PIGFORD LEGACY FARMER
ANCESTOR SCROLL
BLACK FARMERS WHO CROSSED INTO ANCESTORHOOD WITHOUT
RESTORATIVE LAND JUSTICE FROM USDA UNDER THE PIGFORD LAWSUIT
Our Ancestor Scroll was birthed from an interview with Elder Eddie Slaughter, a farmer-organizer from Buena Vista, GA. Elder Slaughter suggested that we build a wall dedicated to all the Black legacy farmers who transitioned to the Land of the Ancestors without restorative land justice from USDA. Our Ancestor Scroll is far from completion. It will take years to complete. We know that 6,906 Black legacy farmers were denied outright on their Track A claims. We also know that the historical record was buried when Class Counsel (Black farmers’ attorneys) unjustifiably gave up discovery. Give thanks to the farmer-griots who pieced together fragmented collective memory to salute our Ancestors: Bernice Atchison (Alabama); Dexter Davis (Louisiana); Gary Grant (North Carolina); Willie Head Jr. (Georgia); Carl Parker (Georgia); Eddie Slaughter (Georgia); and Lloyd Wright (Virginia). Ashe.
We celebrate the transition to ancestry in my home city of New Orleans. I updated St. James Infirmary to reflect that mix of celebration and personal sorrow when our elders become ancestors. This song is in celebration of recently transitioned ancestors, Elder Willie Gordon, Elder Vernon Breckenridge, and Elder Janie Bell Bremby, who provided sustenance to countless generations as Black farming families. They nurtured our bodies through decades of harvests and our souls through the sheer fact that they were land holding, which gave us something to aspire to. The Cancel Pigford Debt Campaign is attempting to cancel unconscionable debt and land dispossession by a system of unequally dispensed aid, access, and funds to Black farmers.
– Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
Joshlynn A. Allen (Chilton County, Alabama)
Goldmon Anderson (Chilton County, Alabama)
Bertha Archie (Chilton County, Alabama)
Egger L. Archie (Chilton County, Alabama)
Claud Arrington (Chilton County, Alabama)
John W. Atchison (Chilton County, Alabama)
Bernard Bates (Nicodemus, Kansas)
Janie Bell Bembry (Hawkinsville, Georgia)
Oscar Bembry (Hawkinsville, Georgia)
Robert Benson (Chilton County, Alabama)
Lottie Bishop (Chilton County, Alabama)
Vernon Breckenridge (Hennessey, Oklahoma)
Joe Nathan Bryant Jr. (Pine Bluff, Arkansas)
Jackie Cambell (Chilton County, Alabama)
Willie Lee Caver (Chilton County, Alabama)
Brenda Nunn Childers (Chilton County, Alabama)
Jessie Childs (Chilton County, Alabama)
Jessie Childs Jr. (Chilton County, Alabama)
Mary Childs (Chilton County, Alabama)
L.C. Cooper (Warrenton, North Carolina)
Minnie Crews (Chilton County, Alabama)
Sadie Daniel (Chilton County, Alabama)
Margaret C. Davis (Sondheimer, Louisiana)
James Duninkin (Chilton County, Alabama)
Hoyte Ford (Chilton County, Alabama)
Hezekiah Gibson Jr. (Manning, South Carolina)
Willie Gield (Chilton County, Alabama)
Willie Gordon (Hawkinsville, Georgia)
Danny Guice (Tallulah, Louisiana)
Brown J. Hawkins (Warrenton, North Carolina)
Rogers Heartnett (Chilton County, Alabama)
Jack Hicks (Chilton County, Alabama)
Pecola Hicks (Chilton County, Alabama)
George B. Hildebrandt Jr. (Leavenworth, Kansas)
Charlotte Hill (Chilton County, Alabama)
James Hill (Chilton County, Alabama)
Robert Hinderson (Chilton County, Alabama)
Georgia Hosecloth (Chilton County, Alabama)
L.C. Hudson (Chilton County, Alabama)
Odessa Huffman (Ramer, Alabama)
Johnny Hughes (Chilton County, Alabama)
Willie Jackson (Sondheimer, Louisiana)
Berdie Jemison (Chilton County, Alabama)
Joshlynn Jemison (Chilton County, Alabama)
Hilton Lane (Chilton County, Alabama)
Charlie Fred Lee (Montezuma, Georgia)
Leo Looney (Chilton County, Alabama)
Mattie Mack (Brandenburg, Kentucky)
Woodrow Marshal (Chilton County, Alabama)
Nathaniel McKnight (Natchez, Mississippi)
Melvin Melton (Chilton County, Alabama)
William Miller (Marshallville, Georgia)
Johnny Mixon (Chilton County, Alabama)
Aaron Mobley (Quitman, Georgia)
Addie Morrow (Chilton County, Alabama)
Rosa Lee Murphy (Simmon Hill, Georgia)
Perve Nelson (Sondheimer, Louisiana)
Earl Nix (Chilton County, Alabama)
Jeffroe Nunley (Lake Providence, Louisiana)
Betty Nunn (Chilton County, Alabama)
Ella Fay Nunn (Chilton County, Alabama)
F.B. Nunn (Chilton County, Alabama)
O.T. Nunn (Chilton County, Alabama)
Fletcher Parker (Poulan, Georgia)
Gary Parker (Ashburn, Georgia)
Robert L. Parker (Ashburn, Georgia)
Kalep People (Chilton County, Alabama)
George William Porter (Chilton County, Alabama)
Sarah Brown Ray (Chilton County, Alabama)
Roy Rolle (Ocala, Florida)
John Rowser (Chilton County, Alabama)
Phillip Scott (Sondheimer, Louisiana)
Lloyd Shaffer (Yazoo County, Mississippi)
Nathaniel Shortridge (Chilton County, Alabama)
Jimmie Silman (Chilton County, Alabama)
Ellison Simon (Chilton County, Alabama)
Robert Simon (Chilton County, Alabama)
Edward Lee Sims (Chilton County, Alabama)
Dennis Singleterry (Chilton County, Alabama)
Theodore Spencer Sr. (Simmon Hill, Georgia)
Lillie B. Tensely (Chilton County, Alabama)
Willie B. Tinsley (Chilton County, Alabama)
Joshnsee Walker (Chilton County, Alabama)
Reginald Ware (Lake Providence, Louisiana)
William White (Chilton County, Alabama)
Lieutenant Wiggins (Sondheimer, Louisiana)
Jerry Wilson (Chilton County, Alabama)
Morris Wilson (Chilton County, Alabama)
Dorathy Wise (Whitakers, North Carolina)
Eddie Wise (Whitakers, North Carolina)
Harry Young (Owensboro, Kentucky)
Engage
The Cuban agroecologist Fernando Funes Monzote shared, "you make the path by walking."
Engage with our tribe on social media as we make our path toward collective liberation through the preservation of Black agrarian custodial landownership, ecological stewardship, and food and fiber economies in the South.