Crops of Survival: Black Foodways as Continuity and Resistance

Spring 2025 Harry ’51 and Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series

About the speaker

Dr. Gail Myers is a Cultural Anthropologist.  For over twenty-five years she has researched, lectured, published and recently filmed the stories of African American farmers, sharecroppers, and gardeners.  In 2000, while a doctoral student at The Ohio State University, Dr. Myers organized the first statewide conference for African American farmers in Ohio, “Sustaining Communities: Ohio’s Black Farmers at the Crossroads.”  She also served as the conference coordinator of the 19th California Small Farm Conference in Ventura, CA in 2005. The Root Magazine (April 24, 2015) featured Dr. Myers as one of seven urban farmers in the US you should know.

In 2004, Dr. Myers co-founded the non-profit, Farms to Grow, Inc., to work with Black farmers to maintain and expand their farms.  In 2013, Farms to Grow, Inc. started the Freedom Farmers Market in Oakland, CA, now in its 11th year.

Dr. Myers has authored several articles including the recent article in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Decolonizing a Food System: The Freedom Farmers Market as Resistance and Analysis, Summer 2015.  In 2017, Dr Myers co-authored the chapter “Roots” with Dr. Bandele Owusu in Land Justice: Re-imagining Land, Food, and the Commons. Dr. Myers has received numerous awards and recognitions including from the California’s State Senate and the Ohio State House of Representatives.  In 2018 She received the Advocate of Social Justice Award “Justie” from the Eco-farm Association. Dr. Myers continues a wide spectrum of grass roots organizing and coalition building through her work with Farms to Grow, Inc.  Her new documentary film, “Rhythms of the Land”, is currently being screened around the country.

Gail Myers received her bachelor’s degree from Florida State University, a master’s degree in applied Anthropology from Georgia State University and received her doctorate from The Ohio State University in Cultural Anthropology. She has taught at the Ohio State University, Morehouse School of Medicine, Morehouse College, Denison College, San Francisco Art Institute, currently teaching at the New School. 
 

About the seminar series

The Harry ’51 & Joshua ’49 Tsujimoto Perspectives in Global Development Seminar Series showcases innovative approaches to development with experts from around the globe. Each year, the series attracts online registrants from over 45 countries and more than 350 organizations. 

Seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:20-1:10 p.m. eastern time during the semester in 101 Bradfield Hall. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend in-person or via Zoom.

The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.