"The Soil and The Story" Exhibition

HGA Gallery, Rapson Hall
Monday to Thursday: 7:45 a.m.–7 p.m.
Friday: 7:45 a.m.– 6 p.m.

The Goldstein Museum of Design’s latest exhibition, The Soil and The Story, celebrates Black Soilship in the Black Belt by highlighting 12 farms researched in the last three years across Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Its organizers, bridging the College of Design and the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, invite you to explore the relationships between science, nature, history, and culture—here and wherever you stand.

There is no U.S. agricultural history without the expertise and labor of Black people. Black farmers, horticulturists, scientists, and inventors have revolutionized the way our agricultural system functions. During the Great Migration six million Black people moved north and west to escape racial violence, economic and educational disadvantage, and the oppression of Jim Crow laws.

But many Black farmers remained. They liberate and heal both themselves and the soil by incorporating ancestral African traditions and indigenous land knowledge. The voices of Black farmers are essential to the knowledge and practices of U.S. soil health today and the design of systems and policies for the future.

Credits

This exhibition is organized by Tiffany LaShae, MS Land and Atmospheric Science, College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, with Terresa Moses, Assistant Professor, Graphic Design and Director of Design Justice, College of Design.