As I take a break from posting on social media for

As I take a break from posting on social media for awhile to focus, research, and write; I leave you with this gift. A true visual of what it looks to be a white, or non black person of color, ally or accomplice in the World of Plants. This is the face of Joel Elias Spingarn. He was a Columbia University professor, soldier, civil rights leader, horticulturist, clematis enthusiast, board member at New York Botanical Garden @NYBG, and a Jewish man that really was about that life ✊🏻✊🏾
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A man of action, Spingarn is most remembered for his role in the civil rights movement and active involvement with the @naacp. Here he worked to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.
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He was one of the first leaders of the organization, served as Chairman of the Board, and actively involved in the NAACP until his death. Read the last part of that sentence again--UNTIL HIS DEATH. The work doesn't stop tomorrow y'all or even when 2020 (~finally~) ends. If you are with us then--be with us for life! So don't be scurred, be like Joel Elias Spingarn.
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This movement isn’t Black vs White. It is EVERYBODY vs RACISM. Let’s go!
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#ConquerTheSoil #IWillBeBack

I feel deep guilt that I can come up with thoughtf

I feel deep guilt that I can come up with thoughtful words when it comes to horticulture but my words aren't as succinct when it comes to social justice. This is one of the things I am working on in my life right now. Anyhoo, one of the influential black women I follow to learn from @luvvie says if you can't sing--then pass the mic!
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To celebrate what would have been Breonna Taylor's 27th birthday I am passing the mic and using the words written by my friend, attorney, entrepreneur, wife, and mother of a black son @candicesc1of1. The Conquer the Soil community will join voices across the world and #SAYHERNAME.
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We do this as part of the movement that calls attention to police violence against Black women, girls, and femmes, and demands that their stories be integrated into calls for justice, policy responses to police violence, and media representations of police brutality.
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Swipe 👉🏾 to read Candice's words and make time to research the names of women like: Pamela Turner, Sandra Bland, Korryn Gaines, Atatiana Jefferson and Shantel Davis; whose lives will not be forgotten. Oh and the video at the end shows how simple it is to write an email to help. I did it and so can you 💪🏾
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(images by @theblackgirltribe and @seethrunikki)

Hey y'all! I have been sent a lot of messages of s

Many white people have asked ways to support blac

Many white people have asked ways to support black voices in horticulture. Below is what happens when businesses start to put their money where their mouth is.
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Examples of white businesses with money, reach, and resources that have hired and/or contracted with me in this past year include @ndal_org @timberpress and my employer @longwoodgardens. This is how the money trickles down in real life:
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I am able to pay rent to my black landlord. I am able to cover travel costs for young entrepreneurs like Lelo of @outdoorfreshfarm and Chris of @gratitudebotanicalfarm. They got to visit me at Longwood and get inspiration and access to the global horticulture network I am supported by. I am able to support black horticulturists that have supported me like @soulspiritfarmers by purchasing tickets to their online event.
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It has allowed me in the past to spend money with black businesses and creatives like @creativegeniuslaw and @moni_artist and @execonthego. I have been able to pay for consultation services to women of color in business like @ruchi.a.arora and @justshopboutique for assistance on creating garden apparel.
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It allows me to reach black women in horticulture like Teri @cottageincourt and Perla of @agrochic an Afro-Latina who I partnered with to speak in Salt Lake City. I used dollars to travel to New York and support @wambuilovesplants. The horticulture workshop Wambui put together included black academics like Kobinah Abdul-Salim, black women business owner @malaikaadero and garden royalty @shaun.hester. I was able to use Longwood's dollars to travel and work in France and consult with Dedie of @blackparistours. I established a relationship with, Henri Carvallo, owner of @chateauvillandry about working with Shaun on an exhibiton (still gonna make it happen Shaun--COVID wouldn't let us be great this year 😩) And I invested in better understanding my “why” with black academics like @marctothec.
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These are people you too can follow. Invest money and resources in them. If you don't have the money please offer the eyes and ears. Lead people to our pages to expand our platform. When you invest in us--we invest in us!
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#conquerthesoil #invest

I had a great conversation last week with my colle

I had a great conversation last week with my colleague Jen @jenny_faz and we discussed using words, and not just words of black trauma, to have uncomfortable conversations to dismantle racism in the public garden industry. Jen was looking for words beyond our pain--because she correctly recognized the black experience is a very rich one and so much more than just pain.
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Children's writer and Harlem Renaissance icon Effie Lee Newsome did just this. She consistently used nature as the backdrop to show racial solidarity and help black and brown children build self pride to manage the inevitable systemic prejudice that came their way. I am not naive. I know a poem does not dismantle racism, but words and actions are a start.
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To my white colleagues, friends, and community that ask "why should I use my platform, or my voice, or my time, or money to fight for black and brown and people of color?" May Newsome's words, written for children almost 100 years ago to counter racism, inspire you to see our value and find a way to act. If for no other reason reflect on the first and last lines of her poem. Think of the infinite gifts black culture has given to the world and all the mighty things we have left to do!
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The Bronze Legacy
(To a Brown Boy)
By: Effie Lee Newsome
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’Tis a noble gift to be brown, all brown,
Like the strongest things that make up this earth,
Like the mountains grave and grand,
Even like the very land,
Even like the trunks of trees—
Even oaks, to be like these!
God builds His strength in bronze.
To be brown like thrush and lark!
Like the subtle wren so dark!
Nay, the king of beasts wears brown;
Eagles are of this same hue.
I thank God, then, I am brown.
Brown has mighty things to do.
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Art by the incomparable Loïs Mailou Jones #conquerthesoil #EffieLeeNewsome #LoïsMailouJones #BlackLivesMatter

Out of words. Out of patience. There really is no

Out of words. Out of patience. There really is no end to this violence is there?...
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My sweet “adopted” family in Villandry, France calls to check on me nearly every week. Between guns, racism, police brutality, coronavirus, and that monster Trump they worry about my safety in the United States. I do too.
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🌹Breonna Taylor. 🌹 George Floyd. Say their name.

Today is the start of National Public Gardens week

Today is the start of National Public Gardens week which runs from May 8th - 17th. I especially care because I work for one; Longwood Gardens, in Kennett Square, PA (and I’ll share those adventures later.) However, please allow me to bless your timeline with the story of someone who deserves to be celebrated all week long—Mr. Malcolm J. Stubblefield...
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He attended Iowa State College which we know today as Iowa State University. Here, Stubblefield was a graduate of the College of Agriculture and studied landscape gardening. Shout out to all you Cyclones 🌪
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Stubblefield later took his plant skills and headed east, to the Boogie Down Bronx. During the mid to late 1930s, he was a gardener and horticulturist who was largely responsible for the beautiful appearance of a place that needs no introduction...none other than thee New York Botanical Garden (NYBG.)
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Iowan, Plant Hero, one of NYBG’s finest, and uncontested OG in the world of public gardens—give it up one time—issa long overdue toast y’all 🥂to Malcolm Jerome Stubblefield! Let’s re-write public garden history today and give this man his flowers.
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@isu_hort @iowastateu @NYBG @AmericanPublicGardens #NationalPublicGardensWeek #PublicGardens #ConquerTheSoil #GardenHistory #BlackHistory #Horticulturist #Gardener #NPGW2020 #OurGardensYourHome

I hate having to post this. It is infuriating and

I hate having to post this. It is infuriating and exhausting. All I want to do is write and share cool stories about horticulture. However, I am black and black skin is weaponized the world over. I don’t have the luxury of not speaking up.
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This flag once hung outside the headquarters of the NAACP in New York City when a lynching took place. The flag demanded that people bear some form of witness to the racist murders taking place in this country. I post it today as a reminder ALL OF US bear witness to the systemic an incessant racism in the U.S.A.
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In late February, Ahmad Aubrey, a 25 year old unarmed black man who was out jogging and minding his own business, was falsely assumed to be a criminal. He was hunted down like an animal in a pickup truck by two white men with a shotgun, 34-year-old Travis McMichael, and his father, 64-year-old Gregory McMichael. It was a modern day lynching.
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This happened in my home state of Georgia. The murderers sit at their house to this day, unbothered, as they have not been arrested. The “President” of the United States, Donald Trump and the “Governor” of Georgia, Brian Kemp are racists monsters. I have zero faith the American legal justice system will prosecute and convict the two monsters that murdered Aubrey. I hurt for his family as this could have been my own brother Christopher. He is a black man that likes to go for a jog on a nice day too. I pray to God he is not next—but he very well could be. And this breaks my heart.

In my best Stevie Wonder voice singing "Happy Eart

In my best Stevie Wonder voice singing "Happy Earth Day to Ya!!!!"
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On this 50th anniversary of Earth Day, I celebrate and acknowledge someone who through part of his life's work, protected the Earth's natural resources. Get up off your feet and put your hands together for Colonel Charles Young! THE FIRST African American to serve as superintendent of a national park.
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Young and his troopers of the 9th Calvary managed the lands of Sequoia National Park in California. Many of the roads and trails they built were so well constructed they are still in use to this day. Now the 9th Cavalry weren't just anybody's. These men are more famously known as the iconic "Buffalo Soldiers."
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Far more then a National Parks Superintendent, Young was a graduate of West Point, a diplomat, and a civil rights leader. He flourished in foreign languages and music even helping Wilberforce University establish its marching band. Oh and, two of his best and life long friends happen to be thee W.E.B. Du Bois and poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. You know, just casual type stuff 🤯
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Colonel Young’s final resting place is Arlington National Cemetery. Like the hero to the Earth and world he is, thousands attended his funeral. (pic The Crises.)
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#ConquerTheSoil #ColonelCharlesYoung #HappyEarthDay #NationalParks #EarthHeroes

Today like so many others in Atlanta and around th

Today like so many others in Atlanta and around the world, I grieve the passing of civil rights legend Rev. Joseph Lowery. Of course, I have memories of what a giant of social change he was. However, would you believe my most vivid memories of him were funny ones?!...
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Growing up in Atlanta I got my hair done by Debbie @mamazuko at the Auburn Avenue Barber & Beauty Shop. Every two weeks Rev. Lowery would walk in (he was super handsome in person) speak to the ladies first, then get his hair cut. He would sit in that chair and talk trash and tell jokes with Mr. Jay his barber (who acted and looked just like the barber in Coming to America 😩); Pig (the owner of the building who took crap from no one) and all the other old heads and characters that would constantly stop in. And by characters I mean: street criminals, addicts, hustlers, PhD’s, gay, straight, trans, teachers, nurses, business people (you get the picture) everybody came through those doors. He treated us all the same and cut up with the best of them lol! It was a riot up in that building and I loved it.
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With all the monumental change he created in the world and the indelible legacy he leaves, at the end of the day Rev. Lowery was still a cool dude from Atlanta with a killer sense of humor that could crack a joke with the best of them. He will be missed ❤️🙏🏾

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