Please tell me about someone who inspires you.
I had an amazing grandmother, Irene Harris. She was the mother of her church, and every year, she would write poems and plays for the children in her community. I would visit her during summers and school breaks.
What did you learn?
My grandmother was one of the first residents in the housing authority or the projects in Queens to have a garden in 1941. I was born in 1952, and every year that I would visit her, the garden remained. She taught me to love and appreciate growing food.
Oral traditions are important vehicles for sharing stories, history, and lessons with community members. We must encourage intergenerational interviews, learning labs, workshops, and cyphers. We are all the seeds of our ancestors’ dreams.
Asantewaa Gail Harris
A great-grandmother in action
Asantewaa Gail Harris was born in 1952 in Brownsville, a neighborhood in east Brooklyn. The founder of the mutual aid organization Sisters Health & Wellness Collective continues the charge for healthier outcomes for people of African descent. She received the Legacy Award from the Foundation for Black Women's Wellness for her work on Black women’s wellness and her decades of human rights and social justice work in regional, national, and global arenas. Her legacy spans movement building with farmers, urban agriculturalists, and community gardeners.
Mama Asantewaa preserves rich stories about Black food sovereignty and liberation through oral narratives. In 2021, she learned about Kendall Rae Johnson, a six-year-old Black girl living in Atlanta. Rae is the youngest certified farmer in Georgia. On July 18, 2024, Harris met with the young grower to connect.
Kendall Rae Johnson
The youngest certified farmer in Georgia
Kendall Rae Johnson was born in 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. She started playing in the dirt as early as three years old. This young grower learned how to form a connection with the land from her great-grandmother, Laura “Kate” Williams. Johnson learned early on how to plant nourishing foods like cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and collard greens. When she was four years old, her parents built a garden bed for her to nurture her newly found craft. She took pride in showing off her green space and educating her local community about its inner workings. At six years old, she became the youngest certified farmer in Georgia, where she continues to operate her youth farm and advocate for policies to implement educational agriculture programs in schools. Throughout this path, the young grower prioritizes connections with elders in the food community.
