Fannie Lou Hamer Garden

The Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center is a safe space for Black students to come together for services and support within their Black community. Black students make up only 3% of the student body, and so this garden—in addition to the center—is intended to create an opportunity for Black students to reclaim their right to grow healthy food. Fannie Lou Hamer was a Black woman sharecropper in the post-Antebellum South who pushed for the rights of Black people after slavery- specifically their right to access land. Black people in America, forced to work in the plantations during the years of slavery, are now disproportionately affected by food security and diet-related illnesses.

The Fannie Lou Hamer Garden was created by Black students in the Spring of 2018 to address how these issues are existing on campus and ways that students can make a difference. The Project Lead—William Smith—was granted funds from The Green Initiative Fund in 2018 under the Environmental Justice theme. The garden is used to grow culturally relevant foods by using agro-ecological methods that “sustain the earth while providing a context for black students to learn about the importance of reclaiming land and farming practices” (TGIF Grant). The garden also plans to serve the larger Black community outside of UC Berkeley to share resources, host workdays/workshops, and guest speakers.

Though Black students will get priority in garden positions and harvesting for produce, we collaborate with other student groups and encourage people of all gender, race, and ethnic backgrounds to be involved in our space. 

Adapted from the Campus Gardens Handbook Fall 2018 and The Green Initiative Fund project description found here.

Garden Manager is Gia Jones < gijones@berkeley.edu >