Black Earth Wisdom: Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists

by Leah Penniman

Overview

“Soulful, spirited, and often joyful, Black Earth Wisdom is sustained by a deep reverence for the Earth and its ‘symbiotic living ecosystems.’ The result is a potent look at the overlap between the environmental and racial justice movements.”—Publishers Weekly

A soulful collection of illuminating essays and interviews that explore Black people’s spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate, curated by the acclaimed author of Farming While Black

Author of Farming While Black and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, Leah Penniman reminds us that ecological humility is an intrinsic part of Black cultural heritage. While racial capitalism has attempted to sever our connection to the sacred earth for 400 years, Black people have long seen the land and water as family and understood the intrinsic value of nature.

This thought-provoking anthology brings together today’s most respected and influential Black environmentalist voices —leaders who have cultivated the skill of listening to the Earth —to share the lessons they have learned. These varied and distinguished experts include Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker; the first Queen Mother and official spokesperson for the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Queen Quet; marine biologist, policy expert, and founder and president of Ocean Collectiv, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson; and the Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers, Land Loss Prevention Project, Savi Horne. In Black Earth Wisdom, they address the essential connection between nature and our survival and how runaway consumption and corporate insatiability are harming the earth and every facet of American society, engendering racial violence, food apartheid, and climate injustice.

Those whose skin is the color of soil are reviving their ancestral and ancient practice of listening to the earth for guidance. Penniman makes clear that the fight for racial and environmental justice demands that people put our planet first and defer to nature as our ultimate teacher.

Contributors include:

Alice Walker • adrienne maree brown • Dr. Ross Gay • Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson • Rue Mapp • Dr. Carolyn Finney • Audrey Peterman • Awise Agbaye Wande Abimbola • Ibrahim Abdul-Matin • Kendra Pierre-Louis • Latria Graham • Dr. Lauret Savoy •Ira Wallace • Savi Horne • Dr. Claudia Ford • Dr. J. Drew Lanham • Dr. Leni Sorensen • Queen Quet • Toshi Reagon • Yeye Luisah Teish • Yonnette Fleming • Naima Penniman • Angelou Ezeilo • James Edward Mills • Teresa Baker • Pandora Thomas • Toi Scott • Aleya Fraser • Chris Bolden-Newsome • Dr. Joshua Bennett • B. Anderson • Chris Hill • Greg Watson • T. Morgan Dixon • Dr. Dorceta Taylor • Colette Pichon Battle • Dillon Bernard • Sharon Lavigne • Steve Curwood • and Babalawo Enroue Halfkenny

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780063160903
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	07/07/2026
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Leah Penniman (li/she/ya/elle) is a Black Kreyol farmer/peyizan, mother, soil nerd, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. She cofounded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. Penniman has been farming since 1996, holds an MA in science education and a BA in environmental science and international development from Clark University, and is a member of the clergy in the West African Indigenous Orisa tradition. Her first book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land, is a love song for the land and her people.

Editorial Reviews

Penniman and the interviewees offer a staggering range of reparative projects, including farms and community agricultural projects rooted in traditional African farming practices, heirloom seed cooperatives, nature therapy programs for juvenile offenders, and hiking groups for Black women and teens. It’s clear that Penniman and her contributors view Black environmentalism as healing therapy not only for Black individuals but for the planet.” — Booklist (starred review)

“Soulful, spirited, and often joyful, [Black Earth Wisdom] is sustained by a deep reverence for the Earth and its “symbiotic living ecosystems.” The result is a potent look at the overlap between the environmental and racial justice movements.” — Publishers Weekly

"A powerful and passionate collection of instructive perspectives on nature.”
— Kirkus Reviews

"A moving and powerful how-to book for Black farmers to reclaim the occupation and the contributions of the BIPOC community that introduced sustainable agriculture." — Book Riot on Farming While Black

"An extraordinary book...part agricultural guide, part revolutionary manifesto." — Vogue on Farming While Black

“Provides practical tools along with a beautiful visionary template for practicing land development that is rooted in healing and transformation.”  — Patrisse Khan-Cullors on Farming While Black

"Leah Penniman is . . . opening the door for the next generation of farmers." — CBS This Morning on Farming While Black

“Leah is truly changing our food system, one bite at a time.”  — PBS on Farming While Black

“Farming While Black offers a guide to reclaiming food systems from white supremacy.”  — Bon Appetit on Farming While Black

“A guidebook to dismantle systemic racism.”  — Civil Eats on Farming While Black

“Penniman is part of a growing movement to reclaim Black farmers’ hard-won place in our country’s agriculture.”  — Mother Jones on Farming While Black

“What I find so important about the work that [Penniman does] is that it’s reconnecting things that were torn asunder [and] challenging assumptions.”  — Food & Wine on Farming While Black

From the Publisher

2023-02-08
Essays exploring the relationship between people of color and nature.

Penniman, author of Farming While Black and co-founder of Soul Fire Farm, shares her conversations with 16 Black environmentalists. “The voices and expertise of Black, Brown, and Indigenous environmentalists, amplified by all those who have eschewed white supremacy, must be heeded if we are to halt and reverse planetary calamity,” writes the author in the introduction. “Ecological humility is part of the cultural heritage of Black people.” The author weaves together the experiences and stories of this diverse group of individuals with respect to their relationships with “Mother Earth” and their perspectives on how to listen to her better. “Embedded in the theory of the supremacy of white people over other races,” writes Penniman, “is the theory of human supremacy over nature.” Among the topics she discusses in her joint conversation with Lauret Edith Savoy, Rue Mapp, and Audrey Peterman are the contention that national parks have been historically unwelcoming to Blacks and that the land used to create the park system was stolen from Native Americans. Regarding the enslavement of African Americans, Penniman contends that Blacks have “confused the subjugation our ancestors experienced on the land with the land herself.” With Greg Watson and Pandora Thomas, she discusses ancestral grandmothers braiding seeds into their hair before boarding the trans-Atlantic slave ships, the value of traditional African diets, and the loss of connection to ancestral foodways. With Alice Walker and Joshua Bennett, the author discusses the role of Black eco-literature as a vital avenue to record and remind people of color of their history. Walker writes about hearing the Earth stories of various African American and Black members of her community, and while she was also interested in biblical stories, she believes they “further enslaved us in a belief system that took us a greater distance from our earthbound wisdom.” Ross Gay provides the foreword.

A powerful and passionate collection of instructive perspectives on nature.

Kirkus Reviews