. We look forward to hearing from you.
EDITORIAL PHILOSOPHY
The Land, Food, and Freedom Journal is the interdisciplinary editorial offering from Blackademics, the research arm of the National Black Food & Justice Alliance. The NBFJA is a coalition of Black-led organizations focused on food sovereignty and land justice. Blackademics supports research and publishes reports on Black farmers’ innovations. Our work is centered in Black food sovereignty and liberation.
We developed this journal as a space to cultivate ideas, promote scholarship, and celebrate art, to catalyze and support movement building. Whether you identify as an academic, farmer, land steward, grower, earth lover, activist, freedom fighter, artist, intellectual, street scholar, organizer, culture worker, or culinary artist, your voice is central to this movement.
This journal is by us, for us, worldwide. We want to hear from students, teachers, city folks, country kin, disabled, working class, formerly incarcerated, cis, and gender-nonconforming storytellers who identify within the Black diaspora. Let’s dig in together, root ourselves in our love for our people and the planet, and design systems that nourish us.
PITCH GUIDELINES
First, take note of what the journal has recently published. If your idea is similar, be sure to include how your idea would add to or differentiate from the existing story.
Next, we’ll ask you to complete a form that includes the following:
Tell us who you are: Convey why you are the best person to tell the story you’re pitching and how your personal or professional point of view will shape the piece. Artist statements and professional bios are also welcome.
Propose a few sample headlines: You’ll want to think about the “hook” of your work, something that both summarizes the piece and will compel the audience to engage with your work.
Write a summary of the work: Showcase perspective. What’s your angle? What’s the unique point of view that you’re bringing to this work? Is this an underreported topic that needs more visibility, and if so, why? Is it a fresh take on something we’ve heard about before? Why does it matter now? Be specific! If you have existing work in this area, let us know. If you have relationships to sources or research that will be needed for the piece to be completed, let us know. If the idea was inspired by another organization or work you’re doing elsewhere, share that, too.
Pitch or Submission: Select whether you are pitching an idea for a piece that doesn’t exist yet or are submitting a completed work.
EDITORIAL GUIDELINES
We consider work to publish within the categories of Land, Food, Freedom, and Culture.
LAND
The foundation of our existence, the portal through which we access liberation, and the connective link between past, present, and future. Land is the source, the center, the portal, and the genesis of all we seek and aim to solve. We give deep gratitude and understand land as a vital organ and an essential member of our beloved community. From regenerative solutions that combat climate disasters to addressing food and stress-related health conditions, cooperative economies, seed saving, and plant medicine, pitches for this section should reflect personal, communal, or ancestral relationships with land, highlighting practices of care, cultivation, and restoration.
Examples of LAND pitches and submissions:
• Visual art, photography, or installations centered on Black land stewardship, regenerative farming, and placemaking.
• Essays, poetry, and prose that explore ancestral land connections, Indigenous African agricultural traditions, and reparations.
• Film, music, and multimedia pieces that depict land-based spiritual practices, cooperative land ownership, or land dispossession and reclamation.
• Research and case studies highlighting Black land trusts, sustainable farming practices, and agroecology.
FOOD
Sustenance, memory, and resistance. Black food sovereignty asserts our right to define and control our food systems, reclaiming ancestral growing practices, crop selection, and cooking traditions. We seek work that highlights food as a site of cultural preservation, political struggle, and collective healing.
Examples of FOOD pitches and submissions:
• Recipes with accompanying stories on Black food traditions, family legacies, or culinary resistance.
• Poetry and essays examining food apartheid, the commodification of Black foodways, or radical food distribution models.
• Visual art, photography, and design inspired by Black farming, cooking, and shared meals as acts of joy and defiance.
• Oral histories from Black farmers, chefs, herbalists, and food workers resisting systemic inequities.
• Research and case studies on Black-led food co-ops, community gardens, and self-determined food economies.
FREEDOM
Self-determination. Movement building is essential for achieving self-determination. This section focuses on organizing, political education, futuring, and world-building—critical elements on the path toward Black liberation. From cooperative economics to abolitionist frameworks to decolonial imagination, freedom explores the strategies, lessons, and visionary thinking required to build systems that truly serve and sustain us. We invite work that challenges oppressive systems, envisions self-determined economies, and uplifts the legacies of Black resistance.
Examples of FREEDOM pitches and submissions:
• Manifestos and essays exploring abolitionist futures, mutual aid, and cooperative economic models.
• Poetry and prose rooted in Black radical thought, Afrofuturism, and speculative fiction.
• Documentary photography and short films on social movements, protest art, and community-led organizing.
• Music, spoken word, and performance pieces as expressions of resistance and reimagining.
• Research and case studies on Black liberation movements, solidarity economies, and transformative justice.
CULTURE
Land, Food, and Freedom are all mediated through cultural practices and expressions. Culture is the vessel that carries our collective memory, creativity, and ways of being. It shapes how we relate to land, food, and freedom, holding the stories, languages, traditions, and spiritual practices that sustain us. Culture is where resistance, joy, and imagination meet—through music, art, oral traditions, movement, and everyday rituals. It is both a reflection of our past and a blueprint for our future.
Examples of CULTURE pitches and submissions:
• Storytelling, poetry, and prose that celebrate Black cultural traditions, diasporic connections, and intergenerational wisdom.
• Visual art, film, and music exploring themes of ritual, spirituality, and cultural preservation.
• Essays and research on Black language, folklore, and the impact of colonialism on cultural expression.
• Oral histories from elders, cultural workers, and artists committed to maintaining and evolving Black traditions.
• Multimedia projects that document the intersections of culture, resistance, and futurism.
SUBMISSION SPECS
• For written work, please share via a Google Docs link. Please ensure submissions are no more than 2000 words.
• For visual art, submit high-res images in jpeg or png format.
• For multimedia, provide links to video, audio, or interactive pieces.
RATES
The Land, Food, and Freedom Journal is a not-for-profit, freely accessible publication centering Black agrarianism, food sovereignty, and liberation. We use honoraria instead of compensation to recognize contributors' labor as offerings to a collective movement, valuing their work beyond a transactional exchange. This reflects our commitment to reciprocity, shared knowledge, and radical accessibility rather than market-driven frameworks.
Baseline honoraria apply across all categories, with higher rates for research-intensive and peer-reviewed scholarly work. Additional honoraria are available for expanded word counts and multimedia adaptations. At times, we will commission specific pieces that align with the journal’s themes and priorities, with compensation negotiated separately to reflect the additional time, research, or creative labor required that is being requested.
